Initiative for Naming the Bridge “Rosa Plaveva and Nakie Bayram”

In her research work, the artist Hristina Ivanovska aims to address the problem of absence of women from archives, lack of cultural memory related to them, their rare representation in the urban toponyms, and, most importantly, absence of women’s cultural-historical legacy. Through her initiative to have the newly built bridge named after two women fellow… Continue reading Initiative for Naming the Bridge “Rosa Plaveva and Nakie Bayram”

Editors-in-Chief and the printing house of the first Macedonian newsletter for women “Makedonka” – a body of the Anti-Fascist Front of Women (AFW)

Illegal partisan printing workshop “Gotse Delchev”, village Gorno Vranovtsi, Veles region. Source: mkd.mk

The newsletter “Makedonka” was a body of the Anti-Fascist Front of Women of Macedonia (AFWM) and was the first printed publication edited by women and dedicated to the problems of women in Macedonia during the Second World War and the post-war building of the country. The editor-in-chief of the newsletter was the activist and politician… Continue reading Editors-in-Chief and the printing house of the first Macedonian newsletter for women “Makedonka” – a body of the Anti-Fascist Front of Women (AFW)

Ursuline Girls’ School

Sledging in the school garden. Ursuline monastery of Škofja Loka

Given its affordability, the Ursuline Girls’ School and Teachers’ College in Škofja Loka (1783–1941) significantly increased the education level of women in Slovenia. In the past, girls’ education on the Slovenian territory was not self-evident. Even in the 19th century, schools were still mainly reserved for boys, so girls’ educational facilities were especially important. The… Continue reading Ursuline Girls’ School

Slovenian Maidservants

Grand Canal postcard. Maksimiljan Košir, www.starerazglednice.si

In the 19th and 20th centuries Slovenian women flocked to Trieste to work as maidservants and later as housemaids. In the 19th century, Trieste was the most important port of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Until the outbreak of World War I, it was a multicultural and economically flourishing city, which attracted numerous Slovenian immigrants from its… Continue reading Slovenian Maidservants

Women in Karst Quarries and Stonemasonry

Works in the Kopriva quarry, 1950. Personal archive of Marta Širca

The 19th and 20th centuries were the golden age of extracting and cutting stone in Karst. Women played a supporting but nevertheless essential role in this craft that is today being revived precisely by them. In Slovenia, the tradition of quarrying and cutting stone spans more than a thousand years. Karst, in particular, is well… Continue reading Women in Karst Quarries and Stonemasonry

Victims of Witch Trials

The town and castle of Ribnica (detail). Engraving from The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola (1689) by J. W. von Valvasor. Museum of Ribnica

In the Slovenian lands, witch trials spanned a period of 200 years (1546–1746) and resulted in the death of between 500 and 1,000 victims. Most of them were women. “Witch hunt” is a synonym for the persecution of all those who are different or dissident, as suspected culprits for all that is wrong in the… Continue reading Victims of Witch Trials

The Forgotten Half of Novo Mesto

Ilka Vašte (detail). Collection of portrait photographs of famous Slovenians (1997), National and University Library, Ljubljana

The Forgotten Half of Novo Mesto project rekindles the memory of Marta Mušič Slapar, Ivana Oblak, Ilka Vašte and other outstanding women who have made a lasting mark on the capital of the Dolenjska region. The economic and cultural centre of south-east Slovenia, founded as a city already in the distant year 1365, bears imprints… Continue reading The Forgotten Half of Novo Mesto

Workers of the Mura Clothing Factory

Mura workers in the sewing workshop at Cvetič, circa 1952. Photo owned by Marija Drvarič, the first person from the left (with a headscarf, looking back). Photo archive of the Murska Sobota Pomurje Museum

For nearly half a century, the Mura clothing factory, which employed mostly women, was a synonym for hard work but good salaries, quality garments, and general progress in the Prekmurje region. The Mura clothing factory was the result of a merger and nationalisation of the Cvetič (1925) and the Šiftar (1932) factories following World War… Continue reading Workers of the Mura Clothing Factory

Architects and Designers

Gizela Šuklje, plan detail of Metlika City Swimming Pool. Legacy of Gizela Šuklje, Museum of Architecture and Design, Ljubljana

Women and men still have different statuses in architecture and design, as gender stereotypes in the two fields have barely loosened in the last century. Architecture is one of the many fields that was closed to women for a very long time. Even when they could finally receive education (the first woman architect in Ljubljana… Continue reading Architects and Designers

Workers in Tobacco Industry

“Cigar woman” at work. National Museum of Contemporary History of Slovenia

The lion’s share of tobacco factory workers was represented by women, from the founding of the Ljubljana-based tobacco factory in 1871 to the discontinuation of the tobacco line in 2004.   After the Sugar Factory fire in 1873, the Ljubljana-based Tobacco Factory was moved to the new complex on Tržaška. It triggered the growth of… Continue reading Workers in Tobacco Industry

Women in World War I

Women and children in Tržič knit socks and jackets for soldiers. Tedenske slike, 23 September 1914, National and University Library, Ljubljana

When we think of World War I, we see the soldiers suffering on the fronts; however, the struggles of women in cities, behind the lines, or even on the fronts were no less significant. World War I interrupted the period of modernization and democratization in the early 20th century. Although people first thought it would… Continue reading Women in World War I

Women in the Ironworks

Kropa factory department for machine-made shoe nails, 1920. Iron Forging Museum Kropa, Radovljica Municipality Museums

Though it was rare for women to do waged labour in late 19th-century Slovenia, the ironworks as an important industry at the time also employed women. Nail making is part of the heavy (iron) industry and is, as such, usually not associated with women. As historical accounts of nail makers are written in the masculine… Continue reading Women in the Ironworks

Women of Lükarija

A demonstration of onion braiding. Photo Samanta Gomboc, Mariborinfo

From 19th to mid-20th century, onion growing and trade represented the main livelihood of Lükarija farmers and was exclusively run by women. The traditional farmers’ way of life was characterized by hard manual labour which engaged all family members. Women often performed heavy physical work and took on men’s tasks when men were unable to… Continue reading Women of Lükarija

Ita Rina

Ita Rina postcard (detail) from the late 1920s. Slovenian Cinematheque

Born as Ida Kravanja in Divača in 1907; died as Tamara Đorđević in Budva, Montenegro, in 1979. The first and only Slovenian big film star.    Ida Kravanja spent her early childhood in Divača. She was said to be a lively, unconventional child who liked to wander around and dance. When Ida was 7 and… Continue reading Ita Rina

Partisan Doctors and Nurses

Nurses from the Franja Partisan Hospital, 1944. Standing from right to left: Jolanda Žagar, Anica Štucin, Adelina Zanitti, and Mira Mihelin Nataša. Cerkno Museum

Between 1942 and 1945, female partisan doctors and nurses and their fellow male combatants ran the most extensive resistance medical service in Europe in secret hospitals. Between 1939 and 1945, the world was at war. The resistance movement against Nazism and Fascism also developed in Slovenia, but the occupying forces did not acknowledge the partisans… Continue reading Partisan Doctors and Nurses

Retracing the Herstory of Celje

Celje city centre with the City Hall, mid-20th century. Photo Josip Pelikan, Celje Museum of Recent History

The herstorical figures of Celje include Vera Levstik, Tončka Čeč, Pavla Jesih, Olga Vrabič, Božena Pelikan, Ana Baumbach and others highlighted by the TraCEs project. The walk through the history of Celje from a female perspective begins outside the Celje Museum of Recent History, the former City Hall that was also home to the city’s… Continue reading Retracing the Herstory of Celje