printer
friendly version
DWF
donnawomanfemme
Roma, Editrice coop. UTOPIA, 1986-
Working life stories, 1994, n. 21
EDITORIAL, Working life stories, pp. 2-3
BIONDI Annalisa - MASI Paola
Searching together, pp. 4-13
SAPEGNO Maria Serena
In the world of the father, pp. 14-16
SPANO Paola
Elena, Giovannella, and the others, pp. 17-20
SPINELLI Elena
The product of women's work, pp. 21-27
PAPALEO Adriana
Enterprising women, pp. 28-30
BETTINI Elisabetta
The nets of power: working in the civil service, pp.
31-36
CURTI Lidia - BALZANO Wanda
Mythotopography of a passion: Angela Carter's Passion
of New Eve, pp. 37-57
BALARDI Teresa - GATTESCHI Vanna - NERI Paola
For Elena Gentili, pp. 58-60
SCHOR Naomi
Georges Sand and feminism: "Lettres à Marcie",
pp. 61-77
EDITORIAL, Working life stories, pp. 2-3
This issue of DWF has been produced by two of the editors in collaboration with a small group of women not usually involved in the journal. The editorial board explains the political reasons behind this choice: foremost amongst them, the wish to explore the gap between the foundation of female subjectivity and the experience of the actual subjects in the work place, especially concerning one's perception of oneself and the relationships between/among women in that context.
BIONDI Annalisa - MASI Paola, Searching together, pp. 4-13
The authors outline the main themes discussed by the group who produced this issue; the two of them, members of the editorial board of DWF, and other five women who responded to a letter which posed the basic questions they wanted to analyse. The letter addressed three main questions.
Has the feminist critique of emancipation as omologation produced a different conception of work, and can it really avoid the reproposition of a "genderless worker", a figure which cancels out difference and conflicts for the sake of competence?
What has changed in our relationship with the women we work with, how do we relate to them, what are our expectations, our positive and negative experiences?
Do we feel "at ease" in our work, that is to say, are we able to find our own meaning for it, thus developing strategies which go beyond survival, with an autonomous production of sense?
The group looked at their working experience
from a subjective point of view; their aim was not a sociological inquiry on
women's work, but rather the interrogation of their own perceptions about the
meaning of their work, their relation with it, and especially their relationships
with other women in that context. Indeed, one of the outcomes of the discussion
was the shared conclusion that these relationships are an essential factor in
the redefinition of the material and symbolic conditions of work.
SAPEGNO Maria Serena, In the world of the father, pp. 14-16
Sapegno, a lecturer and researcher in Italian literature at Rome University "La Sapienza", talks about the choices, the illusions and the challenges that she has faced as a woman who decided to go for an academic career, academia being a symbolical site linked with the paternal figure.
Her difficulties in relating to other women and in finding her own place in that area as well as in relation to women's studies have required a long process of self inquiry, in order to finally become able - in the last year or so - to address gender issues in a seminar with her students.
SPANO Paola, Elena, Giovannella and the others, pp. 17-20
A teacher looks al her profession, often considered "typically female", and often lacking a clear social and professional status. As a consequence, it is difficult to acknowledge the differences in competence and ability among women teachers, allowing a measure of competition - and eventually the conflicts this entails - to become explicit in their relationships. This, in turn, results in the teachers themselves undervaluing their profession.
SPINELLI Elena, The product of women's work, pp. 21-27
In keeping with a family tradition of political engagement, the author chose to become a social worker, as this profession allows a direct involvement in the socio-political context. In this article she looks at the way in which this activity tends to be seen as a kind to maternal care, pertaining to the private sphere and "naturally" suitable for women.
The difficulty to identify objective criteria to define the product of social work is part of the problem; to this is linked the tendency of women social workers to undervalue their work, becoming complicit with its loss of social status.
PAPALEO Adriana, Enterprising women,
pp. 28-30
A woman talks about her decision to become an entrepreneur, facing the risks which this entails; with the added difficulty of working in the South of Italy. Her awareness of this double challenge, as well as her awareness of herself as a woman, have influenced the way in which she has organised her work, stressing the significance and importance of relationships both within and without her firm. It takes a great deal of symbolic as well as concrete work to build up a network of women entrepreneurs, creating the conditions for more women to engage in this field.
BETTINI Elisabetta, The nets of power: working in the civil service,
pp. 31-36
Bettini analyses the difficulty of giving meaning to one's work and competence in the area of civil service, which in Italy is often a senseless bureaucratic structure. She has had to find her own degree of freedom within that given structure; thanks to her relationship with other women, and especially with one hierarchically her superior, she has succeeded in managing her responsibilities with greater ease and less internal conflicts, at the same time seeing her capacities acknowledged.
CURTI Lidia - BALZANO Wanda, Mythotopography of a passion: Angela Carter's
Passion of New Eve, pp. 37-57
In this section of the journal a feminist scholar of some standing introduces a younger scholar; here Lidia Curti, professor of English and Cultural Studies, introduces Wanda Balzano's analysis of Carter's well-known novel. In this analysis, the author looks at the different - physical and allegorical - spaces of the novel: a sort of up-turned dantesque universe, where the new Eve and a new meaning come into being.
BALARDI Teresa - GATTESCHI Vanna - NERI
Paola, For Elena Gentili, pp. 58-60
Three friends remember Elena Gentili, editor of the review, especially during the last year of her illness: the evidence of one year of relation. With affection they recall her courage and her determination to go on living her own way even in that period.
SCHOR Naomi, Georges Sand and feminism: "Lettres à Marcie",
pp. 61-77
The author takes up the controversial issue of George Sand's feminism - a topic widely discussed already, with the premise that feminism is not a position but the debate itself. In the case of George Sand evidence attesting or disproving her feminism has been found both in her life and in her literary works. Schor, instead, analyses a peculiar and incomplete piece of writing, Lettres à Marcie, and maintains that Sand should be read as a theorist of sexual difference.