Sexist row mars Rome mayoral election
Print Edition
SILVIO Berlusconi sparked fury yesterday by claiming that being mayor of Rome was “no job for a mother” while backing a male candidate who advised a pregnant rival to stick to breastfeeding.
The three-time former premier claimed the task of cleaning up the scandal-hit Italian capital would be too much for far-right candidate Giorgia Meloni, who is due to give birth soon after the election in May or June.
“A mother cannot dedicate herself to a terrible job and running Rome today is terrible job which will require 14 hours a day in the office,” he said.
The media tycoon, famed for his bunga bunga parties with young female escorts, was speaking in support of Guido Bertolaso, who said on Monday that Meloni would be unable to “sort out the rubbish, the traffic jams and the rats in Rome when she will have to be at home nursing.”
Meloni replied tersely. “I don’t want a row, I simply say politely and proudly that I hope to be a very good mother, as are all the women who, with a thousand problems and often in much more difficult circumstances, manage to reconcile professional commitments with maternity.”
Behind the row lies a battle for ascendancy on the right of Italian politics with Berlusconi backing Bertolaso and Northern League leader Matteo Salvini endorsing Meloni in an election race the right feels it can win.
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