WOMEN’S PRESS IN SOCIALIST YUGOSLAVIA

Text topic: Changes

Text author: Марија Вујовић и Анка Михајлов Прокоповић

The position of women had changed significantly in the socialist Yugoslavia after World War II. However, despite the declarative and ideological equality between men and women, such equality was not reflective of reality. Women’s magazines which were an important part of the popular culture also testify to this. In addition to its entertainment function, women’s press, including the Bazar magazine, was intended to enlighten women. Women were required to be beautiful and attractive, and they were taught the roles of wives, mothers, housewives and the role of workers only to a certain degree. Domestic (household) domain was reserved for women, while public domain remained reserved for men. This paper will attempt to answer whether popular culture in the socialist Yugoslavia was liberal, and whether women’s press promoted freedoms or supported patriarchal ideology. The goal was to use the qualitative analysis method to analyze the first issue of the magazine Bazar and to prove that women’s popular culture in socialism emphasized pre-established gender roles, despite regulatory changes whose aim was emancipation of women.