Women of the Italian Mafia
Women of the Italian Mafia

Summary/Abstract: This article addresses the issue of the role of women in the mafia community, taking into account its decidedly patriarchal and heteronormative character. On the one hand, the entanglement of women in patriarchal subordination and loyalty to men has been shown. On the other, the immense power of mothers and grandmothers in raising and socializing the new generation into a (destruective) identity and pathological mafia community has been emphasised. In addition, the article takes into consideration the phenomenon of women taking over high positions in the mafia, as well as presents the massification of women’s participation in low-level mafia activities. The analyses made in the text lead to the conclusion that, largely, as in thousands of other patriarchal socio-cultural arrangements, the mafia woman is an instrument rather than an active creator of her life.

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