Women in Yugoslavia - World War II

World War II

During the war years, women underwent a rapid transformation in all spheres. According to Barbara Jancar-Webster, this was not a “revolution in the Yugoslav woman’s experience but rather a foreshortening of the process of consciousness development.” The fact that women made further strides for their cause during the five years of the war than the twenty years of the interwar period was not a break in history but an indication that the intensity of the war allowed for greater participation of women in the cause. Women became significant members of the National Liberation Movement and participated in all aspects of the anti-fascist resistance. Women occupied positions as fighters, in the rear, and as leaders. Seventy percent of the women fighters were under twenty years of age. Yet, women in the rear were multi-aged. They mobilized other women to gather supplies, cared for the sick and wounded, and sustained local economies.

Though women proved themselves as politically and economically capable within the Partisan movement, a chauvinistic attitude was maintained. Double standards were rampant.

Women were fighters because fighters were needed for the war, and the war needed to be won. But it was a man’s war throughout, with men determining when, where, and how women would fight… recognition of the qualities of the woman fighter did not translate into giving even the most trusted fighters a role in decision-making either during or following the war.

Though female participation in the Partisan movement was high, the movement still functioned as a patriarchal system.