Fading Away: Women Disappearing from Literature Textbooks (How Italy Obliterates Female Intellectual Work)

Abstract

In this chapter, I analyze a sample of literary textbooks used in the Italian Secondary School system, showing that while women are more represented in anthologies for the Scuole medie (middle school), they disappear in textbooks for the Triennio (last three years of high school). Such obliteration is not grounded on an actual lack of female authorship, but on the idea of literary canon established in the nineteenth century by leading male Italian literary critics. Furthermore, women disappear from textbooks as we move to higher educational levels, reflecting the vertical segregation patterns characterizing Italian academia (CENSIS, Donne: hanno il primato negli studi, altro che gender gap, 2019; She Figures 2018, 2021). Reiterating such models is historically inaccurate and deprives female students of role models (Geena Davis Institute, Taking the Lead. Girls and Young Women on Changing the Face of Leadership, 2019). A gender review of textbooks, providing more accurate historical information and positive role models, is therefore compelling.