Women and the Family in the Late Nineteenth-century Romanian Feminist Press

Abstract

From a historical sociology and gender studies perspective, this article sets out to explore the representations and the public discourse surrounding women’s role in society and in the family, through the lenses of the late nineteenth-century Romanian feminist press. As elsewhere in Europe, the feminine ideal of that era emphasized motherhood and the dichotomy between public and private spheres in the construction of gender relations. At the same time, the feminist discourse provides a privileged window on the “idealized” model of the family and the distribution of gender roles, but it also allows researchers to capture the tensions between dominant and minority representations of femininity. This kind of discourse and public position create at the time the conditions of possibility for further social change. Hence, a content analysis of Femeia română magazine is of particular heuristic value, due to its longevity, but also to the personality of its founder.