The Growth of Czech Feminism: Analyzing Resistance Activities through a Gendered Lens, 1968 to 1993

Abstract

This paper explores how women’s roles and participation in resistance to Czechoslovak communism from 1968 to the Velvet Revolution serve as a base for Czech feminist thought. By examining three generations of participants through a gendered, Beauvoirian lens, the emergence of feminism can be easily charted through changing perceived gender roles and increased attention to gender issues. After the events of the Prague Spring, women from different groups of the Czechoslovak underground risked their own safety to exercise free speech and expression. Women’s struggles for greater liberties were framed by traditional gender barriers, supposed communist equality, and Western influence. To understand the experiences of female dissidents as a base for Czech feminist thought, one must examine the nature and progression of various underground communities and women’s roles within them. Since 1968, an increased emphasis on women’s freedoms and liberties has helped create a unique, local sense of femininity and feminism.

Keywords

• gender
• feminism
• resistance
• the Czech Republic