WOMEN OF THE REPUBLIC
Eighty Years of Achievements in ANSA Reports, 1946 – 2026
Photography and Documentary Exhibition
Italian Cultural Institute @INNOVIT
710 Sansome Street, San Francisco
On view June 9 – Aug 31, 2026
Open to the public by appointment
M-F, 10 AM-4 PM
Email contact.sanfrancisco@esteri.it
The exhibition Women of the Republic: Eighty Years of Achievements in ANSA Reports, 1946–2026 retraces the long journey of women’s rights in the history of the Italian Republic, beginning with a landmark date: June 2, 1946, when Italian women were called to the polls for the first time and contributed to the birth of the new democratic Italy. The photographic project is accompanied by texts, audio, and video materials.
Through photographs from ANSA’s extraordinary archive, the exhibition tells the story of the women, achievements, and turning points that have shaped this journey: from the 21 women elected to the Constituent Assembly to women’s access to the judiciary in 1963; from equality between wife and husband in 1975 to the decriminalization of abortion in 1978; and from the abolition of honor killing and “rehabilitating marriage” in 1981 to the recognition of sexual violence as a crime against the person, rather than against public morality, in 1996.
The images of women in institutions, the workplace, sports, entertainment, and civil society offer a portrait of a country in transformation, showing how legislative achievements were the result of sustained political, feminist, and grassroots activism.
Women of the Republic thus offers a valuable lens through which to read the history of republican Italy, highlighting both the progress achieved and the issues that remain unresolved on the path toward full female citizenship.
ABOUT ANSA
ANSA (Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata) is Italy’s leading national news agency and wire service, supplying breaking news and reporting to much of the country’s media ecosystem. Founded on January 1, 1945, while World War II was still underway, ANSA was established by a group of Italian newspapers to provide a shared, independent news service. It operates as a cooperative owned by its member newspapers rather than as a government agency. Since then, ANSA has documented Italy’s modern history in real time. It reported on the birth of the Italian Republic, the work of the Constituent Assembly, and the drafting of the Italian Constitution. For more than eighty years, through news reports, photographs, videos, and multimedia coverage, ANSA has chronicled the political, social, cultural, and economic life of Italy and the wider world.