Gender and Class in the Italian Liberation Movement.

The essay, written together with Anna Frisone, focuses on the tension field between class and gender as the two main issues upon which a new kind of discourse on the liberation of women unfolded in Italy throughout the 1970s. The first part, written by Marica Tolomelli, deals with issues concerning the emergence of the gender issue within the field of social protests occuring since the end of the 1960s. Particular attention is devoted to the group Rivolta Femminile and the theorization of an emancipation reasoning drawing on the concept of difference between the sexes.The second part, written by Anna Frisone, of the essay focuses on Italian forms of 'feminist unionism' as it developed in the peculiar experiences of the so-called '150-hours courses' for (and by) women, organized by unions. These courses became in fact a forum in which feminist issues reached workers organizations and intersect with the class dimension of the workers movement.