Women’s labour activism in Eastern Europe and transnationally, from the age of empires to the late 20th century

Project: Research

Project Details

Description

The female force behind Eastern European labour activism

Eastern Europe experienced deep political and social upheaval as well as geographical changes during the 20th century – from the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires, the nation-state making and the Cold War. Despite vast amounts of literature, the role of women in labour, gender and social activism remains marginal in European historical studies, in general, and in labour and gender studies in particular. The EU-funded ZARAH project will study how social and political events shaped women’s labour activism. The project will examine the interactions of class, gender, nationality and religion in women's labour activism.

Objective

ZARAH explores the history of women’s labour activism and organizing to improve labour conditions and life circumstances of lower and working class women and their communities—moving these women from the margins of labour, gender, and European history to the centre of historical study.
ZARAH’s research rationale is rooted in the interest in the interaction of gender, class, and other dimensions of difference (e.g. ethnicity and religion) as forces that shaped women’s activism. It addresses the gender bias in labour history, the class bias in gender history, and the regional bias in European history. ZARAH conceives of women’s labour activism as emerging from the confluence of local, nation-wide, border-crossing and international initiatives, interactions and networking. It studies this activism in the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires, the post-imperial nation states, and during the Cold War and the years thereafter. Employing a long-term and trans-regional perspective, ZARAH highlights how a history of numerous social upheavals, and changing borders and political systems shaped the agency of the women studied, and examines their contribution to the struggle for socio-economic inclusion and the making of gender-, labour-, and social policies.
ZARAH comprises, in addition to the PI, an international group of nine post-doctoral and doctoral researchers at CEU, distinguished by their excellent command of the history and languages of the region. Research rationale, research questions, and methodological framework were developed through an intensive exploratory research phase (2016–2017). ZARAH is a pioneering project that consists of a web of component and collaborative studies, which include all relevant groups of activists and activisms, span the whole region, and cover the period between the 1880s and the 1990s. It will generate key research resources that are available to all students and scholars, and will set the stage for research for a long time to come.
AcronymZARAH
StatusActive
Effective start/end date1/02/2031/01/26

Keywords

  • History of women's labour movements
  • Women’s and trade union internationalism
  • Women’s activism for social inclusion
  • Transnational gender and labour history of Eastern Europe and adjacent territories

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