Born: 26 August 1855, Italy
Died: 25 February 1949
Country most active: Italy
Also known as: NA
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women creator Allison Tyra’s book Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work.
Lidia Poët was the first woman in Italy to be a lawyer, inscribed in the roll of lawyers (albo degli avvocati) on August 9, 1883. But she was almost immediately disbarred, in a court ruling that banned women from the practice of law in the country. Although she could not appear in court, she continued doing the work of a lawyer in her brother’s firm in the following years, in addition to advocating for women to be allowed to practise law and hold public office in Italy. She finally triumphed more than thirty-five years after her disbarment, in 1920, at the age of sixty-five.