Lidia Poët

Lidia Poët (26 August 1855 – 25 February 1949) was the first modern female Italian lawyer. Her disbarment led to a movement to allow women to practice law and hold public office in Italy.

Lidia Poët
Born(1855-08-26)26 August 1855
Perrero
Died25 February 1949(1949-02-25) (aged 93)[1]
Diano Marina, Italy
Alma materUniversity of Turin
OccupationLawyer

Career

Born in 1855 in the hamlet of Traverse, Perrero commune, in the Valle Germanasca, she passed her law examinations at the University of Turin, Faculty of Law and received her degree on June 17, 1881.[2] For the following two years, she "attended forensic practice" in the office of a lawyer and assisted at the sessions of the tribunals. She then underwent the theoretical and practical examination of the Order of Advocates of Turin and, approved by 45 of 50 votes, was enrolled in the roll of lawyers (albo degli avvocati) on August 9, 1883.

However, the enrollment of a woman on the roll "did not please" the office of the attorney general (procuratore generale), who entered a complaint with the Court of Appeal of Turin. Despite rejoinders, arguments, and examples of women lawyers in other countries (such as Clara S. Foltz), the attorney general argued that women were forbidden by law and public policy to enter the milizia togata. The Court of Appeal subsequently found that Poët's enrollment was illegal. She appealed to the Supreme Court of Cassation, but the decision of the lower court was confirmed.[3]

Public debate ensued, with 25 Italian newspapers supporting women's public roles and only three against. Those against made statements such as that the only men who supported women's public roles were themselves unmarried celibates. A teacher at the University of Padua named Taverni interviewed the U.S. Minister to Italy, William Waldorf Astor, and reported that he said "that the public opinion of the Americans was not in favor of the exercise of professions by women, inasmuch as the female physicians, lawyers, etc., practicing in America, do not belong either to the aristocracy of money or to that of intellect." However, Taverni himself favored public lives for women, as it would save the 250,000 unmarriageable Italian women who, if society did not give them a role, would spend their lives as nihilists.

Poët worked in her brother's law office after the Corte Suprema di Cassazione precluded her admission as an advocate to the Turin bar association in 1884.[4] Interestingly, Poët did the work of an advocate even though she could not sign letters or plead in court. When her brother departed for Vichy in France each year, she took over the practice entirely, and when necessary, sought out male colleagues to plead in court on behalf of her clients.[5]

All of this aside, the central questions came down to whether a husband would be liable for his wife's practicing advocacy and whether in the construction of the statutes, the words in the masculine gender were meant to apply to men only. Even as recently as 1996, female lawyers were addressed as "Miss" or "Mrs".[6]

Later life

For the rest of her life, Poët was active in the international women's movement.

Under Law n. 1176 of July 17, 1919, women were allowed to hold certain public offices. It wasn’t until 1920 that Lidia Poët as a 65 year old woman, was enlisted in the record of the members of the Council of lawyers and officially recognized as a lawyer, when finally enrolled in the roll of advocates in Turin.[7]

Lidia Poët's life is stylized in the Netflix TV series The Law According to Lidia Poët and played by Matilda De Angelis.[8]

See also

References
  1. Lidia Poët biography in the Dizionario Biografico Dei Protestanti In Italia. (in Italian), accessed 1 March 2023
  2. Lidia Poët Biografia www.studivaldesi.org, accessed 27 February 2023
  3. ESSERE DONNE NELL’ITALIA REPUBBLICANA STORIA DI UN PERCORSO IMPERVIO: L’ACCESSO ALLA MAGISTRATURA www00.unibg.it, archived at archive.wikiwix.com, accessed 27 February 2023
  4. "Udienza 18 aprile 1884; Pres. Eula PP, Est. Talice, PM Calenda (concl. conf.)—Poët Lidia (Avv. Spanna e Bernardi)". Il Foro Italiano, 341-342. April 18, 1884. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  5. Kay, Fiona M. (Summer 2007). "The Social Significance of the World's First Women Lawyers". Osboode Hall Law Journal. 45 (2): 410.
  6. Ceschini, Roberta (January 1996). "The Role of Women in the Italian Legal System" (PDF). Georgia State University Law Review. 21 (2): 434. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  7. Skuza, Sylwia (2014). Mackowicz, Jolanta (ed.). The social and legal status of women in Italy between the XIX and XXI centuries. Pedagogical University of Cracow. p. 35. ISBN 978-83-7850-685-0. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  8. "Lidia Poët". IMDb. Retrieved March 10, 2022.

Sources
  • Cristina Ricci, "Lidia Poët. Vita e battaglie della prima avvocata italiana, pioniera dell'emancipazione femminile", (tr. "Lidia Poët. Life and battles of the first Italian lawyer, pioneer of female emancipation") Graphot & LAR Editori, Torino EAN 9791280629111
  • Ferdinando Santoni de Sio, La Donna e l'Avvocatura, (tr. "Women and Advocacy") Rome, 1884 (2 voll.)
  • Montgomery H. Throop, "Woman and the Legal Profession," Albany Law Journal (Dec. 13, 1884), 464-67
  • Marino Raichich, "Liceo, università, professioni: un percorso difficile," in Simonetta Soldani, ed., L'educazione delle donne: Scuole e modelli di vita femminile nell'Italia dell'Ottocento (tr. "High school, university, professions: a difficult path," in Simonetta Soldani, ed., "The education of women: Schools and models of female life in 19th century Italy") (Milan, 1989, ISBN 9788820431822), pp 151–53
  • Clara Bounous, La toga negata. Da Lidia Poët all’attuale realtà torinese (tr. "The toga denied. From Lidia Poët to the current Turin reality") (Pinerolo 1997, ISBN 9788881700363)
  • James C. Albisetti, "Portia ante portas. Women and the Legal Profession in Europe, ca. 1870-1925," Journal of Social History (Summer, 2000) Copy online
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