As a part of the lecture series “New Views, Perspectives and Research on Gender Theory” organized by the Study and Research Group for Gender Equality and Public Policy of the Institute of Social Sciences, Prof. Dr. Nada Sekulić, professor of the Philosophy Faculty in Belgrade, held a lecture on the political culture of women in Serbia on May 18, 2021.
Dr. Sekulić presented an overview of the attitudes of women in Serbia towards feminism and their political vision of a well-organized society based on the results of the research on the culture of birth from 2017 and the preliminary results of the ongoing research on factory workers in Serbia. The results of these studies confirmed the high degree of repatriarchalization and social distance, as well as the pronounced socialist orientation of the women workers. Structural changes have been observed towards the repatriarchalization of the partnership towards a gender model within which it is assumed that a man has more power and performs the function of a breadwinner. The young generations are most affected by such changes.
The deterioration of the economic and social position of women and the growth of insecurity indicate a connection with the strengthening of conservative populism. The intersections between political affiliations and the general attitude towards feminism confirm that there is a connection between them. The most positively oriented towards feminism are among those who are oriented towards the strengthening of democratic institutions, and the most negative are the respondents committed to strengthening the national consciousness and the nation state. Due to ignorance of feminism, this movement failed to attract and mobilize female workers. In a discussion on this topic, the participants of this online event explained this by the failure of feminism to thematize the problem of the working class. Feminist orientation is in part still an exclusive part of the political affiliations of the elites and still fails to find political partnerships with women in trade unions. The lecture was also an occasion to consider the broader framework of political life within which political values and political education of women in Serbia are formed. A critical attitude towards the state’s attitude regarding the protection of labor rights of women factory workers was also expressed, especially when they work in factories owned by foreign companies.
