Screamed the headline & otherwise muted she made her headline… In Italy,a debate is raging around a proposed statue in the country’s largest public square. In 1678, Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia received a doctorate in philosophy from the university of Padua, the first woman to achieve this feat.
Yet She was not included in the list of 88 scholars & luminaries in whose honour statues were erected in the Padua square in the 18th century. Local leaders want to correct this error & erect a statue in her honour on an empty pedestal- some structures were destroyed during Napoleon’s invasion of Italy.
The arguments against the statue from other locals are familiar: There is already a statue of Piscopia at the University. ‘Playing’ with cultural sites is dangerous. It is more important to place the exclusion in historical context & learn from it.
A new statue , of a woman, among her 17th century contemporaries is indeed out of place. Or perhaps that is why , in 2022, it is much needed.
Imagine if it was a scholar, a man, would there have been a debate?? Not her presence but her stark absence is something to worry about. Why is she denied her right place in the Venetian sun??
Isn’t it necessary to preserve the history as it happened in all it’s authenticity because it’s made & re-made everyday???
A woman denied her rightful place is not a thing of past but an occurrence that we observe everyday! Yet we are okay with it???
Asian Entertainment 