Izvorni znanstveni članak
The Woman in the Rural and Agrarian Development of Yugoslavia
Ruža First
Sažetak
An increasingly acute problem in
Yugoslavia's social and agrarian
policy is changeing the social and
economic position of the farm
woman, with the object of her
achieving complete equality with
other society members. New
relations in the agroindustrial
complex are an impulse for the
faster solution of problems
concerning changes in the position
of the woman in the village and
in the private sector of agriculture.
One of the goals of the
developmental policy is improving
the socio-economic position of the
woman. This can be carried out
successfully only through the
common activity of all social
factors, i.e. as part of an integratel
programme of social and material
progress of the whole country.
Taking this line of approach as a
starting point, the author goes on
to discuss the legal, constitutional
and other solutions that can serve
as an institutional basis for
changes in the rural and farm
woman’s position. She refers to
the Constitution of the SFRY
(1974) and the Associated Labour
Act (1976), and also to some
special acts (on agrarian relations,
farm land, retirement pensions for
private farmers etc.). The
constitutional and legal principles
for solving the so-called peasant
question are to ensure appropriate
life conditions for working people
in the village, i.e. to enable farmers
of both sexes to change their
position on the basis of an increase
in work and the productivity of
their personal labour using
privately owned means of
production, and on the basis of
cooperation with a cooperative or
other organization of associated labour in the agroindustrial
complex. That process of
development also includes a new
social evaluation for the work of
the farm woman, who realizes her
rights on the basis of her own
productive (and socially
measurable) labour, and not on the
basis of private ownership of the
means of production (as a rule, the
owner is the man). The author goes on to analyze
statistical indicators showing
changes in the participation of
women in the total agricultural
population according to censuses
from 1953, 1961 and 1971, and
changes in the participation of the
female labour force in the
agricultural working force of both
sectors of agriculture. It can be
seen that the labour force on
family farms is feminized. That
process had been progressing, but
has more recently become stagnant
— today women are engaged more
on a temporary than on a
permanent basis as a labour force
on the family farm. This indicates
the beginning of the defeminization
of the working force in privately
owned agriculture, i.e. a trend
towards the greater employment
of women outside the family farm. In connection with this the author
discusses the educational level of
village and farm women, and
especially the educational demands
set before them by the policy of
development (of agriculture and
the economy in general) — a
phenomen that has almost not
been studied at all in Yugoslavia,
i.e. that is persistently evaded in
discussions on plans of
development. In conclusion the author indicates
some partial efforts that were
made to accelerate not only the
working (production), but also the
active self-management inclusion
of the village and farm woman is
an outstanding example of the fact
that the woman's economic
emancipation does not necessarily
include her social and human
emancipation. Although women are
the main working force in
agriculture, their participation in
self-management and the delegate
structure of the socialized sector
are symbolic, and on family farms
the man continues to decide about
production, marketing and greater
production investments (sometimes
discussing these questions with the
woman).
The basic course of the agrarian
policy in Yugoslavia — the
socialization of food production,
cannot be realized without a
different evaluation of the place
and role of the farm woman, as
the main food producer. Thus the
agrarian policy realization
programme can never be
completely based on
self-management relations if all the
questions from the life and work
of the farm woman are not
included as one of its integral
parts.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
119330
URI
Datum izdavanja:
4.6.1979.
Posjeta: 1.037 *