Last week, we wrote about speeches. Today, I would like to start my post by mentioning the speech of Josiph Broz Tito at the First Assembly of the People’s Movement for Liberation from Fascism (Narodna Oslobodlacka Borba) in 1942.
Someone may ask: what has it to do with women’s rights in the Former Yugoslavia?
For what concerns Italy’s and Yugoslavia’s paths to women’s emancipation, they are very different, but they have also something in common: a lot of rights were given to women in both countries after women’s active participation in the Second World War. Tito’s speech is the clearest sign of that. He opened the Assembly by saying that he was honored to be the head of such a brave and valuable army full of women. He underlined that all people of Yugoslavia should have been grateful for having brave and strong daughters who fought in the first lines of the army.
In 1946, the new Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was promulgated and, for the first time, women’s political, social and economic rights were formally recognized as a result of their participation in the anti-fascist Resistance. The provisions dedicated to women’s equality were modeled on the 1936 Soviet Constitution. In the article 24 of the Yugoslav Constitution, it was stated that: “Women have equal rights with men in all fields of state, economic and social-political life.” This statement reflected a radical revolutionary stance on class, gender and national inequalities. As a matter of fact, during the old kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918-1941), the family law, which included women’s rights, was divided into six different juridical areas. The new legislation overcame discriminatory treatments of women based on their geographical origin, economic status and religious behaviors.
In the article 24, women’s “difference” as mothers was inscribed: “Women have the right to the same pay as that received by men for the same work, and as workers or employees, they enjoy special protection. The State especially protects the interests of mothers and children by the establishment of maternity hospitals, children’s homes and the nurseries, and by the right of mothers to leave with pay before and after childbirth.” This described the idea of “social motherhood” that was very important in the post-war period in Yugoslavia. As a matter of fact, motherhood was recognized by the State as a social contribution.
In the 1970s, Yugoslavia had undergone a rapid process of modernization and urbanization. Even though women’s literacy and presence in the labour-market rose, women’s full equality was far from being realized. A new Constitution of Socialist-Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was promulgated in 1974. Women’s political, social and economic rights were reaffirmed in the article 154. In this article, there is the prohibition of national, racial, gender, linguistic, and religious discrimination. In the new Constitution, women were not described as mothers; as a matter of fact, they are not even mentioned as women, but as part of the working-class. One of the main features of the 1974 Constitution is the particular attention given to the prohibition of national discrimination, more than other typologies of discriminations.
In conclusion, from the Yugoslav Kingdom to dissolution of Yugoslavia, women experimented different status as citizens. In the Constitution of 1946, women were “mothers”; in the Constitution of 1974, they were “workers”; they have never been considered “women” during the communist period. Formally, they had the same rights as men, but practically, they were discriminated. As a matter of fact, in the 1970s and 1980s, feminist activists denounced the failure of egalitarian policies and exposed the gap between formal rhetoric and the persistent gender discrimination, which is confirmed by the sexiest imagery of the press and the diffusion of domestic violence.
It is very important to remember also that the feminist movements of the area have never stopped to fight for more rights, but their work has never been taken into consideration by the state authorities.
References:
http://dediserver.eu/hosting/ethnodoc/data/YU19740221-2.pdf
http://www.arhivyu.gov.rs/active/sr-latin/home/glavna_navigacija/leksikon_jugoslavije/konstitutivni_akti_jugoslavije/ustav_fnrj.html
http://www.arhivyu.gov.rs/index.php?download_command=attachment&file_command=download&file_id=42688&file_type=oFile&modul=Core%3A%3AFileManagement%3A%3AcFileModul
In my opinion this post offers interesting causes for reflection. Firstly it emphasizes the role played by women in resistance movements. It was significant also in Italy. Infact historians affirm that one-fifth of people who fought in these movements were women. In particular among them it is possible to remember two considerable personalities: Nilde Iotti (she was member of the Communist Party and she became president of the Chamber of deputies) and Tina Anselmi (she was member of the Christian-Democratic Party and she became the first woman to be appointed minister). Secondly this post allows us to understand that a Socialist country like Jugoslavia from the beginning had the aim to implement policies to give more rights to all the workers, also to women, emancipating them. Nowadays the experiences of Eastern Europe Socialist regimes are justly condemned because of their human rights violations and their economic failures. Nevertheless Western society often forgets that these governments promoted - albeit with differences among periods and countries, contradictions and propaganda purposes - outstanding social and gender policies.
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