The role of the Italian women as Orsi describes it is puzzling. They seem to be held to contradictory expectations. On the one hand “married women with children were the source of power and authority in the domus….” And yet when Covello interviewed Marie Concilio, she told him that Italian women were really just supposed to “help mother in spoiling father and the brother…” It seems strange; women hold the power to make all of these decisions about everyone in the domus, and yet they act as the servants of the household.

If Mother was so powerful, why was she waiting on everyone else? She had worked hard to get to where she was, enduring the grueling years of being meticulously watched through her childhood and adolescence and ensuring that she did absolutely nothing to taint her reputation. Once she was settled in her role as the matriarch of the domus, she did not seem to reap the respect that she earned.

I think the answer to this conundrum is reflected in the next section of the reading, where we took a closer look at the intense devotion that the Italians had to their religion and traditions.  The faithfulness that these immigrants showed towards their Southern Italian lifestyle is astounding. They worshipped their statue of the Virgin and held the procession of the festa one week a year to reaffirm their devotion. The Madonna was the center of their life, and she was the solver of all problems.

What helped me to better understand a woman’s place in Italian Harlem was when Orsi wrote about women going to pray to the Madonna for help. He writes, “ These problems were never presented as personal…the crisis always threatened the domus.” The Italian matriarch was not a dictator; she was a selfless leader, devoted to using her power as head of the domus only for the good of the domus.

This is what respect means for the Italians. We’ve already discussed that Italian immigrants were willing to work the worst of jobs and hours if only to benefit their families. This was the true role of the Italian woman, to work hard to ensure the continuity of the domus. Her working to serve everyone in her household was not a sign of her low status. On the contrary, it meant that only she was capable of caring for everyone and deciding what was best for each member of the domus. The power given to her in her role in the home was to be used for, and only for, the good of the domus.