Cheap's Feminist Street Posters Challenge Italy's Gender Gaps

The Bologna-based collective Cheap has launched a street poster campaign titled 'Sabotage' that uses guerrilla communication to highlight ongoing gender inequalities in Italy. The posters, affixed to disused urban billboards revived by the group, feature slogans such as 'If you are a woman and you can vote, thank a feminist' and 'If you are a woman and you can divorce, thank a feminist.' The campaign deliberately includes a provocative inaccuracy: one poster claims women can practice professional sports thanks to feminism, but Italian law (91/1981) does not recognize female athletes as professionals, leaving them classified as amateurs. Only four national sports federations (football, basketball, golf, cycling) have established professional status, and only for men. Cheap acknowledges this 'error' as a memo that feminism remains necessary. The collective, founded in 2013, annually issues a call for artists to design posters on a theme; the 2019 theme was 'Sabotage.' The campaign references key Italian feminist victories: universal suffrage in 1945, divorce referendum in 1974, abortion law in 1978, abolition of the marriage reparator law and honor killing defense in 1981, and criminalization of sexual abuse in 1996. The posters also direct viewers to schooloffeminism.org, a nonprofit platform for feminist education.