The transformative potential of comprehensive sexuality education in achieving gender equality in the Italian landscape

Gender inequality and discrimination is still a widespread phenomenon across the Italian Peninsula, one that touches upon several spheres of life as well as having a considerable impact on the perpetuation of negative and wrongful gender norms. According to international and European standards and guidelines, one of the most effective and extensive ways to narrow the gender gap is to recognize the transformative potential of education, namely comprehensive sexuality education (CSE), in equipping children and adolescents with age-appropriate, information-based, and scientifically accurate school and out-of-school programmes. At present, Italy is one of the seven countries in the EU that does not provide for a compulsory, continuous, and institutionalized sexuality and relationship education, a shortcoming that is partly justified by the country being divided into regions having very diverse political affiliations and unequal economic potential, as well as having a deep-rooted religious tradition. All these factors, together with an obsolete mindset that relegates the world of sex, romance, and relationships to the private sphere and considers them subjects to be discussed only in the family unit instead of treating them as issues of public concern, have made Italy an insidious landscape in which to implant the seeds for a successful and continuous CSE in the school system. In this context, advocating for a mandatory national plan that treats CSE as a general process of learning through a non-judgmental and constructive exchange of values between experts and students, represents not only one of the most effective paths through which the internationally recognized human right to sexuality education can be guaranteed, but it also serves as a way to trigger positive externalities on the Italian society to help bridge the existing gender gap in the country.