Feminist intellectual Valentina Falco, creator of the widely followed Instagram page “La donna a caso” (A Woman at Random), has passed away. Her community of over 100,000 followers had become a central pillar in the fight against casual sexism across Italian news outlets.

Founded in 2020, Falco’s platform documented daily examples of articles where accomplished women - regardless of their professional achievements, executive roles, or scientific breakthroughs  were demoted in headlines to generic labels like "a woman," "a mother," or "so-and-so’s wife." La donna a caso evolved into a national monitor of media sexism, highlighting ingrained biases shared by editors across the political spectrum.

Her final post was characteristically sharp, flagging a headline that read: "Francesca, a woman leads the architects." Her archive features dozens of similar examples over the years: "A woman to coach Union Berlin"; "Airport: a woman at the controls"; and coverage of Italy's Olympic fencing gold that listed the athletes as "Diletta Leotta’s friend, the French girl, the psychologist, and the mom." Through her persistent curation, Falco brought long-overdue accountability to newsroom titling practices across Italy.