Care provision for migrant female workers and civil battles: The «Amiche della giovinetta» (1877-1914).

The Union Internationale des Amies de la Jeune Fille was founded in 1877, as part of the movement for the abolition of the regulated prostitution, which in several countries significantly limited prostitutes’ civil rights. Originally established in the Protestant world, but with branches in a few Catholic countries as well, the Union promoted an international safety network which through homes of relief, outposts in railway stations and harbours, and employment agencies, provided support and help to those young women who were forced to leave their parents’ houses in order to seek employment, and to all those women who were either alone or «ill-advised», to prevent them from being involved in prostitution and in the white slavery traffic; the Union fought against these phenomena also in the fields of education and politics. The Amies (Friends) played a key role in that network of organizations which connected progressive women and reformists from different countries, contributing to spreading also beyond radical feminism watchwords such as the end of the double moral standard and a proprietary conception of women’s bodies.

Keywords: Sisterhood, Migrant female workers, Women’s rights, White slave traffic

Laura Savelli, Assistenza alle lavoratrici migranti e battaglie civili. Le «Amiche della giovinetta» (1877-1914) in "PASSATO E PRESENTE" 95/2015, pp 49-74, DOI: 10.3280/PASS2015-095003