From machismo to co-parenting: changing Italy’s Mindset

The essay deals with the long doctrinal and judicial evolution which culminated in the acknowledgement of the right of the children to be raised from both their parents - even in terms of labour regulations. The first part of the essay analyzes the italian system, considering its long time trend to identify family’s support measures with mothers’ support measures, while the second part examines the legislative evolution which in recent years, due to the European Union influence, leaded to the legislative acknowledgement, by the “Testo unico a sostegno della maternità e paternità”, of the fathers’ main role in the life of their children. The last part of the essay is dedicated to the analysis of the judicial sentences which, trying to modernize the traditional legislative principles, firmly contributed to overcome machismo and its cultural repercussions on men and women, in order to make the children’s right to co-parenting effective into the italian system.