ABSTRACT
This chapter examines developments in the study of women’s and gender equality activism in Central-Eastern Europe (CEE) after 1945 through analytical engagement with two broader, intersecting theoretical debates: (1) deconstructing prevalent representations of CEE women’s movements as lacking and delayed when comparing to the West, and (2) establishing non-chronological, genealogical approaches to the history of contemporary women’s movements in the region. It traces transnational and local struggles for gender equality, particularly within the Women’s International Democratic Federation, and suggests that the post-1989 women’s movements in CEE are to be seen either as a direct or indirect continuation of the previous engagements. The chapter examines women’s service activism after 1989, institutionalization of this activism, and feminists engagements with the state (through gender mainstreaming), as well as a current turn toward “connective action” as various ways of articulating specific subjectivities of CEE women and gender equality activists within the context of ambivalent historical legacies, and continuing domination of right-wing politics in the region.
