Abstract

In this essay devoted to the «Lady of Italian Socialism», the A. proposes a reinterpretation of Anna Kuliscioff's ideas and engagement for the emancipation of women and the defense of women workers. The essay starts from a reconstruction of the mutual interference between Kuliscioff's poignant political activity, for which she had to suffer trials, convictions and imprisonments, and the no less keen private life (she was the partner of two eminent figures of the history of Italian socialism: Andrea Costa and Filippo Turati). Then, the A. focuses on the great battles fought by Kulscioff for women's right to vote and for the protection of women workers (and especially of working mothers). The essay concludes with some thoughts on the relevance of the discussion on equality and protection of women, which in a period between the Nineteenth and the Twentieth century opposed the socialist Kuliscioff to the feminists of the time.