Italian senators unite in miniskirts after deputy PM Antonio Tajani is forced to apologise over 'longer skirts make better mothers' claim

From the Newshound archive · first published 24 September 2026 · last updated 25 September 2026.

Eleven female senators from multiple parties wore miniskirts to Rome's Palazzo Madama in defiance after Italy's deputy prime minister Antonio Tajani, 73, claimed women who wear longer skirts make better wives and mothers. Tajani, who also serves as foreign minister, told a political event he would advise young men to marry "less flashy" women, warning that glamorous women "have a tendency to cheat." He later apologised at the UN General Assembly, insisting he had been "misunderstood." Even the Catholic Church rebuked him, with the head of the Italian Bishops Conference declaring every gaze at a woman must be "filled with respect."

MP Chiara Appendino posted a miniskirt photo declaring: 'Our reliability is not measured in centimetres of fabric.'

Former prime minister Matteo Renzi shared an AI image of Tajani in a short denim miniskirt and called the remarks "backwards."

The row erupts as PM Giorgia Meloni separately prepares to ban the burqa and niqab in Italian schools.