Non Una Di Meno, meaning Not One More, is a feminist grassroots collective started in 2015 after 22 year-old Sara Di Pietrantonio was burnt to death by her ex-boyfriend. The group was modeled after Ni Una Menos, the feminist movement started in Argentina earlier that year. It is made up of activists from various pre-existing feminist collectives in Italy, and as such, Non Una Di Meno has a broad focus, advocating for equal pay, guaranteed welfare, and abortion rights, and against harassment in the workplace and gender violence. The symbol of the movement is the Russian doll: one woman inside another, from Italy to Latin America, to the whole world.
Non Una Di Meno aims to:
- Create safe spaces for women to encourage support and solidarity among all female-identifying individuals, as well as centers for women who have experienced gender violence, sexual assault, or relationship violence
- Enact a law requiring doctors who refuse to perform abortions to refer women to a clinic or a doctor that will perform it for them, allowing more women to get access to the healthcare they need
- Minimize the wage gap between men and women in Italy
and more broadly aims to:
- Start a conversation on gender violence in Italy and the institutions that fuel and perpetuate it
- Free the minds of Italians from the restricting cages of gender roles
- Combat racism, especially between women
- Get international recognition and support to show that these problems are not unique to Italy, and affect women world-wide
Non Una Di Meno's plan against gender based violence can be read in more detail here.
Because of the group's advocacy for pro-choice, many pro-life groups and religious groups are in opposition with them. As a Catholic country, pro-life groups such as Pro-Vita Onlus have a lot of support in Italy, from both women and men. Many prominent figures of the Catholic Church have opposed the pro-choice aspect of Non Una Di Meno, such as the late archbishop Carlo Caffarra. The Italian parliament is also in opposition to the group, as Non Una Di Meno has conducted sit ins and walk outs in many spaces in the public sphere, such as hospitals and schools, as well as marches that shut down streets. The media is an oppositional force that the group continues to struggle with, as they present the movement as a group of protesters, or women striking, and they do not publicize the group's overarching goal: to eradicate the systems of patriarchy that allow gender violence to continue. This lack of recognition from the media is important as it creates a lack of understanding between the movement and the general population. The group tries to overcome this with their social media, but it is not easy.