This issue offers an overview of the commitment of women’s organizations that, after the Second Worl War, remained independent from political parties and opposed the idea of polarization that had proliferated since the first years of the cold war. Particularly, the focus is on the "Alleanza femminile", the "Cndi" and the "Partito d’azione", and on some biographical highlights of women that in those years were engaged both politically and culturally and that took part in Italian reconstruction through a dialogue with the "Unione donne italiane" and the "Centro italiano femminile". These women worked hard for the statement and the development of democracy and of new gender models, calling people’s attention to some aspects concerning public decency and morality. Morover, they carried on a significant pedagogical and educational action, whose aim was the construction of a responsible citizenship