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‘Not the Right Moment!’ Women and the Politics of Endless Delay in Romania

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 19; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09612025.2010.502402

1747-583X

Mihaela Miroiu,

Gender Politics and Representation

Abstract The history of gender policies and feminism in Romania and, more generally, in Eastern Europe, bears little resemblance to its history in older and stronger democracies. Even though feminisms emerged in Eastern Europe around the same time as in the West, here they encountered a non‐modern society. Then as now, Romanian feminists operated with western knowledge in a very different context. The patriarchy of the peasant society and that of the political class proved much stronger than their stuggle for rights. In post‐communist times, after the fall of 'state patriarchy' (read: communism), the feminist lobby of the author's generation (women around forty to fifty years old) proved much weaker than the internal conservative pressure towards the old gender status quo, as well as later on, weaker than the 'paternalism' of the European Union, to which feminists owed at least their current 'room service', costless state feminism. Notes [1] This article and my participation in the conference, 'International Feminisms in Historical Comparative Perspective, 19th–20th Centuries', held in Lisbon, 2008 had important support from the National Council for Scientific Research in Higher Education (CNCSIS) grant, Gender, Political Interests and European Insertion. The initial title of my talk was 'Dealing with Room‐Service Feminism when the Second Wave is Missing'. Because this article includes a larger outline of the evolution of gender politics in Romania, the title has been changed. [2] Mainly the states with a long tradition of social‐democratic politics, especially the Scandinavian ones. [3] See also Katherine Verdery (1996) What was Socialism and What Comes Next (Princeton: Princeton University Press); Gail Kligman (2000) Politica duplicităţii. Controlul reproducerii in România lui Ceauşescu [The politics of duplicity. Controlling reproduction in Ceausescu's Romania] (Bucharest: Humanitas) (original publication Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998); Krassimira Daskalova (2000) Women's Problems, Women's Discourses in Bulgaria, in Susan Gal & Gail Kligman (Eds) Reproducing Gender: politics, publics and everyday life after socialism (Princeton: Princeton University Press); Mihaela Miroiu (2007) Communism was a State Patriarchy, not State Feminism, Aspasia. International Yearbook of Central and South‐Eastern European Women's and Gender History, 1, pp. 197–201; Natalia Novikova (2007) Communism as Vision and Practice, Aspasia. International Yearbook of Central and South‐Eastern European Women's and Gender History, 1, pp. 202–206. [4] See Chris Corrin (Ed.) (1992) 'Superwoman' and the Double Burden: women's experience of change in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union (Toronto: Second Story Press); Nanette Funk & Magda Muller (Eds) (1993) Gender Politics and Post Communism (New York: Routledge); Gal & Kligman (Eds), Reproducing Gender. [5] See Raluca Popa (2002) Dimensiuni ale patriarhatului in gândirea liberala românească, intre 1848 şi al Doilea Razboi Modial [Dimensions of patriarchy in the Romanian liberal thought between 1848 and the Second World War], in Maria Bucur & Mihaela Miroiu (Eds) Patriarhat şi Emancipare in istoria gândirii politice românesti [Patriarchy and emancipation in the history of Romanian political thought] (Iaşi: Polirom), pp. 25–72. [6] See Popa, Dimensiuni ale patriarhatului, pp. 25–72. [7] See Valentin Niculescu & Pirca Radu (2002) Femeia in gandirea nationalista romaneasca [Woman in the Romanian nationalist thought], in Bucur & Miroiu (Eds) Patriarhat şi Emancipare, pp. 149–216. [8] See Ştefania Mihăilescu (2002) Din istoria feminismului românesc 1838–1929 [The history of Romanian feminism 1838–1929] (Iaşi: Polirom), p. 17. [9] Ibid., pp. 17–18 [10] Ibid., p. 28 [11] See Maria Bucur (2007) Between Liberal and Republican Citizenship: feminism and nationalism in Romania, 1880–1940, Aspasia. International Yearbook of Central and South‐eastern European Women's and Gender History, 1, pp. 84–102. [12] Sofia Nadejde (1856–1964): writer, journalist and impressive feminist and socialist militant. [13] See Mihăilescu, Din istoria feminismului românesc, p. 86. [14] Maria Buţureanu (1870–1919): writer and publicist, founding member of Women's Enfranchisement Association. [15] See Mihăilescu, Din istoria feminismului românesc, p. 86. [16] See the article 'Scopul asociaţiei', Asociaţia pentru emanciparea civilă şi politică a femeilor române. Buletin trimestrial, no. I, January 1919, in Mihăilescu, Din istoria feminismului românesc, p. 207. [17] Princess Alexandrina Cantacuzino (1876–1944), vice president of International Women's Council (1925), was a controversial figure: she acted simultaneously as a rights‐oriented feminist and as a nationalist critic of Romanian interwar democracy. See Roxana Cheşchebec (2007) Reclaiming Romanian Historical Feminism, Aspasia. International Yearbook of Central and South‐Eastern European Women's and Gender History, 1, pp. 255–265. [18] Calypso Botez (1880–?): President of National Council of Romanian Women and an impressive social researcher and publicist. [19] Calypso Botez (1919) Femeia in legislatiunea romana, in Mihăilescu, Din istoria feminismului românesc, p. 227. [20] See Mihăilescu, Din Istoria Feminismului Romanesc, pp. 24–36. [21] In 1946 the UN imposed the universal vote on all its member states. [22] In the communist regime the elections were a pure masquerade. The only party to vote for was the communist one. [23] See Niculescu & Pirca, Femeia in gandirea nationalista romaneasca, pp. 149–216. [24] I developed the argument in my article 'Communism was State Patriarchy, not State Feminism'. I argued there that the notion of a 'feminist communism' is a contradictio in terminis. [25] Miroiu, 'Communism was State Patriarchy, not State Feminism', p. 200. [26] Jean Robinson (1995) Women's State and the Need for Civil Society: the Liga Kobiet in Poland, in Dorothy Stetson McBride & Amy Mazur (Eds) Comparative State Feminism (London: Sage), p. 205. [27] In the 1980s the public intellectuals' influence was deliberately and dramatically reduced due to the rise of the personality cult of Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu. [28] With reference to communism I prefer to use the term 'domestic sphere', as Ecaterina Oproiu does, since the notion of a private sphere is inadequate: the state was everywhere and constantly interfering with the lives of individuals. [29] Oproiu Ecaterina et al. (1977) Cartea fetelor [Girls' book] (Bucharest: Editura Politică). [30] The concept 'nomenklatura' means the top level of the Communist Party with important position at the state and local level. [31] See, for example, the recent comments of Marilyn Boxer in her (2007) 'Communist Feminism' as Oxymoron? Reflections of a 'Second Wave' Feminist Historian of European Socialism and Feminism, Aspasia. International Yearbook of Central and South‐Eastern European Women's and Gender History, 1, pp. 241–246. [32] See also for the Bulgarian case, Krassimira Daskalova (2007) How Should We Name the 'Women‐Friendly' Actions of State Socialism? Aspasia. International Yearbook of Central and South‐Eastern European Women's and Gender History, 1, pp. 214–219. [33] In 1989 the membership of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party (RCP) included 24% women among the full members and 40% among the part members, while in the Executive Political Committee women amounted to 10% of the full members and 8% of the part members. See Cristina Olteanu (Ed.) (2003) Femeile in România comunistă [Women in Communist Romania] (Bucharest: Politeia, SNSPA). [34] See Kligman, Politica duplicităţii; also see Cristina Olteanu (Ed.) (2003) Femeile in România comunistă. [Women in Communist Romania] (Bucharest: Politeia, SNSPA). [35] Vladimir Pasti (2003) Ultima inegalitate. Relaţiile de gen in România (Iaşi: Polirom), p. 102. [36] Ibid. [37] Also see Franck, who uses the expression 'an ersatz public sphere', in Funk & Muller (Eds), Gender Politics and Post Communism, p. 323. [38] See Pasti, Ultima inegalitate, pp. 99–112. [39] See the Romanian edition of the book, published by Polirom: Kligman, Politica duplicităţii, p. 245. [40] Ibid., pp. 124–130. [41] See also Adriana Băban (1996) Viaţa sexuală a femeilor: o experienţă traumatizantă [Women's sexual life: a traumatic experience], in Mădălina Nicolaescu (Ed.) Cine suntem noi? [Who are we?] (Bucharest: Anima), as well as Cristian Mungiu's movie, 432: 4 Months , 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. [42] Mihaela Miroiu (1999) Societatea Retro [The backward‐looking society] (Bucharest: Trei Publishing House). [43] Mathilde Neil (1974) The Drama of Woman Liberation (Bucharest: Editura Politica). [44] Women I mentioned are professional historians and they are rediscovering the feminist past through the historical archives (Ştefania Mihăilescu, Alin Ciupală, Roxana Cheşchebec, Gisela Cosma, Simona Stiger) or through the communist archives (Cristina Olteanu and Valentin Gheonea). [45] Some important figures of the first post‐communist decade are Laura Grunberg (President of AnA), Mădălina Nicolaescu (President of Gender. Center for the Research of Women's Identity), Renate Weber (President of the Soros Foundation), Livia Deac, Ana Maria Sandi (President, Gender in Development Program, UNDP), Liliana Popescu (President, Civic Education Project), Dina Loghin (President, SEF (Equal Opportunities for Women). [46] See also Susan Gal & Gail Kligman (2003) The Politics of Gender after Socialism (Princeton: Princeton University Press); Denise Roman (2003) Fragmented Identities: popular culture, sex, and everyday life in postcommunist Romania (Lanham: Lexington Books); Laura Grunberg (2008) biONGrafie. AnA‐Istoria trăită a unui ONG de femei [AnA. The living history of a women's NGO] (Iaşi: Polirom). [47] Such as, for example, AnA. The Society for Feminist Analyses (1996) and the journal AnALize (1998). [48] See Mihaela Miroiu (2004) Drumul către autonomie, Teorii politice feministe [The road to autonomy] (Iaşi: Polirom); Mihaela Miroiu (2004) State Men, Market Women: the effects of left conservatism on gender politics in Romanian transition, in Feminismo/s. Revista del Centro de estudios sobre la Mujer de la Universidad de Alicante, Mujer y participation politica, coord. Monica Moreno Seco & Clarisa Ramos Feijoo, no. 3, June, pp. 207–234; Mihaela Miroiu & Liliana Popescu (2004) Post‐Totalitarian Pre‐Feminism, in Henry F. Carey (Ed.) Romania since 1989: politics, economics and society (Maryland: Lexington Books); Mihaela Miroiu (2006) A Mayflower turned Titanic: the metamorphosis of political patriarchy in Romania, Femina Politica. Zeitschrift fur femiinstiche Politik‐Wissenshaft, 1, pp. 84–98. [49] We have lobbied the Romanian Parliament on these issues starting in 1997. [50] Domestic social research was weakly developed and we lacked the requisite data. [51] See Miroiu, Societatea Retro and Miroiu, Drumul către autonomie. [52] Pasti, Ultima inegalitate. [53] Miroiu, 'State Men, Market Women', pp. 207–234. [54] See Barometrul de gen (2000) [Gender barometer, 2000] (Open Society Foundation), Bucharest. http://www.gender.ro/gender; also see Pasti, Ultima inegalitate; and Liliana Popescu, (2004) Politica sexelor [Politics of gender] (Bucharest: Maiko). [55] Miroiu, 'State Men, Market Women', pp. 207–234. [56] The exception is the president of the National Council for Preventing and Fighting Discrimination, Csaba Asztalos. [57] Laura Grűnberg (Ed.) (2006) Cartea Neagra a egalităţii de şanse intre bărbaţi şi femei in România [The black book of equal opportunities between men and women in Romania] (Bucharest: AnA Publishing House). [58] Oana Băluţă, Alina Dragolea & Alice Iancu (2007) Gen şi interese politice [Gender and political interests] (Iaşi: Polirom). [59] This is clearly reflected in the fact that, for example, rural roads, used mostly by men, were a priority compared to the water and sewage networks, women work manually; there are almost no state nurseries while the kindergartens are rarely affordable; there is gender discrimination in the funding of healthcare. [60] Laura Grunberg (Ed.) (2005) Mass media despre sexe [Mass media on gender] (Bucharest: Tritonic). [61] Susan Faludi (1991) Backlash: the undeclared war against American women (New York: Crown); also see Anita Superson & Ann Cudd (Eds) (2002) Theorizing Backlash: philosophical reflection on the resistance to feminism (Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield).