Жена и породица у Србији у другој половини 20. века
Women and the Family in Serbia in the Second Half of 20th Century

Author(s): Vera Gudac-Dodić
Subject(s): Social history, Gender history, Culture and social structure , Social development, Social differentiation, Rural and urban sociology, Post-War period (1950 - 1989)
Published by: Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije
Keywords: Serbia; woman; family; marriage; gender equality; urbanization;
Summary/Abstract: Modernization measures of the socialist state and the changes occurring within the family after the Second World War influenced the situation of women and were reflected in their lives. The situation of women was strongly influenced by full legal equality between men and women, extended education and increased economic independence based on the fact that the proportion of employed women was much larger than previously. The process of family nuclearization, liberalization of divorce and the possibility of birth control were also important determinants of the status of women in socialism. All this did not suffice to completely overcome traditional ways of thinking about female being and social function, to overcome the traditional values and change the deep ingrained roles of man and woman within the family. Women still did most of the housework, and they took unto themselves care of children, even when they were employed. Despite all the changes which took place during the after-war years, the perceptible differences that marked the ways of living of men and women in town and in the country in the inter-war period were not disposed of. The system of norms and behaviour typical for patriarchal ideology was more important and exercised greater influence in the country than in towns and cities. Many signs point to the fact that the modernization process of rural families and changes within them are neither clear-cut nor that they completely overcame the patriarchal system. Together with pronounced differences in the status and way of life of women in urban and rural areas, in various types of families, with the echo of emancipation on the one hand, and the strong influence of tradition on the other, as well as with all the changes which came about during the socialist modernization, female inferiority remained a constant, particularly within the framework of traditional family roles.

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