Comrade Woman

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Drug-ca 1978.jpg

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.

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

(Susan Sontag) (Lucy Lippard)

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, "Compagna Donna/Drugarica Žena: la conferenza internazionale di Belgrado del 1978", Genesis 10:2, 2011, pp 83-104, DOI. (Italian)