Pouvoir aux femmes ou femmes au pouvoir?: le mouvement des femmes roumaines en debat (1929-1944)

Abstract

The author places the beginnings of the "de-construction" of feminism in Romania in the timeframe between 1929 and 1944. It was a period of confrontation among the organisations and their leaders, especially within the two major organizations, respectively the Union of Romanian Women, with its leaders Maria Baiulescu and Elena Meissener, and the National Group of Romanian Women, represented by Alexandrina Cantacuzino. The theoretical conflict between the two associations concerned the participation of women in the structures of parties: the Union of Romanian Women was favourable to participation in the existing structures, while the National Group of Romanian Women sought to create a separate party of women. Meantime, some regulatory breakthroughs for women’s participation in political affairs were the Administrative Law of 1929, granting women the right to vote in local elections (maintaining the electoral colleges based on class and property qualifications), and the Law of 1939 further extending women's suffrage to the general elections, as King Charles II's authoritarian regime planned the inclusion of women in the Front of National Rebirth. In the conditions of WWII, the Romanian feminist movement underwent a change in emphasis from a preoccupation with political rights, to the destiny of soldiers of the front, and a return to the initial purpose of charity. This shift is also due to the authoritarian regime of Antonescu, which forced women to reinitiate the charity programme, one that was never really abandoned, but which had been somewhat shadowed by the struggle for political rights.