Thursday,
April 17, 2008
Berlusconi Mocks
The
ANNOTICO Report
Silvio Berlusconi, who takes
power shortly as Prime Minister of Italy for the third time, caused outrage in
The remark, that
was meant to be light-hearted, passed almost unnoticed in
Times
Online -
A
heated row has broken out between
Silvio Berlusconi, who takes
power shortly as Prime Minister of Italy for the third time, caused outrage in
Mr Berlusconi, who won a
sweeping victory in this week's Italian election, told a radio station: ?Zapatero has formed a government that is too pink,
something that we cannot do in Italy because there is a prevalence of men in
politics and it isn't easy to find women who are qualified.?
Mr Zapatero,
a self-declared feminist, made equal rights a centrepiece
of his first term in office, passing a law making it compulsory for electoral
lists and even company boards to be composed of at least 40 per cent women.
This week he suggested that he would go even further in his second government
by naming more women than men to his Cabinet. "Now he's asked for
it," Mr Berlusconi said. "He will have
problems leading them".
The
remark, which aides said was meant to be light-hearted, passed almost unnoticed
in Italy, which is used to Mr Berlusconi?s
jokes and gaffes - as well as his unreconstructed male chauvinism. In
Magdalena
Alvarez, the Spanish Infrastructure Minister, described Mr
Berlusconi's remarks as absolutely inappropriate and an offence to citizens.
"Many of us women would never belong to a government headed by Mr Berlusconi," she declared.
Women in
Other Spanish
ministers dismissed Mr Berlusconi's contention that
there were no women qualified to serve in government. Even Esperanza Aguirre,
the conservative president of the
Mr Berlusconi yesterday held
his first coalition "summit meeting" to decide the distribution of
Cabinet posts. He has said that he will honour his
election pledge to include at least four women in his Cabinet.
Attitudes towards
women have diverged sharply in
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