There is no work for women who are not imbued, even if not always so shamelessly, of prejudices and learned treatments. Of any use we speak, it is still very complicated to deal with a true gender equality.
The world is full of this, our Italy is full of this, where it slams against the rubber wall of false equity. False, as the contentment is false for a pregnant woman. As soon as you do two calculations, that woman will just be a weight for business: better to eliminate her.
This is the case that today is in all the newspapers, just the time of a day of indignation and then again, everyone at the sea. Asja Cogliandro, Palvolista del Perugia, removed because it is pregnant. A news, that of pregnancy, which had come in the aftermath of the renewal of the contract just signedafter promoting his team, the Black Angels Perugia, in A1.
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A contentment that has had the hours counted.
On January 21, I train and I am afraid, my companions are frightened – says Cogliandro to La Stampa -. I therefore decide to say that he is pregnant. The next day I communicate it to the sports director who, very happy, embraces me.
But in a moment the scenario changes and the pressures arrive. The company tells me to leave the house and return the monthly dishes already paid. They become assertive, they want it to go away.
I ask for a suspension of the contract and perhaps to be used in the club with other tasks, but nothing. We are Co.co.co, not professional. Between their offer and the necessary until the natural expiry of the contract, 12 thousand euros, a stupid figure, but I suffered psychological violence. If we continue to accept these compromises, I will not be the last. It’s time to say enough.
A great love story ended with an inconceivable psychological violence of which I do not understand why. In the following days I am called to the phone repeatedly because, they tell me, you have to understand what to do with the contract. They require me to ask for motherhood, but that takes place two months from the date of childbirth. The truth is that they are only interested in cutting myself.
The position of Federvolley and Lega
I bitterly read the story relating to Asja Cogliandro. I wish to express my full personal solidarity and that of the whole Italian Volleyball Federation. Motherhood can never be seen as a fault, nor an obstacle to the career of a sportsman – says President Giuseppe Manfredi. Precisely for this reason, as a federation, a few years ago we wanted to give a concrete signal, instituting “motherhood is of all”, a fund dedicated to the athletes who will become mothers, in order to accompany them and support them in such an important moment in their lives. From the activation of the Fund we have already supported many athletes who have requested it.
The women’s Serie A League also claims to take note of the situation that has been created between the Black Angels Perugia company and the athlete Asja Cogliandro with regret:
Maternity is a right, a beautiful thing, and the League has always fought for the protection of life, working continuously with awareness campaigns not only on this issue but on everything concerning the safeguarding of our athletes and all women for inclusiveness and against social discomfort. This story therefore strikes us and saddens us even more, underlines President Mauro Fabris.
Maternity is still an invisible obstacle
Despite the progress in the policies of inclusiveness and the declarations of intent by institutions and associations, motherhood is still a taboo issue in the world of work, and in particular in sport. The story of Asja Cogliandro is the most bloody testimony and is not an isolated case, but a reflection of a still widespread mentality, due to which motherhood is seen as an obstacle and not as a natural and sacrosanct phase of a woman’s life. The result? A unsustainable psychological violence Which undermines the career and dignity of the athletes, reducing their value to that of a potential “shopping” for sports clubs.
The case of Asja Cogliandro also raises a wider theme, linked to the distorted vision of gender equality in the world of work. Although political policies are proclaimed, reality is very different: motherhood is still seen as a luxury that women cannot afford if they want to continue to make a career. The structures, even the sports ones, prefer to invest in “without problems” athletes, pushing the rights of those who decide to become a mother in the background.
Cogliandro is still yet another case that highlights how rooted and pervasive this prejudice is. Once more, gender equality proves to be a facade, under which unbearable discrimination is hidden.
