Learn Italian: La deputata ha criticato il progetto dell'architetta. - The MP f. criticized the architect's f. project.

Historically, female professionals were often called by the masculine title (e.g., l'architetto, il deputato). However, modern Italian strongly favors feminine forms like l'architetta and la deputata for accuracy and inclusivity. While you might still hear the masculine forms used by older speakers, these modernized -a endings are now the standard in journalism and official use.

Why do deputato and architetto simply change to -a instead of using a suffix like -essa?

Modern Italian language guidelines recommend simply swapping the masculine -o ending for a feminine -a for these professions (deputata, architetta, sindaca). The suffix -essa (like in professoressa) is kept for words that historically always used it, but it is typically avoided for newer feminine titles because it is seen as irregular and can sometimes sound diminishing.

What exactly is a deputata in the Italian political system?

A deputata is a female member of the Chamber of Deputies (Camera dei Deputati), the lower house of the Italian Parliament. If she were in the upper house, she would be called la senatrice (the feminine form of il senatore). In English, both are often translated generally as MP (Member of Parliament).