Comrade Woman
Between the 27th and the 29th of October 1978 the international conference Drugarica žena. Žensko pitanje, novi pristup? - Comrade Woman: The Female Question – A New Approach? - took place in Belgrade, at the Student Cultural Centre (SKC). This autonomous, second-wave feminist event is considered a landmark in feminism in the former Yugoslavia, and in Southeast and Eastern Europe more broadly. The event and the programme were conceived by Žarana Papić and Dunja Blažević.
Contents
List of participants[edit]
The participants listed by number and name were invited and were surely or probably present at the meeting. Between (brackets) are the participants who had been invited but were surely not present, in italic the participants whose presence is documented, and who were not on the initial official list. (Bonfiglioli 2008, upd.)
- Yugoslavia
Žarana Papić (Belgrade), Dunja Blažević (Belgrade), Nada Ler-Sofronić (Sarajevo), Nadežda Čačinović-Puhovski (Zagreb), Slavenka Drakulić (Zagreb), Lydia Sklevicky (Zagreb), Rada Iveković (Rome), Andjelka Milić (Belgrade), Ruža First-Dilić (Zagreb), Gordana Cerjan-Letica (Zagreb), Dragan Klaić (Belgrade), Borka Pavićević (Belgrade), Mira Oklobdžija (Rijeka), Slobodan Drakulić (Rijeka), Jasmina Tešanović (Belgrade), Lepa Mladjenović, Liljana Gajović, Vera Smiljanić, Nada Sponza Mimica, Bojana Pejic, Sonja Drljević, Sofija Trivunac, Božidarka Frajt, Durda Milanović, Vesna Pusić (Zagreb), Jelena Zuppa (Zagreb), Vesna Dramušić (Belgrade), Rada Duričin, Milos Nemanjić, Živana Olbina (Belgrade), Vesna Pesić, Milica Posavec, Vuk Stambolović, Karel Turza, Ljuba Stojić (Belgrade), Biljana Tomić, Goranka Matić, Ruža Petrović, Katalin Ladik, Zoran Vidaković (Sarajevo), Silva Mežnarić (Ljubljana), Vesna Dražilović, Seka Stanivuk, Mira Zelenika, Ruža Gavrilović, Gordana Bosanac (Zagreb), Helene Despić-Popović (Belgrade), Stevan Nikšić (Belgrade), Jovan Djordjević (Belgrade), Perka Vitojović (Belgrade), Dubravka Ugresic and the public of SKC in Belgrade.
- France
1. Christine Delphy 2. Francoise Pasquier 3. Aline Dallier 4. Naty Garcia 5. Xavière Gauthier 6. Catherine Millet 7. Jacqueline (des femmes) 8. Ivette (des femmes) 9. Julie (des femmes) 10. Elise Bon 11. Catherine Nadaud 12. Nil Yalter (France-Turkey) 13. Françoise Collin (France-Belgium) (Ida Biard) (Helène Cixous) (Simone De Beauvoir) (Luce Irigaray) (Julia Kristeva)
- Italy
1. Anne Marie Boetti 2. Chiara Saraceno 3. Manuela Fraire 4. Dacia Maraini 5. Adele Cambria 6. Letizia Paolozzi 7. Luciana Viviani 8. Giuliana Sgrena 9. Carla Ravaioli 10. Maria Rosa Cutrufelli 11. Anabella Miscuglio 12. Francesca Ponza (Elisabetta Rasy) (Maria Antonietta Maciocchi) (Dario Fo/ Franca Rame) (Ida Magli)
- England
1. Jill Lewis 2. Helen Roberts 3. Diana Leonard 4. Parveen Adams (Ann Oakley) (Branka Magas) (Juliet Mitchell) (Sheila Rowbotham)
- US
- Poland, Hungary, West Germany
Ewa Morawska (Poland-U.S.) Judith Kele (Hungary) Alice Schwarzer (West Germany) (Ilona Lowas- Hungary)
Initial programme[edit]
Reconstructed in Bonfiglioli 2008.
27/10/1978 10h Theatre : Presentation of the guests 11h Theatre: Section WOMEN / CAPITALISM / SOCIAL CHANGE 11h Tribune: Section WOMEN CULTURE 13h Big Room : Igra sa Jabukom (film by Vera Hitilova) 16h Theatre WOMEN / CAPITALISM / REVOLUTION Round table (simultaneous translation) 21h Big Room : Ziva Istina (film by Tomislav Radic) Exhibitions Gallery: Belgrade, portraits of women, October 1978 Circular Foyer: The Yugoslav Woman in Statistics Foyer: Sexism among us Foyer: Cartoons by Claire Bratcher 28/10/1978 10h Theatre: Section WOMEN/ CAPITALISM/SOCIAL CHANGE 11h Tribune: Section WOMEN CULTURE 11h Big Room: The Night’s Porter (film by Liliana Cavani) 13h “Work communities. Turkish migrant workers to Paris and Gent” (videos, photos and drawings) and “La Roquette, Prison des femmes” (video, drawings, documentation) by Nil Yalter, Paris. 16h Theatre WOMEN/ CULTURE Round table (simultaneous translation) 21h Big Room FILMS Aggettivo Donna (Rony Daupulo, 1972, 16mm, black and white, 60 min) Il Rischio di Vivere (Annabella Miscuglio e Anna Carini, 1977, 16mm, B/w, 60 min) Sunday, 29th of October 10h Theatre: GENERAL DEBATE 13h Big Room Talking about Love (Jasmina Tesanovic, video work, Beograd) Fughe Lineari (Annabella Miscuglio, 1976, super 8, 12 min) Puzzle Therapy (Annabella Miscuglio, 1977, super 8, 12 min) Rony (A.Miscuglio, super 8, 4 min) Paola (A.Miscuglio, super 8, 4 min) 21h Big Room La Bella Addormentata nel Bosco (film by Dacia Maraini) Mio padre amore mio (film by Dacia Maraini) Aborto. Parlano le donne (film by Dacia Maraini)
Reading list for the meeting[edit]
- International feminist texts translated into Serbo-Croatian
(translation by Nada Seferovic, Branka Misirlic, Alexandra Djordjevic, Emilia Kasapic, Jasmina Tesanovic)
- Evelyne Reed, Is Biology Women’s Destiny? (1971), tranlation from the French version (1975)
- Alexandra Kollontai, Selected Writings (London, 1977)
- Sheila Rowbotham, Women Resistance and Revolution (New York, 1975)
- Rosalba Spagnoletti, I movimenti femministi in Italia (Roma, 1978)
- Manuela Fraire’s interventions in L’Italie au féminisme, ed. by Louise Vandelac (Paris, 1978)
- Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch (1971)
- Shulamith Firestone, Dialectics of Sex (1971)
- Julia Kristeva, Donne Cinesi (Milano, 1975)
- Molly Haskell, From Reverence to Rape. The Treatment of Women in the Movies (1973)
- Juliet Mitchell, Psychoanalysis and Feminism (1974)
- Luce Irigaray, Ce sexe qui n’en est pas un (Paris 1977)
- Meri Franco Lao, Musica Strega: Per la Ricerca di una Dimensione Femminile nella Musica (Roma, 1976)
- Eugenie Lemoine-Luccioni, Il taglio femminile : saggio psicanalitico sul narcisismo (Roma, 1977)
- John A. Walker, Glossary of Art, Architecture and Design since 1945 (London, 1977)
- Articles by Ida Magli and Graziella Ungari in Nuova DWF (Italian feminist review)
- Articles by Sarah Kent and Rosetta Brooks in Studio International
- Texts from Yugoslav authors translated into English
(translations by Joan Coddington and David Rouge)
- Nadezda Cacinovic Puhovski: “Equality or Liberation. Theses on the Theoretical Relevance of Modern Feminism” (from Zena, 1976/3)
- Vesna Pusic: “On Certain Aspects of the Role of Feminism in Modern Society” (from Zena, 1976/3)
- Nada Ler Sofronic: “Retrograde Process in the Closed Family Circle” (from Vidici, 1977/5-6)
- Rada Ivekovic: “ The Position of Wome: Immediate Tasks and Neglected Aspects”
- Zarana Papic: “ The Social Relationship of Sexes- A Neglected Contradiction”
- Slavenka Drakulic: “The Family and Its Slaves” (from Vidici, 1977/5-6)
- Lydia Sklevicky: “When a Woman Says NO it Means NO” (from Pitanja, 1977/8)
Source: Bonfiglioli 2008
Documents[edit]
Literature[edit]
- Jasmina Tesanović, "Što je žensko pitanje?" [What is a women’s question?], Polet, 6 Nov 1978, pp 3-4.
- Chiara Bonfiglioli, "Belgrade, 1978. Remembering the conference «Drugarica Žena. Žensko Pitanje – Novi Pristup?»/ «Comrade Woman. The Women’s Question: A New Approach?» thirty years after", Utrecht: Research Institute for History and Culture – Faculty of Humanities, Utrecht University, Utrecht, 2008. MA thesis. [1] (English)
- Chiara Bonfiglioli, "Povratak u Beograd 1978. godine: istraživanje feminističkog sjećanja" / "Back to Belgrade, 1978: An exploration in memories", in Glasom do feminističkih promjena / Voicing Feminist Concerns, eds. Renata Jambrešić Kirin and Sandra Prlenda, Zagreb: Institut za etnologiju i folkloristiku, and Centar za ženske studije, 2009, pp 120-143, 268-287. (Croatian)/(English)
- Marijana Stojčić, "Proleteri svih zemalja – ko vam pere čarape? – Feministički pokret u Jugoslaviji 1978-1989", in Društvo u pokretu – Novi društveni pokreti u Jugoslaviji od 1968. do danas, eds. Đorđe Tomić and Petar Atanacković, Novi Sad: Cenzura, 2009, pp 108-121. (Serbian)
- "The Feminist Movement in Yugoslavia 1978-1989. Proletarians of the world – who washes your socks? From female Partisans to Comrade Woman", Antipolitika 2, Jul 2020. (English)
- Chiara Bonfiglioli, "Social equality is not enough, we want pleasure!” Italian feminists in Belgrade for the 1978 “Comrade Woman” conference", Profemina 2, Summer-Autumn 2011, pp 116-123. (English)
- Chiara Bonfiglioli, "Former East, former West: Post-Socialist Nostalgia and Feminist Genealogies in Today’s Europe", Bulletin of the Ethnographical Institute SASA 59:1, 2011, pp 115-128. DOI. (English)
- Chiara Bonfiglioli, "Compagna Donna/Drugarica Žena: la conferenza internazionale di Belgrado del 1978", Genesis 10:2, 2011, pp 83-104, DOI. (Italian)
- Žarana Papić, "Ženski pokret u bivšoj Jugoslaviji sedamdesete i osamdesete"], in Žarana Papić. Tekstovi 1977–2002, eds. Adriana Zaharijević, Zorica Ivanović, and Daša Duhaček, Belgrade: Centar za studije roda i politike, Fakultet političkih nauka, 2012. (Serbian)
- Jelena Vesić, "The Conference Comrade Woman – Art Program (On Marxism and Feminism and Their Mutual Political Discontents)", in Parallel Chronologies: Collection of Exhibitions in Eastern Europe, 1950-1989, n.d. (English)
- Borka Pavićević, "1941, 1968, 1978, 2018", Danas, 11 Mar 2018. [2] (Serbian)
- Chiara Bonfiglioli, "Feminist Translations in a Socialist Context: The Case of Yugoslavia", Gender & History 30:1, 2018, pp 240-250. DOI. [3] (English)
- Heyu Yuan, "“Comrade Woman” in 21st-Century Serbia: (Dis)continuities of Yugoslav Feminism in Post-Yugoslav, Post-war Serbian Feminism", Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection, Rice University, Fall 2023. (English)