Pravo glasa žena
WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE

Author(s): Zorica Mršević
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, History, Gender Studies, Sociology, Gender history, Electoral systems
Published by: Институт друштвених наука
Keywords: women’s suffrage; feminism; women’s movement; opponents; the power of public engagement; “inhabiting” history with women
Summary/Abstract: This paper examines Ksenija Atanasijevic’s commitment to gaining women’s suffrage in the period between the two world wars. It thus expands awareness of her and her exceptional consistency in the efforts to make women equal, in her time. She advocated the idea based on the undisputed principles of respect for personality, independence and human dignity, that every human being is inviolable and has the right to develop himself or herself in a full and unobstructed manner. It turned out that the power of public engagement she believed in, was a winning strategy, although the women’s right to vote seemed impossible at that time, only to become reality in the years to come. The text presents the European political context which, after the First World War, involved a moment of significant improvement of the legal and social position of women, albeit one not followed by the anachronistic domestic society. What follows is an analysis of the domestic situation and presentation of arguments against women’s suffrage, the activities of the women’s movement of that time, of which Ksenija Atanasijević was a member, as well as presentation of her arguments in favor of realization of this fundamental political right for women. Thus, this paper belongs to the series of papers that have recently carried out the specific task of “inhabiting” history with women, that is, their rediscovery in terms of their life engagements and historical contributions.

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