Two concurrent news in the last week are a sad window on Italian society. The first one is the yearly Women to Watch ranking published by the Wall Street Journal, a list of the top 50 women in world politics, economics and culture. Not even an Italian one, despite Italy being one of the G8 nation.

It doesn't sound so strange if you look at the second news, reporting a study realized by the Italian Association of Pediatrics (Sip) interviewing 1.251 children among 12 and 14 years old (the study is dated 2006). When asked what they wanted to be when grown up, young girls had no doubts: their dream is to be a velina (a barely speaking/barely dressed television showgirl). That was the most popular answer, followed by an embarrassing I don't know.