News stories by Miren Gutierrez*

'You don’t need to go far, it is all around us,' said Robert Dijksterhuis, head of the gender division in the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to a room mostly full of women. 'Up to one in three women around the world has been abused in some way - most often by someone she knows,' he added, quoting UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) numbers.

On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Italy is far from attaining gender equality.

Angelica Mucchi-Faina, psychology professor at the Perugia University, thinks that 'in Italy you cannot even talk about equal opportunities for women in politics.'

Four ministers out of 21; 193 parliamentarians out of 952 (upper and lower houses); no party leaders. Why are there so few women in Italian politics?

Something new is appearing on the Italian screen. About time, some may say.