by InTrieste
It’s a good time to be a woman in Italy. After electing the first ever female Prime Minister in its history last fall, Italy has just elected its first woman to lead Partito Democratico last Sunday.
Namely, Elly Schlein, a millennial at only 37 years old, pro-European, feminist and bisexual, she is considered the “anti-Meloni” by the Italian press. The international media have compared her to US representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Schlein becomes the party’s ninth leader, replacing Enrico Letta who quit following poor results in last October’s general election.
More than one million people voted in Sunday’s leadership race, far fewer than the 3.7 million who voted in 2007 just after the PD was founded, but still more than expected.
Shlein’s goals are to seek to reverse her party’s fortunes and shift the PD towards the left, promoting values including LGBTQ rights, gender equality, climate change and labour reform.
Speaking on Sunday night, Schlein said the election result represented a “clear mandate for change”.
