1The conceptual framework has shown the articulation of multiple issues that come into play in education when speaking of a gender approach. This investigation explores how these issues are translated in the Italian reality. Since 2013, this has been a pressing issue, and it presents similarities with the cases of other countries around Europe, such as France. The objectives of this investigation are:

• To understand the extent to which the efforts to integrate a gender approach in education have been successful.

• To identify examples of projects in educational institutions.

• To identify the obstacles posed to these efforts, and to understand at what level of implementation they arise.

• To provide an understanding of how the issues are perceived in the Italian context: this would offer an overview of public opinion and, therefore, of the way any effort to integrate a gender approach into education is potentially received and understood.

2The fundamental question at the core of this research is: to what extent have educational projects that tackle gender issues been successfully implemented in the Italian context? Quite early in the research, it emerged that these projects have stirred up strong opposition. Therefore, this investigation addresses the way this opposition is expressed and how it is reflected in public opinion.

3In order to do so, I take into account a number of sub-questions, which I attempt to answer through two different phases of analysis. The first phase (Phase 1) is focused on a specific case study, in order to better understand the implementation of projects aimed at integrating a gender approach into education in the municipality of Cagliari, in the region of Sardinia. To this end, the following questions are asked:

• How are these educational projects implemented in schools?

• What are the support mechanisms and obstacles at the time of the implementation of such educational projects?

• What is the nature of the obstacles and at what level are they encountered?

4As seen while outlining the conceptual and contextual framework of this research, the articulation of gender issues in education is a complex matter. It emerged that often many of the terms at hand are not clearly presented and not fully understood by the public. This is one of the reasons why Phase 2 of the analysis specifically intends to explore the way public opinion on gender issues tends to be shaped in the Italian context. More precisely, I tackle the following sub‑questions:

• How is public opinion concerning gender issues constructed and reinforced in the Italian context?

• What is the role of media, and specifically newspapers?

• What is the role of religious representatives?

• What is the role of associations and civil society, and specifically the leaders of the “anti-gender” initiatives?

• What are the common elements that can provide us with insight into the “anti-gender” movements?

Methodology, phase 1: Projects in educational establishments between 2013 and 2016

5Phase 1 of the research explores more specifically the projects implemented in educational establishments that apply to students between primary and lower secondary schools in the city of Cagliari. With a population of 154,460 inhabitants (Istituto nazionale di statistica [Istat], 2015), the municipality of Cagliari is the main city of the Region of Sardinia.

6The context in Cagliari is particularly interesting because since 2011, with the election of Mayor Massimo Zedda, of the left-wing political party Sinistra, Ecologia e Libertà (SEL), the city has been particularly active in the context of gender equality and LGBTI rights. The first Sardinian Gay Pride parade took place in Cagliari in June 2012, with the Mayor marching in the front line; in 2012, the Mayor established an Office for Equal Opportunities (Assessorato alle Pari Opportunità), which operated directly through the Commission for Equal Opportunities; and, especially between 2012 and 2014, the Commission for Equal Opportunities carried out a number of projects tackling issues such as gender-based violence and sexism in the Italian language. A network of associations interested in issues related to the mandate of the department (e.g. in the context of gender equality, discrimination, gender-based violence and LGBTI rights) was created thanks to the efforts of the Commission for Equal Opportunities, under the name “Le opportunità in rete”, which roughly translates to “The network of opportunities”. Moreover, the municipality of Cagliari was one of the members of the “education” strand of the RE.A.DY. project, organised under the 2013-2014 National LGBT Strategy. However, as previously mentioned, the activities related to this strand of the strategy were not carried out and, therefore, the city administration did not ultimately have the opportunity to participate.

7At the centre of this investigation are the local efforts that have been made in the context of education, such as the project Alla scoperta della differenza (Discovering diversity), funded by the city administration through the Commission for Equal Opportunity and carried out in 2013 by the social cooperative Agape and the association Se non ora, quando (“If not now, when”). It also examines the project Ci piacCiAmo! … anche in biblioteca (We like each other… also in the library!), carried out by the association Menabó, thanks to funding from the Department of Culture of the City Administration. Furthermore, I shall briefly explore the 2015 project SAVE (Stereotypes and violence in Education), carried out as part of the Master’s in Gender Equality of the University of Cagliari with funding at a regional level.

8Phase 1 of this investigation attempts to respond to the following questions, specifically taking into account these projects and the context in Cagliari as the case study: (a) How are educational projects concerning gender issues implemented in schools? (b) What are the support mechanisms and obstacles at the time of the implementation of such educational projects? (c) What is the nature of the obstacles and at what level are they encountered?

9The following experts were interviewed:

• The former President of the Commission for Equal Opportunities of the City of Cagliari. The main objectives of this interview are to understand the involvement and role of the city administration in matters of gender in education and to understand their specific involvement in the implementation of the project Alla scoperta della differenza. In this sense, I am particularly interested in the extent of the support provided by the city administration to the schools, and to the social cooperative and the association in charge of the implementation of the project (Agape and Se non ora, quando).

• The President of the Social Cooperative Agape, the person in charge of the implementation of the project Alla scoperta della differenza and, in particular, of the part of the project that applied specifically to children in the classroom. The main objectives of this conversation are: to understand the nature of the project Alla scoperta della differenza; to understand the aspects of its implementation; to get to know the enablers and obstacles in its implementation; and to have a clearer overview of the context surrounding these issues in a city like Cagliari.

• The president of the association Se non ora, quando (SNOQ), the person in charge of the part of the Alla scoperta della differenza project that applied to parents and teachers. The main objectives of this interview are similar to those of the interview with the Agape representative, even if some of the questions do specifically concern the involvement of parents and teachers.

• The coordinators of the association Menabó, who are in charge of the educational project Ci piacCiAmo, which was developed during the academic year 2013 / 2014 and funded by the Education Department of the Comune di Cagliari. Once more, the main objectives of this interview were to understand the steps of the implementation of the project, identifying enablers and obstacles, and to identify potential differences or similarities with the implementation of the other projects.

• The Director and Professor of the University of Cagliari’s Master’s Programme in Gender Equality, Strategie per l’equità di genere, and coordinator of SAVE (Stereotypes and violence in education), a project designed for teachers all over Sardinia. The primary objectives of this interview are to understand the implementation of an educational project such as SAVE, which is focused on gender-based violence and directed to teachers; to identify the enablers and potential obstacles for its implementation; to identify differences between the implementation of this project and that of a project such as Alla scoperta della differenza; and to see the response to the Master’s programme in Gender Equality at the University of Cagliari.

10The objectives of these semi-directed interviews are to gain a better understanding of the possible implementation of projects concerning gender issues in educational establishments; to observe whether the context in Cagliari allows for such implementation; to look at the potential enablers and obstacles; to notice differences in the implementation of different projects (e.g. in what way it is easier/more complicated to implement a project directed to children rather than teachers); to understand the support system around these projects; to understand the obstacles encountered; to understand the nature of these obstacles.

Methodology, phase 2: public opinion

11Phase 2 of this investigation centres on public opinion on gender issues in education in Italy. For this purpose, data was collected mainly through media, such as newspaper articles and websites. In order to gain an understanding of the phenomenon, the analysis should be undertaken at different levels. Therefore, I selected three different types of data: (a) newspaper articles, in order to understand their role in the way they present these issues to the public; (b) declarations of religious representatives and, specifically, of representatives of the Catholic Church; (c) examples of “anti-gender” initiatives.

12In the course of this phase, I keep in mind the following sub-questions: how is the public opinion concerning gender issues constructed and reinforced in the Italian context? What is the role of media, and specifically newspapers? What is the role of religious representatives? What is the role of associations and civil society, and specifically the leaders of the “anti-gender” initiatives? What are the common elements to these ways of shaping public opinion that can provide us with insight concerning the “anti-gender” movements?

13As outlined by Koopmans and Olzak (2004), “movement activists communicate messages to fellow activists and potential adherents, and they thereby gain crucial information about the actions and reactions of authorities, political opponents, allies and sympathisers” (p. 199). Koopmans and Olzak theorise the notion of discursive opportunities, defining them as the aspects of public discourse that determine the chances of a message being diffused in the public sphere. In particular, they argue the articulation of three elements: visibility, resonance and legitimacy.

14Visibility is a necessary condition for a message to influence public discourse, and is generally produced by the “gatekeepers of the public discourse”, such as editors and journalists who have the ability to select and shape public messages (Koopmans & Olzak, 2004, p. 203). According to Koopmans and Olzak, a message, even if visible, does not have a real impact if it does not provoke reactions from other actors in the public sphere. This dimension is defined by these researchers as resonance, the element that enhances reproduction of a message. The third and last element of discursive opportunities is public legitimacy, defined as “the degree to which, on average, reactions by third actors in the public sphere support an actor’s claims more than they reject them” (p. 205). Koopmans and Olzak also note that, at times, highly legitimate messages may have no resonance because they are not controversial, while highly illegitimate messages might have strong resonance (p. 205). This distinction is a particular issue to consider in the course of this analysis. It is with these definitions in mind that I made my choice of sources for this analysis.

15The newspaper articles, official statements and initiatives I have chosen are all dated between 2013 and 2015, which I identify as the key years of this controversy, as became evident while outlining the Italian framework in Chapter 2 and in Phase 1 of the analysis (p. 106). Phase 2 of our investigation allows us to have an overview of the public opinion at a national level, to better understand the nature of the opposition and the way its main discourse and arguments are reinforced.

16Moreover, this part of the analysis allows for a better understanding of the environment surrounding the educational establishments where the specific projects have been implemented. In fact, teachers, school managers and other educational personnel, as well as parents and political representatives at a local level, are exposed to this discourse and consequently respond to educational projects presented in their establishments according to their preconceptions and constructed understanding of these issues.

Newspaper articles

17Newspapers definitely have an important role in shaping public opinion, since they are one of the main sources of information. Moreover, not only do newspapers shape public opinion, they also reflect it. Keeping in mind the relation between visibility, resonance and legitimacy as outlined by Koopmans and Olzak (2004), I look at articles retrieved from different online newspapers, attempting to provide an overview of the way gender issues are reported. I chose to investigate Catholic newspapers, such as Tempi and Famiglia Cristiana, because the opposition expressed by the “anti-gender” movements appears to be most often of Catholic affiliation.

18It is vital to examine a wide range of newspapers, with different orientations, in order to have an overview of multiple perspectives. This also allows for a better understanding of the way newspapers with a large audience frame these issues. This analysis is centred on articles from online versions of the following newspapers, selected according to specific criteria, used to identify sources with different characteristics: the two main daily Italian newspapers (i.e. Il Corriere della Sera and la Repubblica); two Catholic newspapers (i.e. Tempi and Famiglia Cristiana); two newspapers with more limited circulation than Corriere della Sera and la Repubblica and that have characteristics that set them apart from mainstream newspapers (i.e. Il Fatto Quotidiano and Internazionale); two newspapers that can report the reality in the specific context of Cagliari, our case study (i.e. L’Unione Sarda and Casteddu On Line).

• Il Corriere della Sera, according to the data collected by the company Accertamenti diffusione stampa¹ (ADS) in June 2016, is the highest-circulation daily newspaper in Italy, including both paper and digital versions. Founded in 1876, Il Corriere della Sera does not have an official political affiliation. It has a tradition of moderate orientation.

• la Repubblica, according to the data collected by the ADS in June 2016, is the daily newspaper with the second highest circulation, including both paper and digital versions. Created in 1976, la Repubblica does not have an official political affiliation. However, it can be argued that it often represents principles in line with the left-wing moderate political agenda. In the course of this analysis, we will also take into account one report published by the newspaper L’Espresso, an important weekly newspaper, edited by the same publishing company as that of la Repubblica.

• Tempi is a weekly Italian newspaper affiliated with the Catholic Church, founded in 1994.

• Famiglia Cristiana is also a weekly Italian newspaper affiliated with the Catholic Church, founded in 1931. According to the data provided by the ADS in June 2016, it boasts the fourth highest circulation of all weekly newspapers in the country, in its paper version.

• Il Fatto Quotidiano is a younger newspaper, published daily and founded in 2009. The reason I chose this newspaper was that it is particularly difficult to identify a specific political affiliation, and that its specific intent at the time of its establishment was to be free from political parties and their pressures. It is possible to argue that this in itself was one of the reasons for its appeal to the Italian public.

• Internazionale is a weekly Italian newspaper founded in 1993. Modelled on the French newspaper Courrier International, it features articles from foreign newspapers translated into Italian. This allows for a certain variety of perspectives, which is the reason I have chosen it.

• L’Unione Sarda is the main and oldest Sardinian newspaper, founded in 1889. It does not officially express a political affiliation. I chose it because of its circulation in the region, both in its printed and digital versions.

• Casteddu Online is an online newspaper founded in 2011. The specific intent is to use communication technologies and social media for the diffusion of information, and it presents itself as “il primo quotidiano di Cagliari”, the first daily newspaper from Cagliari, entirely online. Recently, it has been at the centre of criticism, especially on social media. However, I have decided to use its article because, even if it is not considered as reliable as the other newspapers we have mentioned, it has a strong diffusion online. Its Facebook page, for example, is very active in sharing news on a daily basis, and has 105,592 followers. This does not mean that all these followers actually read all the news, or that they are all within the municipality of Cagliari, but if we take into account that Cagliari has 154,460 inhabitants (Istat, 2015), it is worth noting the extent of its diffusion.

19I identified three main themes, in order to divide the newspaper articles and make sense of their content. The first group of articles discusses gender and the integration of a gender approach into education. The second group relates to a specific issue: the educational booklets published by the National Office against Racial Discrimination (UNAR) in 2014, meant to provide teachers with possible means of dealing with issues of bullying and cyber bullying in schools, especially in the context of homophobia and transphobia. Lastly, the third group of articles reports on the reactions to the same projects that are at the centre of Phase 1 of this investigation. For each article, I outline three main considerations concerning its content (e.g. main arguments for or against educational projects) and one consideration concerning the way the author of the article intends to convey their message, through which expedients (use of sarcastic comments, neutral language, etc.).

20As previously outlined, the first articles deal with a gender approach to education, and more broadly to gender issues as a whole. This allows for a general overview of the way gender issues are reported in the media and, specifically, in online versions of newspapers:

• “Educazione al genere, la mappa delle ‘buone pratiche’ nelle scuole italiane”², published on 12 June 2013, written by journalist and blogger Stefania Prandi for the online version of the newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano. This article is one of the first articles to deal with these issues, before the controversy really “exploded” in the country. This characteristic justifies its incorporation in the analysis.

• “Gender a scuola. Prima che i nostri figli subiscano l’inculturazione LGBT di Stato, sarà bene provare a resistere”³, published on 26 January 2014, written by journalist Luigi Amicone, on the online version of the newspaper Tempi, which he himself co-founded. The term “LGBT enculturation” itself calls for an interesting analysis. My choice was also guided by the fact that this is one of the older articles published on these issues and that it comes from the Catholic newspaper.

• “Tutti pazzi per il gender”⁴, published on 31 March 2015, and written by journalist Chiara Lalli for Internazionale. This article constitutes an attempt to clarify what it means to talk about “gender”.

• “La crociata del gender. Il fantasma che agita i Cattolici”⁵, published on 22 June 2015, written by Michela Marzano, and published in the online version of the newspaper la Repubblica. I have incorporated this article in the analysis, mainly because la Repubblica is one of the main Italian newspapers, as previously underlined.

21The second group of articles concerns issues of gender in education, specifically at a national level, and in the specific instance of the booklets against homophobia drafted and published by UNAR in 2014:

• “Ma re e regine fanno male ai bambini? La guida contro la discriminazione sconsiglia ai genitori di leggere le fiabe ai bambini: promuovono solo la famiglia”⁶, published on 15 February 2014 on the online version of the newspaper Il Corriere della Sera, and written by the journalist Isabella Bossi Fedrigotti. I have chosen this article once more because, as in the case of la Repubblica, Il Corriere della Sera is one of the main Italian newspapers and, as such, it should be investigated so as to explore the position of a newspaper with a large readership.

• “A scuola di gender (con le famiglie escluse)”⁷, published on 23 March 2014, and written by Antonio Sanfrancesco for the Italian Catholic newspaper Famiglia Cristiana. I have chosen this article as one of the articles by Catholic newspapers that directly report the publication of the booklets by UNAR.

• “Omofobia: a scuola la Chiesa censura. Essere gay in classe è un calvario. Ma non eravamo uno stato laico?”⁸, published on 16 April 2014, and written by Michele Sasso and Francesca Sironi, for the weekly newspaper, in its online version, L’Espresso. As specified earlier, L’Espresso is an important Italian weekly newspaper, edited by the same publishing company as la Repubblica. I have chosen this article because of its potential readership, and because of its very explicit position on the matter.

22The final newspaper articles deal explicitly with the projects at a local level within the municipality of Cagliari and, specifically, the projects that we have dealt with in Phase 1 of this investigation:

• “Zedda spende 10mila euro per spiegare ai bambini che esistono i gay”⁹, published on 9 February 2014 by Jacopo Norfo for the online newspaper Casteddu On Line. I have chosen this article because of the local audience of Casteddu On Line in the reality of Cagliari, and because of the clear misinformation evident already from the title of the article.

• “Cagliari, scuole elementari. Il progetto gender bloccato dalle famiglie è riapparso in altri istituti”¹⁰, published on 26 October 2014, by Benedetta Frigerio for the online version of the newspaper Tempi. I have chosen this article because Tempi is a newspaper that deals with issues at the national level, and in this specific case it takes into consideration the case of Cagliari and the educational project Alla scoperta della differenza.

• “Scuola, polemica sui corsi gender. ‘Spetta a noi educare i nostri figli’”¹¹, published on 28 November 2014, written by Manuela Arca for the online version of L’Unione Sarda. I have chosen this article primarily because L’Unione Sarda is the main newspaper in Sardinia.

Declarations of religious representatives

23Some examples of public declarations made by representatives of the Catholic Church on the issue of gender in education and specifically on the teoria del gender are relevant to this investigation. In the course of the investigation, I use as an example only a limited number of declarations, such as remarks made by Pope Francis, rather than declarations from representatives with a smaller audience, and evaluate their potential impact.

24The nature of the opposition posed to efforts to integrate a gender approach into education is most often of Catholic affiliation. Moreover, the strong link between religion and politics in Italy is particularly relevant. In fact, in Italy, the presence of the Catholic Church seems to be able to affect not only public life but politics as well. Garelli (2014) points out that this could potentially derive from a number of reasons, such as the fact that the Italian Church is well structured all over the country and, therefore, it manifests not only the need for shared values, but also specific interests to defend. Moreover, political institutions have proved to be particularly weak in the last few decades and consequently need to take the Catholic representation into account.

25Garelli (2014) also emphasises that over the years, the Church had lost some of its voice in the political reality. It is in this context that, especially from the mid-1990s, the Italian Catholic Church initiated the so called Progetto culturale della Chiesa italiana (Cultural project of the Italian Church). This project, led at the time by Cardinal Camillo Ruini and later overseen by Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, means to reunite Catholics around the country under the typical values and principles of Catholic tradition, such as the promotion of family and freedom of education, and to push Catholics to become once again the protagonists of the cultural life in the country (Garelli, 2014). It is for these reasons that I choose to engage with official statements made by representatives of the Catholic Church and, more precisely, by Pope Francis and Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president of the CEI, the Italian Episcopal Conference (Conferenza Episcopale Italiana). These statements have been reported by the Catholic newspapers Tempi and Famiglia Cristiana, as well as by the Catholic newspaper Avvenire¹².

• Statement by Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) and archbishop of the city of Genova, in an interview for Radio Vaticana on 17 October 2014, in the conclusive phase of the synod¹³. I have chosen this statement because Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco often speaks out in the public sphere in Italy, not only in this specific context, but on broader issues as well. In fact, as the president of the CEI, he can be considered one of the Catholic Church’s main spokespeople in the Italian context. As previously underlined, he is at the forefront of the Progetto culturale della Chiesa italiana after Cardinal Camillo Ruini.

• Statement by Pope Francis in response a to journalist’s questions on a flight back from Manila, Philippines, on 20 January 2015. The video was posted on YouTube and reported by a number of news outlets.¹⁴ I have chosen these statements by Pope Francis, first of all, because of his position as the leader of the Catholic Church. Moreover, I believe his remarks have special impact. He is particularly loved by Italian Catholics, and on multiple occasions in recent years he has been considered more open to gender issues, for example in relation to homosexuality, than his predecessorss. Therefore, the impact of his statements and words in relation to gender issues is particularly strong among different generations of Catholics.

• Statement by Pope Francis during one of the public papal audiences, held most Wednesday mornings in St Peter’s Square. Specifically, this statement is an extract from the audience that took place on 15 April 2015¹⁵.

26Within this framework, focus is placed on the nature of the declarations, outlining the main arguments presented in the discourse. It would definitely have been interesting to analyse in depth the particularities and details of the specific language and discourse used in each statement. However, in view of the scope of this research and the barrier posed by the translation of terminology from Italian to English, this will not be the chosen aspect of this analysis.

“Anti-gender” initiatives

27Some examples of “anti-gender” initiatives allow for an overview and a general understanding of the activities carried out by different associations. For each resource, I also outline three main considerations concerning content, and one consideration concerning the way the message is conveyed, when relevant.

• Firstly, I analyse some flyers that have been circulated as printed copies during events and conferences organised by the different associations involved in the so-called “anti-gender” initiatives, and shared on Facebook and WhatsApp. These flyers were published initially in response to the publication of the UNAR booklets in 2014. These have been used for different purposes and on different occasions in relation to educational projects and this is the reason why they are taken into consideration here (e.g. according to my informants’ testimonies in Phase 1 of this investigation, these flyers were shared on WhatsApp at the time of the implementation of the Alla scoperta della differenza project).

• Next, I examine a petition published in March 2014 on the website Notizie pro-vita against the UNAR strategy and against the “Standards for Sexuality Education in Europe” of the World Health Organisation and the BZgA Research Institute. This petition shows a specific action carried out by the associations and it combines the UNAR strategy with the framework for sexuality education provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO). This element is of particular importance because it emphasises the multitude of issues that are associated with the notion of “gender” in the Italian context and public opinion.

• Lastly, a video published and disseminated by the Italian branch of the association Manif Pour Tous, now named Generazione Famiglia, is of particular relevance. The video was published on YouTube on 4 December 2014 and posted again on Facebook on 24 April 2014¹⁶. I chose this video because of its presence on social medias. Accompanied by the hashtag #nogender, it was shared on social media such as Facebook and spread by the association, for a total of around 200,000 views on YouTube by December 2016, and 87,000 views on Facebook, with the link having been shared 36,000 times. These numbers should be treated cautiously, since, for example, YouTube counts every view from the same account. Moreover, it does not necessarily mean that all the people who shared the video agreed with it: there could be cases of people criticising it. However, the numbers do give an idea of how widely the video was circulated.

Limitations and challenges

28Before proceeding with the main analysis, it is imperative to first highlight the limitations of the investigation’s research design and to present some of the reasons behind my methodological choices.

29First, the language of investigation is a fundamental issue. In fact, I needed to alternate the use of English, Italian and French, owing to the use of different academic sources and because of the specific case study at hand. Especially in the context of specific translations, this is particularly complicated. What makes it even more complex is the fact that in Italian certain terms – and, in particular, the term “gender”– are used in their English form, having however acquired different – and in fact inaccurate – meanings and connotations for the public (i.e. “il gender” as an ideology, often interchanged with the phrase teoria or ideologia del gender). This issue is undoubtedly inherent to every translation.

30Furthermore, for example, French and Italian are both “gendered languages”, where every term is either masculine or feminine. This is not the case in English, which can be problematic when attempting to highlight certain subtleties of the translations. To eliminate this limitation, I have decided, beginning in the conceptual and contextual framework, to directly translate the different elements to include French and Italian literature. This allows for more accurate translations of terms in the specific context of this research. In fact, as the person that is most aware of the content, objectives and direction of the research, I believe I can better translate the connotations and implications of the main terms at hand, rather than a third person. This can in turn be limiting, determining for example the lack of “fluidity” in certain translations.

31Furthermore, I needed to undertake this process being fully conscious not to change any term to “favour” my hypotheses. Being aware of this limitation, the translations I provide are instrumental in presenting the issues to the reader more clearly, and are not central to my analysis. In order to further counteract this limitation, I have asked some English native speakers, from different fields of research as well as specifically from a background in gender studies, to proofread my translations and make sure that grammatical accuracy is maintained.

32Choosing Cagliari as a case study can be both an enriching and a limiting choice. In fact, the fact that I am particularly familiar with the context gives me a certain insight: at the same time, it being a very familiar context, I am also strongly attached to the issue at an emotional and personal level. It is certainly impossible to be impartial or completely detached from the matter. However, it is my responsibility as a researcher to exploit the familiarity, without letting myself be overcome by my preconceptions. At each stage, I needed to constantly reflect on my preconceptions and to critically deconstruct them before going on to the next step of the research.

33Another limitation of this methodology is the scope, unfortunately also “dictated” by the nature of this research as a Master’s thesis. With respect to Phase 1, the research could be developed further, interviewing teachers and school managers, as well as representatives of the different associations that express open opposition to the implementation of educational projects. For example, it would have been particularly interesting to specifically analyse the arguments at the centre of the “anti-gender” discourse. As previously mentioned, due to the scope of a Master’s dissertation and the limitations posed by the language and the need to translate from Italian to English, I have chosen not to develop the analysis in this direction. However, this can definitely constitute an opportunity to further develop the research in the future.

34Another element in Phase 1 is the nature of the interviews and the manners in which they were carried out. The experts and coordinators of the projects welcomed me and were particularly keen to share their experiences. Because of this, from the outset, all the interviews were more like conversations than actual interviews. This is definitely a positive element for a number of reasons.

35Firstly, a more informal conversation, often in an informal setting like a café, allowed interviewees to feel comfortable enough to share certain information with me, sometimes even expressing an additional comment “off the record”.

36Secondly, this meant that no uncomfortable situation was created, as can sometimes happen when either the interviewer or interviewee feels they are in an inferior position. In no instance were any awkward or uncomfortable feelings generated, as demonstrated also by interviewees’ explicit feedback. However, this informal interaction can also be problematic. In fact, the casual nature of our conversations made it so that I felt somehow close to them, especially when they entrusted me with a precious element of information for my research. This could have been uncomfortable had I wanted to analyse the projects more directly, for example, and possibly criticise their structure and their implementation. In this case, I could have felt as if I were somehow betraying their trust and their openness with me. Specifically analysing the problem was not my objective, so this was not a problem per se. However, I believe it is important to highlight this element because it is a potential challenge, and I believe it is fundamental to take note of it in order to adapt my position as a researcher depending on my main objectives for future research projects.

37Furthermore, it would have certainly been interesting to further develop these interviews, for example engaging with teachers and school managers and perhaps even participants in these projects. However, because of the schedule and regulations of the Ethics Committee of the Psychology and Educational Sciences Department at the University of Geneva, and because of the time frame for the elaboration of this research, I could not carry out actual fieldwork. Thus, these interviews focused on the projects themselves and the coordinators’ experience and expertise in their implementation.

38Moreover, one of the challenges derived from not having access to the same amount of material and information for each project. Therefore, in a way, the investigation can appear somewhat asymmetric. For the SAVE project, for instance, I did not have access to specific material on the planning, implementation and evaluation of the project; all I had was the information available on the website of the University of Cagliari and the information I gathered from my interview with its representative.

39In terms of Phase 2, engaging with public opinion at three different levels, under three different themes, is quite complicated without going into depth. For example, it would have perhaps been preferable to have a more “symmetrical” number of articles per chosen newspaper. However, one of my primary objectives for Phase 2 is to provide a general overview of public opinion. In a different context, had I decided to investigate the specific area of public opinion exclusively, it would have been more worthwhile to select a greater number of articles and explore them in greater depth.

40Furthermore, the fact that the newspapers I have chosen are in their online versions and not also in their paper version could be considered as a limitation. It would have perhaps been more exhaustive, for example, to look in archives of the printed versions, or to expand the analysis to include televised news outlets and political programmes. However, I intentionally chose to use online newspapers because of the power of social media in informing the public about daily news, as previously outlined. Whether the information is reliable or not, social networks such as Facebook allow for immediate sharing and exchange of articles and news, and this is unprecedented. For the same reason, I have chosen campaigns that were developed both online and in print as well as strictly online campaigns, such as the distribution of flyers against the UNAR booklets and the video shared by the association Generazione Famiglia. Moreover, an expansion of the analysis to include additional news outlets would have been more appropriate if the analysis of public opinion had been the central research question, which is not the case in this book.

41It was particularly challenging to collect the required data so as to investigate the Italian situation of the last couple of years. However, I had the opportunity to engage with relevant academic papers (e.g. Avanza, 2015; Foti, 2015; Marzano, 2015). It was also possible to identify similarities with the French case, and French academic literature has been more developed in recent years on these issues.

42At a practical level, there were a great many concepts to define in order to provide an exhaustive yet concise conceptual framework. It was incredibly challenging to choose the appropriate concepts to define, and to find a structure that would appear clear and comprehensive. This was something I was particularly interested in, especially since we have found that there are so many misunderstandings and so much lack of awareness about the distinction between the different concepts, as well as their interconnection.