A personal opinionEvery day womenare reminded, inone way or anotherthat this is a worldpredominately ruledby men. Furthermore,women are alsoreminded of theirspecific role in society:that of being itsnurturer. For so manycenturies women hadto take care of themale-ruled societyand their offspring.This is a man’s wWho has never heard, andprobably more than once,the phrase “This is a man’sjob”?There are quite a few women though,who do not bear the stigma of thetypical woman. On the contrary, theyfit the profile very few men manage tofit. This is mainly for one specific reason.They are successful and they owe theirsuccess to their willingness to fightwhatever obstacles come their way.Bear in mind that most of these womenwere not born under a lucky star or inthe most favourable conditions. Mostof those who managed to imposethemselves on what could be seen asa “male playground”, have had to facechallenges from the day they were bornbecause of society, their families or theirsocio-historical conditions.Examples can be found almosteverywhere. These women are easilyrecognizable although much dependson the place where they live and thetype of society engulfing them. Mostof these women fight their own battles
orld. Not reallyevery day, from working and beingsingle mums, to being leaders trying tochange the world.She married scienceThere is one woman in particular thoughto whom this article is a tribute. She wasa scientist, a person that revolutionizedscience, who “survived” her sociohistoricalconditions, despite beingdeported to Auschwitz. Above all, shewas a person who dedicated her life tothe advancement of society and science.This scientist was called Rita LeviMontalcini and she was an Italianscientist who “married” science andmade it her husband for over <strong>50</strong> years.She decided not to have a husband andchildren but to make science her lifelonglove and passion instead. She alwaysbelieved in being a free woman, despitehaving been educated in a “Victoriansociety” (as it were), dominated by men.In that era, the role of women did notoffer that many possibilities. However,she always believed that men andwomen had an equal intellect with justa different approach.After having fought to represent womenin a field that is otherwise known as tobe dominated by men, she was neverdiscouraged. On the contrary, she alwaystried to stimulate scientific research insuch a way that both young people andespecially women were involved in it.Having thus been socially active as well,she tried to instil a sense of responsibilityin science towards society and peoplethemselves.Witness to this is thecreation of her foundation, aimed athelping, above all, women from Africa.This is achieved by giving them grantsto study which leads these women tobecome pivotal in their own countriesby taking leadership roles in all aspectsof their societies.Rita Montalcini, I believe, represents ablatant example of how the strength andstubbornness of a woman can overcomeobstacles. Most of the time obstacles areimbedded in how society conceives anddefines the role of women. Society easilyputs labels on them because they are inone particular situation or another.Her legacy..She died recently in Italy at the respectfulage of 103 years old after having being ascientist, a neurobiologist, a researcherand a 1986 Nobel Prize Winner forMedicine. The latter was due to herdiscovery of the NGF or “Nerve GrowthFactor”, a protein that is involved in thegrowth of the nervous system and is stillbeing studied. It has been demonstratedthat it can be used to cure specific typesof tumours.She once said: “The future of the planetdepends on the possibility to give allwomen access to education and toleadership. As a matter of fact, it is upto women to carry out the hardest taskof all but the more constructive yet: toinvent and to manage Peace”.I do believe it is indeed up to womento cover specific roles because theyare, in fact, very good and intelligentat bearing these so-called labels. Theypossess a specific intelligence anddetermination that comes from within,from the core of their identity -as humanbeings and as women-, and that is why,as Rita Montalcini said, they are able toovercome difficulties by creating andmanaging peace.By Valentina Sommella
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