Women’s Right to Vote in Serbia
Women’s Day Serbia / August 11, (1945)
Women’s Right to Vote in Serbia: A Journey to Political Equality
Women in Serbia gained full suffrage on August 11, 1945, when the Provisional Assembly of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia adopted the Law on Elections for the Constituent Assembly. This historic legislation granted women the right to vote and stand for office on equal terms with men, marking a significant milestone in Serbian and Yugoslav political history.
Early Feminist Movement in Serbia
The seeds of the women’s rights movement in Serbia were planted in the late 19th century, when the country was still gaining independence from the Ottoman Empire. Despite Serbia’s largely patriarchal society, a small but dedicated group of educated women began advocating for greater educational and political rights.
The first Serbian women’s organization, “Žensko društvo” (Women’s Society), was established in Belgrade in 1875. Initially focused on charitable work and education, it later became a platform for discussing women’s rights, including suffrage.
Uprava Beogradskog ženskog društva / Administration of Belgrade’s Women Society, 1894
Key Early Advocates
Draga Ljočić (1855-1926)
As Serbia’s first female physician, Ljočić broke significant barriers in her professional life and used her position to advocate for women’s rights. She founded the Serbian National Women’s Alliance in 1906, which became a leading voice for women’s education and political participation.
Katarina Milovuk (1844-1913)
As an educator and the director of the Higher School for Girls in Belgrade, Milovuk believed women’s education was essential for their eventual political emancipation. She was also a founder of the Women’s Society and worked to connect Serbian feminists with international women’s movements.
Paulina Lebl-Albala (1891-1967)
A prominent writer and translator, Lebl-Albala founded the Society for the Advancement of Women and the Protection of Their Rights in 1919, which directly advocated for women’s suffrage during the interwar period.
The Interwar Period: Growing Momentum
Following World War I and the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later Kingdom of Yugoslavia) in 1918, women’s organizations intensified their advocacy for political rights. The Women’s Movement Alliance (Alijansa ženskih pokreta), formed in 1926, united various women’s organizations across Yugoslavia with suffrage as a primary goal.
Despite increasing pressure, conservative forces in the parliament repeatedly blocked women’s suffrage bills during the 1920s and 1930s. Women were granted limited voting rights in municipal elections in some regions, but universal suffrage remained elusive throughout the interwar period.
World War II and Revolutionary Change
The decisive turning point came during and after World War II. Many Serbian women actively participated in the partisan resistance movement against Nazi occupation, serving not only as support personnel but as fighters, commanders, and political organizers. This participation fundamentally altered perceptions of women’s capabilities and rights.
The Anti-Fascist Women’s Front (Antifašistički front žena – AFŽ), established in 1942 as part of the broader resistance movement, became a powerful advocate for women’s political rights. Led by figures such as Spasenija Cana Babović and Mitra Mitrović, the AFŽ combined anti-fascist resistance with demands for gender equality.
Achievement of Suffrage
Following liberation, the new communist authorities under Josip Broz Tito’s leadership fulfilled their wartime promise of gender equality. On August 11, 1945, the Law on Elections for the Constituent Assembly was adopted, granting women equal voting rights with men for the first time in Serbian history.
The first election in which women could vote was held on November 11, 1945, for the Constituent Assembly of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. Women not only voted but were elected as representatives, with several former partisans joining the new parliament.
Key Figures in Securing Suffrage
Mitра Mitrović (1912-2001)
A revolutionary, politician, and writer who served as the first Minister of Education in the People’s Republic of Serbia, Mitrović was instrumental in implementing educational reforms that aided women’s political participation.
Spasenija Cana Babović (1907-1977)
As a prominent partisan leader and later politician, Babović played a crucial role in organizing the Anti-Fascist Women’s Front and advocating for the inclusion of women’s suffrage in post-war legislation.
Vida Tomšič (1913-1998)
Though Slovenian by birth, Tomšič was influential throughout Yugoslavia, including Serbia, as a partisan leader and legal expert who helped draft the constitutional provisions guaranteeing women’s equality.
After Suffrage: Implementation and Reality
While the 1945 law established formal political equality, the reality of women’s political participation developed gradually. The communist authorities promoted women’s inclusion in political bodies through various mechanisms, including quotas for representative bodies.
During the socialist period (1945-1991), women’s representation in parliament fluctuated but generally increased over time. However, the highest levels of political leadership remained predominantly male, with few women reaching ministerial positions or the highest party offices.
Contemporary Context
Following the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, Serbia underwent a complex transition that affected women’s political participation. The democratic reforms after 2000 brought renewed attention to gender equality in politics, including the introduction of electoral quotas in 2004 requiring at least 30% (later increased to 40%) of candidates on electoral lists to be women.
Today, women’s voting rights are firmly established in Serbia, with women consistently showing higher voter turnout rates than men in many elections. In terms of representation, Serbia has made significant progress, with women currently comprising approximately 40% of the National Assembly—one of the highest percentages in Europe.
Women’s Suffrage in Serbia and Neighboring Countries: A Comparative Timeline
Serbia granted women’s suffrage on August 11, 1945, as part of the post-World War II political transformation under communist leadership. Here’s how this date compares with the introduction of women’s suffrage in neighboring countries:
Timeline Comparison
Serbia and Former Yugoslav Republics
- Serbia: August 11, 1945
- Croatia: August 11, 1945 (same legislation as Serbia as part of Yugoslavia)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: August 11, 1945 (same legislation as Serbia as part of Yugoslavia)
- Montenegro: August 11, 1945 (same legislation as Serbia as part of Yugoslavia)
- North Macedonia: August 11, 1945 (same legislation as Serbia as part of Yugoslavia)
- Slovenia: August 11, 1945 (same legislation as Serbia as part of Yugoslavia)
Other Neighboring Countries
- Hungary: 1918 (limited), 1945 (universal)
- Romania: 1938 (limited), 1946 (universal)
- Bulgaria: 1937 (limited), 1944 (universal)
- Albania: 1945
Analysis of Regional Patterns
The timing of women’s suffrage in Serbia and its neighbors reveals several interesting patterns:
- Communist influence: Most countries in the region granted universal women’s suffrage around 1944-1946, coinciding with the establishment of communist regimes after World War II. Communist ideology, which formally endorsed gender equality, was a significant driver for women’s suffrage in the region.
- Incremental approach in some countries: Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria initially granted limited voting rights to women (with restrictions based on education, property, or age) before eventually establishing universal suffrage.
- Yugoslav uniformity: All former Yugoslav republics, including Serbia, received women’s suffrage simultaneously through the same federal legislation, reflecting the centralized nature of early Yugoslav governance.
- Regional timing: The Balkan region as a whole was neither at the forefront nor significantly behind the European average in granting women’s voting rights. Most Western European countries established women’s suffrage between 1918-1944, with Eastern European countries generally doing so between 1918-1946.
Serbia’s timing for women’s suffrage was therefore typical for its region, coming at a moment of radical political transformation that created opportunities for expanding democratic rights, albeit within the context of a one-party state.
Conclusion
The achievement of women’s suffrage in Serbia on August 11, 1945, represented not just an expansion of democratic rights but a fundamental shift in societal perceptions of gender roles. While the path to full political equality has been neither straight nor simple, the legal guarantee of women’s right to vote established in 1945 laid an essential foundation for the ongoing development of women’s political participation in Serbian society.
The story of women’s suffrage in Serbia illustrates how broader political transformations—in this case, the revolutionary changes following World War II—can create opportunities for significant advances in gender equality, even in traditionally patriarchal societies.