WOMEN AND NATIONALISM IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
WOMEN AND NATIONALISM IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

Author(s): Wendy Bracewell
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Gender history, Nationalism Studies
Published by: Foruma za etničke odnose
Keywords: nationalism; minorities
Summary/Abstract: This essay examines how nationalism in the former Yugoslavia has reshaped women's roles, positioning them as symbolic bearers of national identity while simultaneously limiting their rights and participation in public life. Despite formal equality under socialism, women faced persistent disadvantages, which have worsened with the rise of market economies and nationalist ideologies that valorize traditional patriarchal gender roles. Nationalist rhetoric has not only reinforced the idea of women as mothers of the nation but also blamed them for demographic decline, using gendered metaphors and policies to control their reproductive roles and confine them to the private sphere.

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