"When Femocrats Disagree: Understanding Feminist Divides in Italian gender policymaking”

Scholarship on state feminism has demonstrated the importance of alliances between feminist movements, women politicians, and policy agencies for advancing gender equality legislation in Western post-industrial democracies. These alliances, when aligned on policy goals and tools, have contributed to successful policy outcomes and tangible progress on gender and sexual equality globally. Within this body of literature, Italy is often portrayed as a case of weak state feminism – characterized by underdeveloped women’s policy agencies, a limited presence of femocrats, and a generally skeptical stance of the feminist movement toward political institutions. These elements are frequently cited as explanations for the country’s modest progress on gender equality. In this paper, we offer a different perspective and argue that the situation is more nuanced. Feminist-identifying MPs have participated in institutional spaces, though they may be less visible or formally acknowledged. While much of the Italian feminist movement has historically distanced itself from institutional engagement, favouring autonomy or conflictual approaches, some actors - particularly from traditions of difference feminism or equality feminism - chose to engage from within. Missed policy opportunities, therefore, sometimes stem from ideological disagreements between feminist traditions rather than a lack of institutional feminist presence. Empirically, this paper investigates the role of femocrats in three legislative episodes: the 1996 debate on sexual violence, the 2006–2008 discussions on adoption regulations for single mothers, and the 2016–2017 negotiations on gender quotas in the national electoral law. Drawing on parliamentary debates, policy documents, and 15 interviews with feminist and gender-sensitive MPs, the analysis reveals a sustained but uneven presence of femocrats. These actors do not form a cohesive bloc but represent a contested field shaped by competing feminist paradigms. In particular, the paper examines tensions between difference feminism - long dominant in Italian institutions - and equality feminism, more closely aligned with international gender mainstreaming discourses. By unpacking these internal tensions, the paper offers a novel contribution to the literature on state feminism, democratic theory, and gender politics in Southern Europe.