Italy's first woman minister Anselmi dies

(ANSA) - Rome, November 2 - Italy's first woman minister Tina Anselmi died at her home in Castelfranco Veneto on Tuesday aged 89.
    Anselmi joined the Resistance at the age of 17 in 1944, working as a message courier codenamed Gabriella, the same year she joined the Christian Democrat party that would go on to dominate postwar Italian politics.
    She joined Christian trade unions, campaigned tirelessly for equal opportunities and became Italy's first female cabinet member in 1976 when Premier Giulio Andreotti named her labour minister. She later served as health minister.
    In 1981 she was named to lead a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the subversive Propaganda Due (P2) masonic lodge, and in 1984 filed a damning report on its activities.
    In later years she was frequently mentioned as a token candidate for Italian president.