Mișcarea culturală feministă din Sălaj. Reuniunea femeilor române sălăjene
The Feminist Cultural Movement in Sǎlaj. Reunion of Romanian Women from Sǎlaj

Summary/Abstract: A moment of reference in the history of the feminist movement in Transylvania was the establishment, in March 1859, in Brașov, of the first association of Romanian women, under the name of „Reunion of Romanian women”. The initiative had a special echo, resulting in the organization of meetings, committees or societies of women in several Transylvanian cities, including Çimleu Silvaniei, the Romanian cultural center of Sǎlaj, in 1881.The constituent general assembly of the Reunion of Romanian Women from Sǎlǎjene (R.F.R.S.) took place on November 18, 1881, in Çimleu Silvaniei, and Clara Maniu, Iuliu Maniu's mother, was elected at its head. According to the statutes, the purpose of setting up the meeting was „to advance the popular education and the home industry with a special focus on women in Sǎlaj County”. To achieve this, the annual fees of the members of the meeting, donations and funds obtained from the organization of parties and conferences were to serve as material means. Beginning in 1882, the R.F.R.S. they were held together with those of the Sǎlaj Division of Astra, and from 1885 they took place in the villages with a larger Romanian population. In this context, the annual general meetings became real Romanian cultural-national holidays.The organization of the meetings in the rural environment aimed to intensify the process of culturalization of the Romanian peasant and to strengthen the connections between the villages of Sǎlaj.In collaboration with the Șimleu division of Astra and with the Reunion of Romanian Teachers from Sǎlaj, Romanian women from Sǎlaj organized numerous cultural events and exhibitions, including the participation in the General Exhibition of 1906, organized in Bucharest in honor of the 40th anniversary of the king Carol I of Romania and the millennium of the „dismounting” of the emperor Traian in Dacia. They also raised funds for a Romanian theater, aid for students, etc. The meeting took part directly in the organization and conduct of the general assemblies of the Transylvanian Astra (1878 and 1908), and the Society for the Romanian Theater Fund (1901), which took place in Çimleu Silvaniei. One of the most important achievements of the R.F.R.S. was the establishment of the girls' school in Çimleu Silvaniei, in 1888, with the aim of „promoting the culture of the female sex in Sǎlagiu”.

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