Elena Marinucci (August 18, 1928 – March 31, 2023) was an Italian lawyer, teacher and politician. She joined politics to support the legalisation of divorce in Italy. She championed the so-called "pink quotas" to ensure that women were more fairly represented. She was a member of the European parliament and an Italian senator.

Life

Marinucci was born and educated in

L’Aquila L'Aquila ( ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of the Province of L'Aquila and the Abruzzo region in Italy. , it has a population of 69,902. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valley of the ...

. She went to the University of Rome to study law and then she practiced law. In 1951 she married a fellow lawyer who was also a politician named In 1965 she began to teach the law. There was a large debate in Italy when it was proposed to legalise divorce in Italy. In 1970 Loris Fortuna and Antonio Baslini decided to change the law. Their proposal gathered political support but it was opposed by the

Christian Democratic Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

. Marinucci became very involved in supporting their proposal. The law, which legalized and regulated divorce in Italy, was then approved on December 1, 1970. This law is known as "Fortuna–Baslini law". Prime Minister

Bettino Craxi Benedetto "Bettino" Craxi ( ; ; ; 24 February 1934 – 19 January 2000) was an Italian politician and statesman, leader of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) from 1976 to 1993, and the 45th Prime Minister of Italy, prime minister of Italy from 1 ...

recognised her qualities and she became a leader of women within his party during the 1980s. In 1984 she was the President of National Committee for Equal Opportunities within the Prime Minister's office trying to draft and table amendments to statutes that favoured women. In 1994 she was elected to represent the

Partito socialista italiano The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a social democratic and democratic socialist political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country. Founded in Genoa in 1 ...

in the European parliament. She joined the Group of the Party of European Socialists within the parliament and she was a member of that group until 1999 although her allegiances with the Italian socialist parties changed. In 2017 Anna Maria Isastia published her biographical conversations with Marinucci. Marinucci died in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 2023 at the age of 94.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marinucci, Elena 1928 births 2023 deaths People from L'Aquila Italian politicians 20th-century Italian lawyers Italian women's rights activists