08/03/2026
Why did the mimosa become a symbol for International Women’s Day in Italy?
The story is inseparable from the specific political climate of 1946 Italy. This was the year Italian women exercised their right to vote for the first time, transforming the flower from a seasonal bloom into a badge of democratic participation.
Let’s look at the historical context: An institutional decree in January 1945 granted women the right to vote however, the ongoing war prevented immediate implementation. It was not until the local elections in March 1946 and the national referendum in June 1946 that Italian women finally went to the polls.
The organisers of the first post-war Women’s Day in Italy wanted a symbol that represented this transition from clandestine resistance to formal political power. The decision was led by members of the Unione Donne Italiane (UDI), many of whom were “Madri Costituenti” (Constituent Mothers)—the 21 women elected to help draft the new Italian Constitution.
Who were these pioneering women? One was Teresa Mattei, a former partisan and resistance commander during WWII. Mattei was the youngest woman elected to the Constituent Assembly. She advocated for the mimosa specifically because it was the flower that partisans often gave to one another in the mountains during the Resistance.
She famously rejected the orchid and the violet. She argued that a symbol for the “new Italian woman” should not be a luxury item available only to the elite, but a flower that grew wild and was accessible to the working class.
By pinning a sprig of mimosa to their lapels, women in 1946 were making a visible political statement. It signaled:
📍Recognition of their contribution to the liberation of Italy from Fascism.
📍Claiming of their new status as full citizens with the right to vote.
📍Solidarity across economic lines, as the flower was free for anyone to pick.
Thank you to our pioneering ancestors 💛
