engleski

Gendered values and attitudes among rural women in Croatia

In this paper, a brief outline of the historical, and socio-cultural contexts in Croatia at the beginning of the nineties is presented. Resurgent nationalist movements, prenatal population policies and other public discourses (e.g., in educational and religious institutions) all echoed a retraditionalisation of female roles. In particular, women in rural communities have been encouraged to inhabit this discursive position, i.e., taking on the very notions of femininity that constrain them but nevertheless have always been highly valued in these spaces. Based on in-depth interviews with over 60 rural (farm) women in Slavonia, Croatia, I attempt to explain the prevailing gendered value systems, cultural patterns, expectations, and roles in these rural spaces. Relevant themes include: gendered socialisation, education, marriage, patterns of residence, motherhood, domestic responsibilities, and sociability. This study shows that many women who are inescapably cocooned in prevailing patriarchal attitudes and a difficult recession period strictly adhere to traditional beliefs and practices. In many ways, this code of ‘ respectable femininity’ stipulates their subordination in which they are socialised to take care of others, inhibited in the expression of their needs and hindered in terms of their individual development and movements.

retraditionalisation; rural women; gendered values; respectable femininity

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