Abstract

Chapter one examines the period between 1943 and 1946 from the armistice to the first free elections. It shows that during this brief time, Italian women reinvented the women's movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and transformed their associational lives to meet the demands of the new postwar era in the national and international contexts. In their new autonomous women's associations, the Unione Donne Italiane and the Centro Italiano Femminile made important choices about their ideological frameworks, alliances with the Italian political parties, and the international organizations they aimed to work with to construct a postwar world that would best represent their visions of an emancipated womanhood. The creation of two women's associations signified the divisive character of an emerging bipolar Italy and globe, but the chapter also demonstrates that a spirit of openness and cooperation characterized these transitional years.

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