8th March – International Women’s Day

by Viktorija Plavcak

– Slovenia –

Some thirty years ago, in a socialist system, we went out to the woods to pick the first snowdrops, to search highs and lows under the snow blanket covering the soft, mossy grounds. We picked and picked until our hands could not carry any more. Our hearts were filled with joy, knowing that our mothers’ eyes would light up and glow, that they would gently stroke our heads after we presented them with the first heralds of spring, as we liked to call them. And we all knew that there would be no absolution for those who had forgotten this ever so important event.

At school we silently conversed, hiding snowdrops or violets behind our backs and a feeling of warmth surged through our bodies laced with that of elation—we would have the teachers eat from our hands and they would tell us stories about the courageous women who gave their lives for our freedom.

Our cause was as noble as that of the women during the Second World War who decided to give their contribution to the national liberation struggle, who were fed up with the image of the obedient and tame woman that always stayed at home, waiting for the chilled-to-the-bone, jaded partisan, to feed him, to hold his Tito cap for him and keep watch while he rested exhausted from the battles.

In 1942, they formed AFŽ (Antifascist Women’s Front) which played a great role in the socialist system encouraging women to take the reins of their destiny into their own hands and fight for equality. The attitude of women towards the new post-war period depended on their past, social and cultural, heritage. In 1946, the SFRJ (Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) Constitution made a woman equal to man and for the first time, a woman became a full citizen with the right to vote. She was publicly recognized and, hence, came the protection defined by laws.

In the new system, it was necessary to redefine the sexual image of a woman in Yugoslavia. Bravery, the fighting spirit, toughness and decisiveness, were the qualities assigned to female NOB (National Liberation Struggle) adherents who fought side by side with the male partisan. For the first time in history, the female mother function gained social status. The new woman’s image merged both her devotion and loyalty to the family and public role. The society rewarded this new woman by giving her public recognition, and in return, she offered an image of a proletarian mother—a revolutionary woman. A good female citizen was described as a worker and a mother, whereas a good male citizen was not a worker and a father.

AFŽ was abolished in 1953, but every 8th March, it was celebrated with a great ceremony, normally held at a National House where we recited poems, performed sketches, all with an intention to pay homage to this ever so unselfish, self-sacrificing woman and mother. And the corners of all mothers’ eyes shimmered with tears as they saw their children glorify them upstage, breaking their tongues over the words totally incoherent to them.

Thirty years on, hardly anybody remembers those days. People celebrate Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, the commercial variant we have adopted from the West. We want it all—the glamour, the wealth we have been waiting for so long.

The morning has finally dawned for us, too. What is 8th March for a Slovenian woman today? Our mothers used to joke about it, saying that it was a day for men to celebrate because they needed an excuse to stay out late, normally in a pub where they used to have one too many under the pretext that they had to find gifts or flowers for their beloved spouses, and after finally succeeding, they came home wobbly legged with wilted flowers, wishing the wives all the best and plopping into beds. Some of these old stories still hold true. Today we still see some remnants of this old school who does give flowers to women either at work or home, but they are a rarity. Sadly, the traditional values have changed so much that this important occasion, celebrated in the old socialist system, has lost value and is just a relic belonging to a sad episode, to something that new governments and generations resent and mock or are just oblivious of.

Unlike its successors today, AFŽ managed to achieve a lot more than one would ever have expected. It was a giant leap in the history of fighting for female rights. Nowadays, women have to fight their own battles with the system, corruption, sexual harassment, denigration and discrimination. Perhaps it’s time to start a new battle in the new millennium.