Women employees of the Italian administration in the Julian March (1918–1922)
The aim is to analyse the careers of three categories of the female personnel employed by the Regio Governatorato and then the Commissariato Civile della Venezia Giulia: officer workers, cleaning ladies, and guards. The contribution covers the period from 1918 to 1922, the transition phase between the end of World War I and the annexation of the Julian March to the Kingdom of Italy. These years were marked by profound transformations in the labour market; after a phase of strong demand for female staff, this was followed by the gradual expulsion of women from the labour market to make room for veterans and men who were unemployed as a result of the economic crisis.
The analysis of personnel files and newspapers published in the region has made possible to reconstruct the changes and additions to the Austrian legislation by the Italian authorities, and women’s political and trade union activities. It also analysed how the provisions were applied in relation to requests for reconfirmed in service in the crucial transition phase from the Austrian to the Italian rule, and in the moment of recruitment and expulsion of women from the public administration.
The category that underwent the greatest transformations after the end of the war was certainly that of women employees. The need to have personnel who were politically and nationally reliable and morally upright led the Italian administration to carry out careful controls on the employees, particularly on those who had been hired during the years of the conflict and had held positions in political offices within the Austrian administration.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
In April 2016 Matteo Perissinotto obtained his PhD in History at the University of Trieste, defending a dissertation entitled Italian Jews facing the Great War (1914–1919). From 2013 to 2016 he was involved in the project Der Erste Weltkrieg und die Konflikte der europäischen Nachkriegsordnung (1914–1923) at the Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung (ZfA) in Berlin. He is the Managing Editor of the review Quest. Issues in Contemporary Jewish History. Journal of CDEC Foundation and a scientific collaborator of the Jewish Community Museum in Trieste “Carlo e Vera Wagner” and “Fondazione Museo della Shoah” in Rome. He is also a member of the Scientific Committee of the Exhibitions 1938. La Storia and 1938. La memoria curated by Sara Berger and Marcello Pezzetti. He participated as a speaker in several international conferences pertaining to Italian Jews, as well as World War I and philanthropy, associations and honours in the documents of Italian Consulate archive in Trieste (1861–1915).
He collaborates on the EIRENE project.