Page 134 - Vinkler, Jonatan, Ana Beguš and Marcello Potocco. Eds. 2019. Ideology in the 20th Century: Studies of literary and social discourses and practices. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 134
Ideology in the 20th Century: studies of literary and social discourses and practices
well as how the initial reception of the collection defined its subsequent
acceptance in the Slovenian literary canon. First, however, I describe the
position of women in post-war socialist society as reflected in contempo-
rary media, specifically in Naša žena (Our Woman), the central woman’s
journal at the time. This presentation follows the research of Marta Verg-
inella (2006, 53–71).
During both world wars, the strong traditional division of roles be-
tween men and women was weakened and redefined. This was mostly the
result of, first, fighting and, second, women occupying public roles and
other important positions in the public sphere. In several Western coun-
tries, women gained voting rights, undoubtedly also due to their role in
the first world war. In Slovenia, the right to vote was given to women
much later, only in 1942. This meant that men lost their exclusive mono-
134 pole in the public and political sphere. It was, however, also met with con-
cerns, even between women in liberal circles (Verginella 2006, 55). Bo-
ris Kidrič, for example, stressed the complete equality between men and
women as one of the most important democratic outcomes of the Peo-
ple’s Liberation War in Yugoslavia. At the same time, however, the new
government warned against feminism as a bourgeoise ideology (Verginel-
la 2006, 55): it maintained that the goal of the egalitarian society was
the equality of both genders and therefore rejected that women have a
specific role in the society. The new legislation and the new legal status
of women—besides the already mentioned right to vote, the marital and
non-marital partnerships were equalised, maternity leave was prolonged,
abortion legislation was liberalised, the percentage of women employed
in the public sector increased etc. (Borovnik 1995, 21)—promised better
conditions for the gender equality, especially since ‘socialist women’ had
more formal rights than their ‘capitalist’ neighbours. Right after the war,
the role of gender equality for socialism was discussed by political leader-
ship and by other women in politics, especially in the journal Naša žena,
published by the Women’s Antifascist Front. Analysing the journal, Mar-
ta Verginella argued that the new political leadership promoted tradition-
al views on women as the central imaginary for the female roles, such do-
mestic work, family life and maternity, self-sacrifice, and self-indulgence.
Some new roles such as political participation and replacing men at vari-
ous occupations were added to the list. Nevertheless, a myth of maternity
framed as the ‘socialist maternity’ replaced the image of an emancipated
and professionally successful woman, which was dangerously close to the
bourgeoise ideology. Gender equality achieved after the war (even if de-
fined by a wider spectrum of rights) therefore became a formality. Wom-
well as how the initial reception of the collection defined its subsequent
acceptance in the Slovenian literary canon. First, however, I describe the
position of women in post-war socialist society as reflected in contempo-
rary media, specifically in Naša žena (Our Woman), the central woman’s
journal at the time. This presentation follows the research of Marta Verg-
inella (2006, 53–71).
During both world wars, the strong traditional division of roles be-
tween men and women was weakened and redefined. This was mostly the
result of, first, fighting and, second, women occupying public roles and
other important positions in the public sphere. In several Western coun-
tries, women gained voting rights, undoubtedly also due to their role in
the first world war. In Slovenia, the right to vote was given to women
much later, only in 1942. This meant that men lost their exclusive mono-
134 pole in the public and political sphere. It was, however, also met with con-
cerns, even between women in liberal circles (Verginella 2006, 55). Bo-
ris Kidrič, for example, stressed the complete equality between men and
women as one of the most important democratic outcomes of the Peo-
ple’s Liberation War in Yugoslavia. At the same time, however, the new
government warned against feminism as a bourgeoise ideology (Verginel-
la 2006, 55): it maintained that the goal of the egalitarian society was
the equality of both genders and therefore rejected that women have a
specific role in the society. The new legislation and the new legal status
of women—besides the already mentioned right to vote, the marital and
non-marital partnerships were equalised, maternity leave was prolonged,
abortion legislation was liberalised, the percentage of women employed
in the public sector increased etc. (Borovnik 1995, 21)—promised better
conditions for the gender equality, especially since ‘socialist women’ had
more formal rights than their ‘capitalist’ neighbours. Right after the war,
the role of gender equality for socialism was discussed by political leader-
ship and by other women in politics, especially in the journal Naša žena,
published by the Women’s Antifascist Front. Analysing the journal, Mar-
ta Verginella argued that the new political leadership promoted tradition-
al views on women as the central imaginary for the female roles, such do-
mestic work, family life and maternity, self-sacrifice, and self-indulgence.
Some new roles such as political participation and replacing men at vari-
ous occupations were added to the list. Nevertheless, a myth of maternity
framed as the ‘socialist maternity’ replaced the image of an emancipated
and professionally successful woman, which was dangerously close to the
bourgeoise ideology. Gender equality achieved after the war (even if de-
fined by a wider spectrum of rights) therefore became a formality. Wom-
