The Transformation of the Representation of Women and the Editorial Strategy of Women’s Periodical Press: The Magazine “Žena” (Woman) in the Context of Czech Socialist and Communist Movements (1911–1923)
The Transformation of the Representation of Women and the Editorial Strategy of Women’s Periodical Press: The Magazine “Žena” (Woman) in the Context of Czech Socialist and Communist Movements (1911–1923)

Summary/Abstract: Background: This paper focuses on the transformations in the representation of women and the mobilisation strategies of socialist and subsequently communist movements in the Czech lands. Objectives: The study aims to address questions relating to long-term trends in the presentation of femininity in the working-class women’s press and the role of feminine concepts in the mobilisation of working women. The study also examines the tension between ideological visions of emancipation and practical editorial practice. Methods: Methodologically, the research is based on a gender and content analysis of the periodical Žena, the official provincial press organ of the so-called ‘centralist social democracy’ in the Czech lands (1911–1914), subsequently the provincial press organ of the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Workers’ Party (1919–1920) and, finally, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (1920–1923). At the same time, it compares the content structure of Žena with the content of the central Communist periodicals Ženský list (Women’s Magazine) and Komunistka (Communist Woman). Results: In the pre-war period, the periodical Žena primarily employed two fundamental concepts of female representation: the image of the suffering woman as a ‘victim of the capitalist system’ and the image of the new working-class woman, a potential political actor. After 1918, Žena typically blurred the distinctions between them. The transformation of the periodical culminated in the years 1921–1923 with its transfer to the press portfolio of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Although older concepts did not disappear entirely from the periodical, from that point onwards, the concept of the ‘new revolutionary woman’, inspired by the Soviet model, became predominant. Discussion and conclusion: The analysis reveals a persistent tension between ideology and editorial practice, which intensified during the Communist phase of Žena. Alongside agitational texts, the periodical retained elements of traditional women’s press (household advice, fashion), thereby linking political mobilisation with the readers’ everyday experiences and leisure time. This paper demonstrates that this diversity of content was key to appealing to a broader spectrum of subscribers. Debates over the editorial concept of Žena and the circumstances surrounding its termination suggest that the radical concept of the ‘revolutionary woman’ was not accepted unconditionally by the readership.

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