Shifting the Scene: The Politics of Women’s Work and the Making of Extended Childcare Leave in Cold War Europe and Internationally

Drawing on new research on the politics of women’s work and labor activism in state-socialist Europe and internationally, this lecture invites scholars with an interest in labor, gender and internationalism to reconsider how historical context and location has shaped our concepts and findings. The focus is on a paradigm shift in the history of women’s work in Cold War Europe, when the state-socialist countries spearheaded the large-scale expansion of women’s full-time employment, and the International Labour Organization advocated the introduction of extended childcare leave for working mothers. Shifting the scene towards state-socialist Europe, the lecture points to the limited representation and acknowledgment, both on the international stage at the time and in scholarship up to the present day, of Eastern European developments and actors. The lecture highlights the role of state-socialist trade unions and women trade unionists, who in their own way construed and aimed to represent women workers’ experiences and viewpoints, in the making of the international politics of women’s work. “Thinking together” international, Eastern European and Western European arguments and actions that informed the changing politics of women’s work allows us to overcome the implicit Western European bias in European labor and gender history.  

Link to ZOOM: Click here to access

If you prefer to attend this lecture in presence, you should write to segreteria.isa@unibo.it within April 5th, 12 p.m. and book your place. The places will be assigned on “first come first served” basis.

In order to attend lectures in presence you must have a COVID-19 Green Pass and show it on the premises.
In-presence attendance is allowed for the academic community only.

The visit of Susan Carin Zimmermann is organized in collaboration with Marica Tolomelli from the Department of History and Cultures.