Patriarchal Museum in Rome: gender disparities and discrimination on display

Imagine living in the year 2148 and one afternoon wanting to visit a museum to find out how, centuries before you, the habits and customs of society were, especially those of the 20th and 21st centuries. This is where this idea was born MUPA, Patriarchal Museum, promoted by Action Help on the occasion of November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, at the AlbumArtee space on Via Flaminia in Rome.

An immersive exhibition that aims to showcase the objects on display and the situations recreated shows the reality of the gap between men and women is still very much felt and sometimes the dominance of male power leads to violence.

So we find ourselves in a room with different types of work such as an installation with different colored pay slips for men and women, to show off salary differenceplastically represented by two jars filled with coins in different ways or a recreation of a situation on public transport where two male mannequins get too close and touch, without consent, a female mannequin.

A reality that is partly normalized for usin our daily lives, but when decontextualized it allows visitors to observe closely the traces of systems of power based on discrimination, oppression and disparities, trying to make clearer, more visible to the eye what often, even out of habit, cannot be felt.

Even the estimated future date is not chosen randomly, but rather a date according to the latest data Gender Gap Reportgender equality will be achieved. “Our optimism leads us to hope that there will be a world without patriarchy – he said Katia Scannavinideputy secretary general of ActionAid Italy – because we know that gender inequality creates violence against women”.

Acting as the godmother of the exhibition Violating PlacidoItalian actress and singer. “I really like the approach of this museum – says Violante Placido – which revolves around projecting ourselves into the future to better understand the present. Among other things, this is an exercise I often do before going on stage, I imagine myself when the performance is over and say to myself: now go back and do it better.”

MUPA was not spared either the world of press and journalism. In one work, several articles were collected and framed with titles that did not include the names and surnames of women who excelled because they had achieved something important. In other cases, the images report sexist behavior, such as Trump’s sentence on Prime Minister Meloni: “She’s beautiful, she doesn’t mind if I tell her?”. Or again, the now famous episode “Door to Door” even though, to discuss abortion, only male speakers were invited.

“I also heard a TV presenter who almost they mock patriarchal discourse – continued Placido – and conversely those who think that patriarchy does not exist should come here to understand what is happening today and what its impact is.”

Data is collected by ActionAid itself withPavia Observatory and Research 2B and revealed in the study “Why it doesn’t happen”. According to the study, one in three men condone economic violence, one in four verbal or psychological violence, and almost two in ten men also consider physical violence acceptable. 74% of women still do housework alonein public spaces and media, perceptions of insecurity are widespread, and even in the digital and cultural world, stereotypes and sexism still exist.

“This the data isn’t much different if you look at younger people – said Scannavini – this means that all the prevention policies we implemented did not produce the desired results.” From the boomer generation, which tends to deny or downplay it, to the younger generation, which both legitimizes and acknowledges it, a common thread emerges that unites all generations – we read about it in the research.

“We believe that primary prevention is fundamental – added the deputy secretary general of ActionAid Italy – and therefore we ask the Parliament and the government to allocate at least 40% of resources dedicated to anti-violence plans. Additionally, we would like to see gender policies adopted in the health, education and transport sectors. For example, if we talk about urban planning, we should try to illuminate the streets as much as possible or even rethink them from a gender perspective, if we think about schools, we say that sex-emotional education is fundamental to overcome stereotypes. We want to hold this exhibition throughout Italy, including Milan and Naples, where our offices are, but we also want local governments to ask us to do it.”

MUPA is here to stay open until November 25 and will host discussions, workshops, laboratories and live performances in collaboration with networks, associations and feminist realities from all over Italy. Just a holiday Saturday 22 November to support the national demonstrations of Non Una di Meno, a transfeminist movement born in Italy in 2017.