2013/01/01 by Zilka Spahić Šiljak · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics #Religion, Society, and Development
paper · doi:10.2979/jfemistudreli.29.2.176
openalex publication_date 2013/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
Feminist theology is a new phenomenon in the Balkans, and only a few women, more precisely, only a few female Catholic theologians and writers, discussed this topic in the former Yugoslavia.1 It was important work in the post–Vatican Council period as it shed light on the role of women in family, church, and society, though no larger, systemic scholarly work or initiatives in faith communities and churches by feminist theologians existed. Even today, the majority of women and men in the Balkans, including theologians, do not know what feminist theology is and if it is indeed possible to combine feminism with theology. This lack of understanding is, in large part, a hangover from the days of socialism when ideology and political order marginalized and suppressed religion and considered feminism as alien. Consequently, women, particularly women believers, would not dare reveal these two identities in public. Being a feminist was not acceptable, but being a religious feminist was inconceivable—and is still today. Feminism and feminist initiatives, however, developed slowly in the former Yugoslavia, though mostly of a secular and atheist provenance that did not take religion and female believers into account. It should be noted that, unlike in many Communist countries, feminism in Yugoslavia was not formed as state feminism within official communist organizations. Instead, it flourished as an independent endeavor of female scholars, journalists, and activists to change Yugoslav society from within.2 Feminist organizations and groups showed resistance to the communist state, and their work brought to the surface questions of freedom and individual choice. As Slavenka Drakulic explains, the self-management system allowed women to work, to be mothers, and partisan heroines.3 But inclusion in the workforce, family support, and political participation were not sufficient for these feminists, whose calls for freedom of choice were a danger to the socialist status quo. Their movement indeed represented radical