morning till night with political, organizational, and violent matters. However, the Red Brigades justify the use of violence as an inevitable and necessary starting point in the process of societal change. It is the way in which they achieve their goal, by altering society to be more suitable for their wants and needs.As female involvement increased in the Red Brigades, one would think their influence would increase as well. Though former female members of the Red Brigades report that gender equality was maintained in the organization, it has been proven that no woman had ever sat on the Brigades’ strategy-making body. Not to say that there was any distinct discrimination, but men were certainly listened to more. However, “gender per se does not necessarily seem to have determined differenced in attitudes to the exercise of violence, which were the product of individual character and experience.” (Jamieson 56) If a woman had the will to perform in such violent situations, they found the way to make it happen.On the other side of the scale was the right-winged Sicilian Mafia or the Cosa Nostra. “Whereas the Italian woman terrorist adopted a consciously exaggerated stand against institutional and societal paternalism, the women of Cosa Nostra have remained trapped inside traditional behavioral patterns.” (Jamieson 58) Women of the Cosa Nostra cannot participate directly in acts of violence nor can they hold decision-making positions in the hierarchy of the organization. Despite this, women play a role in this exclusively male organization through the membership of their husbands, fathers and sons.Women are not allowed membership for they are perceived as untrustworthy due to their “irrationality and uncontrollable emotion.” (Jamieson 60) However, women exhibit a sort of self-control, loyalty and sacrifice that are crucial to their role within the Mafia world. Women hold the reins of...
