Elena Bonetti (born 12 April 1974) is an Italian politician and mathematician who served as Minister for Family and Equal Opportunities between 2019 and 2022.

Biography

Elena Bonetti was born on 12 April 1974 in

Asola, Lombardy Asola ( Upper Mantovano: ) is a comune in the province of Mantua, Lombardy (northern Italy). It received the honorary title of city with a presidential decree of October 23, 1951. In 1516, when it was part of the Republic of Venice, it was unsucc ...

. She graduated from the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia (, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; ) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest un ...

in 1997, and in 2002 she obtained her PhD at the

University of Milan The University of Milan (; ), officially abbreviated as UNIMI, or colloquially referred to as La Statale ("the State niversity), is a public university, public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Eu ...

, where she has served as Associate Professor of Mathematical Analysis. She studied

partial differential equation In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which involves a multivariable function and one or more of its partial derivatives. The function is often thought of as an "unknown" that solves the equation, similar to ho ...

s and

predictive modelling Predictive modelling uses statistics to Prediction, predict outcomes. Most often the event one wants to predict is in the future, but predictive modelling can be applied to any type of unknown event, regardless of when it occurred. For example, pre ...

. She has had some involvement in

scouting Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

and has served as a scout leader of ''

Associazione Guide e Scouts Cattolici Italiani The ''Associazione Guide e Scouts Cattolici Italiani'' (, AGESCI) is a Catholic Scouting and Guiding association in Italy. It is coeducational and, as of 2024, has 182,000 members, including 33,454 leaders (of whom 1,947 priests), 1,885 local ...

''. In 2014, she signed an appeal, together with presbyter Andrea Gallo, to ask the Italian state to recognize

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

. She entered politics as a candidate in the 2017 PD leadership election. Spotted by the then

Prime Minister of Italy The prime minister of Italy, officially the president of the Council of Ministers (), is the head of government of the Italy, Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is established by articles 92–96 of the Co ...

Matteo Renzi Matteo Renzi (; born 11 January 1975) is an Italian politician who served as prime minister of Italy from 2014 to 2016. He has been a senator for Florence since 2018. Renzi has served as the leader of Italia Viva (IV) since 2019, having bee ...

, she was named the national manager for youth and training. In 2018, she was a candidate for Italy's

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

, listed third on the PD's Lombardy list without being elected. On 5 September 2019, Bonetti was appointed the Italian Minister for Family and

Equal Opportunities Equal opportunity is a state of fairness in which individuals are treated similarly, unhampered by artificial barriers, prejudices, or preferences, except when particular distinctions can be explicitly justified. For example, the intent of equa ...

in the

Conte II Cabinet The second Conte government was the 66th government of the Italian Republic and the second government led by Giuseppe Conte. The government was sworn in on 5 September 2019 to 13 February 2021. The government was supported by the anti-establis ...

. In September 2023 Bonetti left Italia Viva rejecting

's platform on centrism, preparing to make a ticket with

Carlo Calenda Carlo Calenda (born April 9, 1973 in Rome) is an Italian business executive and politician. Since October 13, 2022, he has served as a Senator of the Republic and, since February 20, 2022, as Secretary of ''Action (Italian political party), Azione ...

. On 7 October 2023 she announced that she was founding Populars Europeanists Reformers, which was meant to collaborate with Calenda's party during elections. In the Chamber of Deputies she then became Vice-President of the party, with Matteo Richetti at its head.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonetti, Elena 1974 births Living people Politicians from the Province of Mantua 21st-century Italian women politicians Women government ministers of Italy University of Pavia alumni University of Milan alumni Democratic Party (Italy) politicians Italia Viva politicians Conte II Cabinet Draghi Cabinet People from Asola, Lombardy