Place of Women’s Rights in Supranation-Building: Comparison of Socialist Yugoslavia and the European Union
Place of Women’s Rights in Supranation-Building: Comparison of Socialist Yugoslavia and the European Union

Summary/Abstract: In both Socialist Yugoslavia and the European Union, the establishment of women’s rights can be determined as an integral part of supranation-building. While bearing in mind the long and unbroken tradition of patriarchy, both entities, partially under the influence of feminist theory and practice, have integrated the fight for women’s rights into their political agendas, using them as an identity tool in establishing a clear distinction from the opposed political, economic and socio-cultural systems. Imposed from the above, the introduction of gender equality policies and legislation to many of their (nation) states came as a shock therapy, challenging existing traditional cultural patterns and norms while making the results uneven and fragile. Women’s rights policies were, especially in the beginning, primarily economic in nature, concentrating on the inadequate position of women in the labor market and ignoring the structural reasons behind inequality.

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