Italy's parliament on Tuesday approved a new law formally introducing femicide into the country’s criminal code, punishing it with life imprisonment.
The vote coincided with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, a day designated by the UN General Assembly.
The legislation garnered bipartisan support from the centre-right majority and centre-left opposition in the Lower Chamber, passing with 237 votes in favour.
Backed by Premier Giorgia Meloni’s conservative government, the law responds to a series of killings and other violence targeting women in Italy. It also includes stronger measures against gender-based crimes such as stalking and revenge porn.
High-profile cases, such as the 2023 murder of university student Giulia Cecchettin, have fuelled widespread public outcry and debate about the causes of violence against women in Italy’s patriarchal culture.
"We have doubled funding for anti-violence centres and shelters, promoted an emergency hotline and implemented innovative education and awareness-raising activities," Meloni said Tuesday.
"These are concrete steps forward, but we won’t stop here. We must continue to do much more, every day."
While the center-left opposition supported the law in parliament, it stressed that the government approach only tackles the criminal aspect of the problem while leaving economic and cultural divides unaddressed.
Italy’s statistics agency Istat recorded 106 femicides in 2024, 62 of them committed by partners or former partners.
The debate over introducing sexual and emotional education in schools as a way to prevent gender-based violence has become heated in Italy.
A law proposed by the government would ban sexual and emotional education for elementary students and require explicit parental consent for any lessons in high school.
The ruling coalition has defended the measure as a way to protect children from ideological activism, while opposition parties and activists have described the bill as “medieval.”
“Italy is one of only seven countries in Europe where sex and relationship education is not yet compulsory in schools, and we are calling for it to be compulsory in all school cycles,” said the head of Italy’s Democratic Party, Elly Schlein. “Repression is not enough without prevention, which can only start in schools.”
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