Alaide Gualberta Beccari

Alaide Gualberta Beccari (born 1842 in Padua – died 1906) was an Italian feminist, republican, pacifist, and social reformer, who published the feminist journal Woman during the 1870s and 1880s.

Biography Alaide Beccari was born in Padua in 1842, the only one of her parents' 12 children to survive to adulthood. Beccari's father was a civil servant in Padua, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time. Beccari's father was a supporter of Italian unification and joined the Risorgimento during the uprisings of 1848. When the uprising failed, he fled to Turin. She worked as her father's secretary for a time, then returned to Padua when it was captured by the forces of Lombardy-Venetia.

At age 16, Beccari was living in Venice, where she launched the journal Woman.

Woman The journal Woman was published biweekly. Beccari's publication promoted women's rights following Italian unification in 1861. The journal Woman gave coverage to Anna Maria Mozzoni, who fought to reform Italy's laws regulating legalized prostitution. Mozzoni and Beccari publicized the concept of the "citizen woman" and "patriot mother". Woman also promoted the causes of Josephine Butler. Articles originally printed in Woman were translated and published abroad, in England's feminist journal Englishwoman's Review. In 1877, Woman held a petition drive, garnering 3000 signatures in support of women's suffrage in Italy.

Beccari was forced to end her editorship of Woman in 1887 due to ill health; Emilia Mariani took over as the editor of Woman.

Later years Beccari continued writing, establishing a children's magazine called Mamma. She offered support to other women writers trying to launch their careers.

Beccari was discouraged by the lack of popular support for women's causes in Italy. She became a vocal supporter of socialism, which resulted in a loss of support from moderate feminists.