Women under socialism : what degree of emancipation?

Marie Černá (1)

1 USD AVCR - Institute of contemporary history

In this paper, Marie Černá traces the development of the women’s situation under communism in Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Hungary and Poland, by underlining that the “issue of women” was a key-point in the socialist ideology, thus leading to a progressive legislation on women’s rights. Yet, she points out that this does not affect the persistent prejudices of “smiling women and fighting men”, as well as the social and professional inequalities, especially in their institutional and structural manifestations. She concludes on the idea that the communist vision of emancipation was imposed and drummed in, following the official ideology in giving the impression that the issue of women had been resolved once and for all. The model of the "superwoman", in control of her professional work while at the same time coping with her functions in the family, was imposed during such a long time that it left no room for more general questions concerning the relationship between the sexes. This, according to the author, is one of the reasons why Czech society, including many women, keeps its distance from feminist movements even today. For most people, feminism still remains and will always remain tinged with extremism.

Mots clés: Women; emancipation; communism; Czechoslovakia; GDR; Poland; Hungary; inequality

Domaines: Histoire; Sociologie

Marie Černá. Women under socialism : what degree of emancipation?: Cahiers du CEFRES N° 30, Le communisme à partir des sociétés - Communism from the viewpoint of societies. Cahiers du CEFRES, 2006, Communism from the viewpoint of societies, 30, pp.7. ⟨halshs-01160412⟩