ПРАВИЛА СРПСКОГ НАРОДНОГ ЖЕНСКОГ САВЕЗА ИЗ 1909. ГОДИНЕ
RULES OF THE SERBIAN NATIONAL WOMEN’S UNION FROM 1909

Summary/Abstract: The paper critically presents and analyses the Rules of the Serbian National Women’s Union, the first national organisation of women in the Kingdom of Serbia which put forward political requests for the achievement of private-legal, economic and political equality of women. The largest humanitarian and patriotic women’s associations in the country became part of the Union. Their activity implied the institutionalisation of female gender roles (care, motherhood) and the reproduction of social statuses of its members (most of them from the recently created citizen class). Although the Union was established upon the initiative of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in 1906, its activities intensified only after the Austro Hungarian annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908, which marked the start of mass politisation of women in Serbia. Serious discussions about the objectives of the Union’s work began and the first Rules were drafted at the time. Their analysis has enabled an insight into the attitudes and convictions of the leading female representatives concerning the topical issues of the emancipation of women and feminism of the time. Intensive national work was defined as the first and foremost objective. Another objective was the membership in strong organisations of the international female movement (the International Council of Women, International Woman Suffrage Alliance). Although the Rules do not define as an objective the achievement of political rights for women (a supplement was made later), the Serbian National Women’s Union became a member of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in 1909 at the congress of London, and the International Council of Women at the congress of this organisation in Stockholm in 1911.

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