March is Women’s History month and just ahead of that yearly reminder of past grievances and present celebration, Netflix released “The Law According to Lidia Poët”, a six-episode series that dropped on February 15. The viewer is told at the start that the story is inspired by a real person, but Poët is not a name that the average viewer will recognize.
She was the first woman in Italy to be registered as a lawyer. While Poët was as capable as male lawyers, she was barred from the courtroom simply because she was female. She was finally able to rejoin the bar at the age of 65.
The series—as to be expected from Netflix– highly fictionalized, jazzed and sexed up– follows her as she solves mysteries while working as a lawyer at her brother’s law firm and becomes a trailblazer for women’s rights in Italy during the late 1800s. The series explores a new case in each episode and showcases her wit and passion. The show features actor Matilda De Angelis as the titular character.
Poët was born in 1855 into a wealthy Waldensian family and spent her childhood in the Valle Germanasca, near Turin. She earned a license to be a high school teacher from the College of the Misses of Bonneville in Aubonne, Switzerland, going on to gain a certificate as a teacher of English, German, and French. Not content with all these career options and degrees, she followed her dream of becoming a lawyer and enrolled in law school at the University of Turin. She graduated with a thesis on the condition of women in society and women’s right to vote, with a score of 45 out of 50. Her career appeared promising; she practiced law in Pinerolo, in the office of lawyer and senator Cesare Bertea.
However, in protest, two lawyers resigned from the bar when Poët’s application was put to a vote. With 8 votes in favor and 4 against, she officially became the first Italian woman to get admitted to the practice of law on August 9, 1883.
Soon the Attorney General of the then-Kingdom of Italy challenged the order’s decision and appealed to the Court of Appeals of Turin. Lidia Poët was disbarred on November 11, 1883 but continued her legal practice with her brother Enrico, even though she could not appear in court as a lawyer.
If Lidia’s story ended here, there would be little to interest history or Netflix, but her case aroused public debate, with 25 Italian newspapers supporting women’s public roles and only three against.
Even William Waldorf Astor, the American tycoon, was dragged into it as after an interview, the Minister reported, “that the public opinion of the Americans was not in favor of the exercise of professions by women, inasmuch as the female physicians, lawyers, etc., practicing in America, do not belong either to the aristocracy of money or to that of intellect.”
The crux of the debate was even wider: the central questions came down to whether a husband would incur liability for his wife’s practicing advocacy and whether in the construction of the statutes, the words in the masculine gender were meant to apply to men only.
Finally, in 1920, after the enactment of Law 1176 of 1919, which allowed women to enter some public offices, Lidia Poët, at the age of 65, was able to re-register as a lawyer with the Turin Bar Association. She was never married and passed away at the age of 94 in the beachside town of Diano Marina.
The dramatization of her story seems to be resonating widely. A user review emphasized that times don’t change that much and Poët’s struggles for women’s equality are as relevant today as in 1900:
“I work in a factory in the Midwest. It’s still very much a man’s world. I couldn’t begin to imagine what it would’ve been like back then, but with shows like this you get a glimpse here and there…Hope that others as well as myself take notice and want more of this very well told gem of a show.”
