1st Edition

Feminisms and Politics in the Interwar Balkans and East-Central Europe

Edited By Katerina Dalakoura, Krassimira Daskalova Copyright 2026
322 Pages
by Central European University Press

The volume, a result of a collective research project, examines collaborations among interwar Balkan and East Central European feminist and women’s associations, as well as their engagement with intergovernmental alliances and diplomatic forums. It includes thematic case studies on the Little Entente of Women, the Unity of Slavic Women, the Balkan Women’s Conferences, and women’s participation in... Read more

List of Acronyms
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Expanding the House of European Women’s and Gender History - Francisca de Haan
Introduction - Katerina Dalakoura and Krassimira Daskalova
CHAPTER ONE
Women, Politics, and Regional Diplomacy (1923–1939): From the Little Entente of Women to the Balkan Conference - Katerina Dalakoura
CHAPTER TWO
Little Entente of Women and Unity of Slavic Women in Czechoslovakia: Feminist Aspirations, Political Involvement, and Limits of Transnational Cooperation - Gabriela Dudeková Ková.ová
CHAPTER THREE
Between Nationalism and International Cooperation: Polish Women Activists in the Little Entente of Women. - Katarzyna Sierakowska
CHAPTER FOUR
The Little Entente of Women (1923–1929): Feminist Citizenship Advocacy in the Balkans and East-Central Europe - Dimitra Samiou
CHAPTER FIVE
Feminism, Nationalism, Politics, and Pacifism in the Balkans through the Personal Life of Zheni Bozhilova-Pateva (1878 – 1955) - Krassimira Daskalova
CHAPTER SIX
Regional, Transnational, and International Women’s Cooperation: Women’s Conferences in Interwar Yugoslavia - Ivana Panteli. and Jasmina Milanovi.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Struggle for Representation in the Romanian Feminist Movement: Izabela Sadoveanu’s (1870–1941) Critique of the Little Entente of Women - Giorgos Manios
CHAPTER EIGHT
Acting Internationally, Thinking Nationally (1919–1939): Aspects of the International and Inter-Balkan Collaborations of the Lyceum Club of Greek Women - Eleni Fournaraki
CHAPTER NINE
Diversity and Entanglements in East-European Feminisms: The Bulgarian Women’s Social-Democratic Union (1921–1934) - Valentina Mitkova
CHAPTER TEN
Socialist Women in International and Regional Initiatives during the Interwar Period: Ambiguous Trajectories - Eleftheria Papastefanaki
Sources – Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index

Biography

Katerina Dalakoura, Professor at the University of Crete, specializes in women’s and gender history (18th–20th c.), focusing on education, social activism, feminisms, and print cultures in Ottoman Empire, Greece, and the Balkans. She has authored and edited several books and is currently engaged in projects on interwar feminisms, digital history, and the history of medicine.

Krassimira Daskalova is Professor of Modern European Cultural History at the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski.” She is author and editor of 20 books (in Bulgarian and English). She is editor of Aspasia. The International Yearbook of Central, Eastern and Southeastern European Women’s and Gender History [annually since 2007]. Daskalova served as President of the International Federation for Research in Women’s History, 2005-2010.