Woman in Bulgarian society

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83Women in Bulgarian society Politics and Power

Women in Bulgarian Society:History and recent changes

Roumen L. Genov

Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski


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Roumen Genov was born in Yambol (Bulgaria) in 1948. He graduated from the Sofia

University St. Kliment Ohridski in 1972 and completed his Ph. D. dissertation at thesame institution in 1979. From 1980 onwards Dr. Genov has taught Modern andContemporary History at Sofia University, and as visiting professor at the New

Bulgarian University (Sofia), the National Academy of Art, and the South-Western University(Blagoevgrad). His scholarly interests are in the field of European, British and American his-tory. He is author of books and scholarly articles on British and American political and socialhistory, and of biographies of political figures (W. E. Gladstone).

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Bulgarian women, as the title of a recently published book sug-gests, are coming out of the shadow of history. It is a slow,gradual and painful process. Still, historically speaking, there isadvancement from the state of complete anonymity and sub-jection towards recognition of the rights of women, and their

full participation in different spheres of public life. To understand the present position ofwomen in Bulgarian society, their status and the problems they are confronted with, wehave to examine briefly the historical legacy.

For centuries Bulgarian women were, if not excluded from history, present in it as a face-less and voiceless mass. There are drawings of women on the walls of caves in Bulgarianlands (late Paleolithic to the late Bronze periods), clay figurines from mounds of the

Neolithic, Eneolithic and Bronze ages that show that the population had a cult of themother-goddess. We know too little of the status of women in the ancient Thracian soci-ety, 1 but we can make a guess that they had few rights from the fact that kings and aristo-

crats had their wives and concubines buried with them, along with their favorite horses.For the entire medieval period the First (681-1018) and Second Bulgarian Kingdom(1186-1396) we know the only the names of few czarinas, and a couple of names of wivesof feudal lords, who happened to be donors for building churches and had their portraitspainted in them (as in the Boyana church, near Sofia, or the church of Zemen, nearKyustendil, in south-west Bulgaria). We know only some details about the life of few czari-nas, for instance about Theodora, wife of Ivan Alexander (1331-1371), mostly because ofthe great love story of the couple which reads like a folk tale. The czar fell hopelessly inlove with Sarah, daughter of a Jewish goldsmith from Turnoff (the ancient capital of theSecond Kingdom), he divorced his first wife, daughter of a Walachian voivode (prince),and married the beautiful Jewess (converted to Christianity with the name Theodora). Shebecame mother of the last czar of Bulgaria, Ivan Shishman. But these are only a few excep-tions in a long history.

The Bulgarian nation was formed as a result of the assimilation of three ethnic elements,the Slavs who invaded and settled in the Balkan Peninsula in the 6th and 7th century A.D., the Bulgarians or Proto-Bulgarians 2, who came in the mid 7th century, and theRomanised Thracians who survived the ravages of the Great Migration of Peoples. It seemsthat women in their otherwise patriarchal society enjoyed certain traditional freedoms atleast before marriage, unlike their sisters in the Mediterranean countries in classical antiq-

uity. The traditional culture did not emphasize sexual differences and it seems both sexeswere regarded as more or less equal. At the beginning of the 9th century Bulgaria wasalready one largest mediaeval states in Europe matching in territorial extension theByzantine Empire and the empire of Charlemagne. In 864 A.D. Bulgarians were convertedto Christianity in the Eastern Orthodox rite and thus became involved in the culturalperimeter of Byzantine culture. Christianisation did not change the structures of social lifeand roles deeply, despite the fact that blame for original sin was now placed on womankind.The legal status of women in mediaeval Bulgaria was determined by the political system ofCaesaro-Papism characteristic of Byzantium, the predominance of strong lay power over

the churchs authority. Through its laws the state put women in a subject and inferior posi-tion (they were not able to testify before courts, or to engage in any form of economic



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activity in trade or crafts guilds). At the same time the state upheld the position of womenas mothers (they could dispose of their dowry, inherit from their deceased husbands espe-cially if they had children , widows paid lower taxes, etc.) The church, of course, playeda major role in the regulation of social functions and the gender stereotype of women.Abortion was regarded as a sin equal to infanticide; divorce was obtained only with great

difficulty from the church courts.

The situation of Bulgarian women grew worse under the long period of Ottoman domina-tion (1396-1878), as they belonged to a community which was contemptuously treated asrayah (literally flock general name of the tax paying non-Moslem population), and dis-criminated asgiaours (infidels) for the most part of the period, despite of the relative reli-gious tolerance of their Ottoman masters.

After the Ottoman conquest in the late 14th century, the new religion, though adopted bya relatively small minority of Bulgarians, influenced deeply gender roles and relations.

Women were regarded by Islam as inferior, were subject to numerous restrictions and wereconfined to the family house. Women did not dare leave the neighbourhood unattended;the only public place they were permitted to visit was church but even there sexes wererigidly separated. The life and activities of peasant women were, of course, less restrictedbecause the agricultural economy largely depended on them. As the Bulgarian pioneer-sociologist Ivan Hadjiyski claims, women could play a crucial role within the family circle,even in business matters, however, this was not to be shown out of the home. There wereexceptions to the rule, like womens involvement in the bands of the haiduts, the BalkanRobin Hoods, avengers and heroes of the oppressed people 3. There were cases whenwomen became even band leaders or voivode, but they had to give up their identity, dress-

ing like men and acting like men.

The period of National Revival (from the late 18th century to the 1870s) was marked bycertain changes and new attitudes towards women, greater openness towards new trends andideas. A wealthy Bulgarian bourgeoisie appeared, enriched through trade, large scale stock-breeding and import-export operations, together with considerable stratum of town crafts-men and traders. They aspired to a new social position, to European culture and education,and to political freedoms. Modern schools were established; a long campaign for religiousindependence which was tantamount to asserting national autonomy began 4. Europeanculture was accepted axiomatically as higher and more advanced; western European soci-

eties were regarded as models for development and reform in Bulgaria. Of course, there wasa critical reaction against superficial or apish copying of European (or frank) dress andways, and false Europeanization. Advanced political leaders and writers, like KonstantinFotinov (a teacher, merchant and the first Bulgarian journalist) and Petko Slaveikov (aneducator, journalist, poet and politician) began to speak of the equality of women, of thenecessity of womens education and of the womens question. Primary education was com-paratively widespread, and in the mid 19th century establishment of girls schools began.Women were admitted to certain public institutions, reading rooms (a peculiar culturalinstitution with various functions), womens cultural and philanthropic associations. Yetwomen were not admitted to the board of any public or governing body. Expressions of opin-

ion, public appearances and activities of women were regarded as inappropriate. The fewprofessional women and schoolmistresses were to quit their occupation upon marriage.

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The Liberation of Bulgaria (or rather part of it) from Ottoman domination in 1878 result-ed in changes not only in political structure, but also in social life and culture. The influxof Western ideas became unhampered; primary education for both sexes was free and com-pulsory; many young Bulgarians, including women, were getting higher education in theuniversities of central and western Europe. Industrialization and urbanization had changed

considerably the structure of Bulgarian society, although it retained its predominantly agri-cultural and patriarchal character. Women's societies established before the Liberationcontinued their activities to promote self-improvement and self-help of women. The formsof modern feminist thought and organization in Bulgaria were, however, rather moderateand timid. They did not offer a breakthrough in the traditional role of women, and wereconfined to the thin layer of educated professional women and intellectuals. Women wereconfronted with traditional views of their gender role and with male chauvinism. (Forinstance, male students of the University of Sofia, established at the end of the 19th cen-tury, vigorously protested against admission of female students). The number of employed

women (schoolteachers, clerical employees, nurses), especially after World War I,increased considerably, but still the great majority were housewives.

There was at the same time a certain presence of women in the Social-Democratic partyformed in the 1890s, whose ideology promised them, and the other oppressed and exploit-ed workers, liberation from the chains of capitalism. But even this form of radical socialistfeminism did not uphold the demand for immediate political rights. Women in Bulgariawere admitted to the ballot box in municipal elections only in 1936, and could cast theirvote in general elections after 1945.

The latter date coincided with the beginning of the socialist revolution and establish-

ment of Communist dictatorship, though during the first years non-Communist partieswere tolerated. By the end of the 1940s Communist hold over every aspect of economic,political and cultural life was complete, and construction of new socialist society beganin earnest. The Communist project included not only complete control of economy andsociety, but their radical change and modernization. The Soviet model of centralizedbureaucratic planning, of rapid industrialization, with an emphasis on heavy industry andgigantic projects, of collectivisation of agriculture, that is, taking the land from the peas-ants and turning them into wage workers, of migration of great masses of people, of regi-mentation of every form of cultural life, was faithfully followed. As a result there was a

great increase in the number of women in state owned industrial plants and agriculturalfarms. Formally, both sexes were getting equal pay for equal work and were enjoying equaljob opportunity. In practice, however, women were rarely admitted to higher and better-paid administrative posts, and were largely discriminated in terms of promotion and career.The ruling party had set up quotas of womens representation in parliament and in localgovernment of 18-20% of their members. By the 1980s under 2% of women were engagedin management, administrative and decision-making spheres. This system could hardlyconceal the fact of institutionalised inequality. In fact, the promise of womens liberationin communist society was betrayed. In a society of low living standards, of planned deficitsof essential goods and labour saving appliances, emancipated women were trapped in a

double slavery of both their traditional role as wives and mothers, and the new one asmembers of the labour force. It is true that under socialism there was full employment and



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even a deficit of labour force in certain sections of the economy. Up to 90% of womenworked outside the family, but most of them had to do it out of necessity, for low paid mencould not earn enough money to support family. Nine-tenths of employed women weremanual workers, sales attendants, and clerical staff, nurses, primary and day care schoolteachers 5.

Despite of the firm control of the ruling party over the society as a whole, and dead calmon the surface, the system was affected by a number of moral crises, following de-Stalinization, the events in 1957 and 1968, re-Stalinization and finally, Gorbachevs pere-stroika. For over thirty years the country was autocratically ruled by Todor Zhivkov, ashrewd politician of little formal education, who depended entirely on personal loyalty toSoviet leaders (and managed to survive four General Secretaries of the CPSU). At the endof the 1950s he proclaimed the complete victory of socialism, and in the 1970s he fol-lowed the ideological instructions from Moscow to start building mature or real social-ism and an all-people state. By the mid 1980s the country, as well as the Soviet block,

was in state of economic and moral crisis.

The final collapse of Communist regimes in Europe was as unexpected as inevitable. Thepolitical change in Bulgaria, however, differed from the velvet revolution in central-eastern Europe. By that time the octogenarian Zhivkov had become a mock figure, but hisparty colleagues decided to depose him, in November 1989, only after indications appearedthat he had lost the favour of Moscow. Anyway, the palace coup of November 11 markedthe beginning of rapid political and economic changes, of democratisation and transitionto a liberal market system. These changes were not so much a return to history, as seenby some Western observers, but a new and unparalleled phenomenon in European history.

The surge to freedom and complete restructuring of economy through massive privatisa-tion, were, however, most fully exploited by the former new class of Djilas, the membersof the nomenklatura who used the opportunity to turn their collective ownership of theeconomy into individual ownership, and to maintain their grip on society. In terms of polit-ical life the country passed to a multiparty system, free elections, freedom of media, and allother attributes of modern democracy.

The reformist drive during the last decade has achieved a certain success: most of theindustrial enterprises were privatised, land was given back to peasants, the larger part of the[GDP] is now produced in the private sector; the export directed mostly to the former

Soviet Union and Comecon countries is now redirected to the European Union countries.Bulgaria has joined the CEFTA and started negotiations to join the European Union. Afterthe collapse of almost half of the banks and hyperinflation in 1996-97 a monetary boardwas introduced and the financial system was stabilized, but the possibilities of governmentto spend, especially for social programs, have been strictly limited. Bulgarian governmentsduring the last decade have had to act under harsh economic conditions, industrial decayand low productivity, ecological problems, a foreign debt of $11 billion (a gigantic sum byBulgarian standards), loss of the traditional markets in Russia and former Comecon coun-tries, as well as in the Arab world.

There is a broad consensus in Bulgarian society, and among political parties as to the neces-sity of reforms, as to the priority of joining the Euro-Atlantic community (the European

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Union and the NATO). Disagreement and discontent concern the price of the changesand the equal place of the social groups in bearing the burden of transformation. The massof the people enthusiastically greeted the new freedom and the beginning of reforms, how-ever, they brought with them high unemployment (up to 16-17% of the working forceaccording to official figures or even more according to the trade unions; 33% among young

people are unemployed; and unemployment is especially high in certain agriculturalregions dependent on tobacco growing, with compact masses of ethnic Turks, and amongthe Rom population reaching up to 70-90%), a sharp rise of prices after deregulation, aprocess of dismantling of most of the inefficient industries, sharp social polarization, andgenerally, a severe economic crisis and a sharp fall even in the modest living standardsenjoyed by the population in the 1980s. The results were intensive emigration, especiallyof younger and better-educated people (about 530,000 for the period 1989-99), a negativebirth rate, and an aging nation.

Under the new conditions women are the social group that fares worst. Democratic trans-

formation has not changed the basic character of patriarchy and male domination. Thereis a vertical segregation in economy (industry is a predominantly male sphere, while in ser-vices, including education, health service, and so forth, the share of women is about 70%).Horizontal segregation is a general characteristic of economy and decision making, topmanagement and decision making positions, both appointed and elected positions are pre-vailingly male spheres (76% of employers are men, 80% of elected offices are occupied bymen). Wages and salaries are all very low (median monthly income was about 200 levs or100 Euros in 1999), and tend to be even lower among women 6. As a result the income gapis widening. Women are the larger part of the new poor, especially in woman-headed

households (64% of these live in absolute poverty). During the last decade the consump-tion of basic foodstuffs decreased significantly, as well as access to medicine. As a resultthere are inequalities in self-evaluated health status, 39% of women report serious healthproblems in 2000 (compared to 28% of males). The relative share of women among allunemployed persons is about 60% (1997), and they are largely subject to sex and age dis-crimination in getting employment.

There are gross inequalities in family life, less womens mobility; there is domestic violenceand harassment; divorce is single main reason for impoverishment in woman-headedhouseholds, 70% of the housework is done by women.

In fact, womens representation in politics has decreased during the last decade, their sharein elective bodies of government both central and local has decreased. In 2000 only 11%of members of parliament, 5% of mayors and 23% of municipal councillors were women.That is why some womens organizations now insist that political parties should include acertain quota of women in their list of parliamentary and local election candidates 7.

There are other negative factors affecting mostly women, such as the sharp rise of crimi-nality rates, violence in the streets and domestic violence, sexual harassment at the workplace. The sex industry and traffic in women have become new sectors of business.

Still, there are certain positive elements in recent developments. Old state controlled trade

unions have been replaced by new democratic ones, a number of nongovernmental orga-nizations have sprung up, including ones defending specific womens interests and causes.



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They work in conjunction with their European counterparts and in some cases, govern-mental agencies seek their collaboration in preparing legislative measures (as is the casewith the Equal Opportunities Bill of 2000). Euphoria and great expectations that followedthe beginning of the changes in 1989 belong already to history, it is time now for realism,for painstaking work and relentless efforts in defence of practical demands, of human and

social rights of women, their dignity and their due and deserved place in society.

NOTES

1 The Tracians, a large group of Indo-European tribes, inhabiting from the second half of the 4th millenium B.C. thearea from the Carpathian Mountains to the Aegean Sea, as well as the northern shores of the Black Sea, and parts

of Asia Minor, were the first population of the region which we know by its name.

2 Bulgarians or Proto-Bulgarians a group of tribes of Turcic-Altaic origin, who had formed a large state in the lands

north of the Black Sea in early 7th century B.C. were dispersed under the attacks of the Khazars. They migrated

reaching as far as the Middle Volga basin, Pannonia, southern Italy, Macedonia. A group of Bulgarians under KhanAsparuch founded the state of (Danubian) Bulgaria in the North-Eastern Balkans in 681, the precursor of modern

Bulgaria.

3 Haidut (haiduk) members of brigands or social bandits in the Balkans under Ottoman domination from the 15th

to the 19th century. See Hobsbawm E.J., Bandits., Rev. edn. New York 1981.

4 After the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, all Eastern Orthodox Christians were organized along religious lines

in the Rum millet (Romaic people), headed by the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople.

5 According to national statistics for the late 1980s about 35% of working women were engaged in industry, 18% in

agriculture, 12% in services, 10% in education, 8% in health service.

6 Median monthly salaries and wages of women were 68.9% of those of men (in 1996-68), and rose by 3.9 points in

1998.7 As a result of the last general elections of 17 June 2001 the share of women MPs was increased to 20%.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Conrad J.L., Metaphorical Images of Women in South Slavic Proverbs, Balkanistica, Bd. VI, 1980, pp. 147-160

Corin C. (ed), Superwoman and the Double Burden: Womens Experience of Change in Central and Eastern Europe and

Former Soviet Union, London 1992.

Crampto R.J.,A Concise History of Bulgaria, Cambridge 1997.

Corin C. (ed), Superwoman and the Double Burden: Womens Experience of Change in Central and Eastern Europe andFormer Soviet Union, London 1992.

Koch S.J., Koch K.L., Moneva Z., In Their Own Words: An Ethnographic Analysis of the Quality of Life of Bulgarian Womenand Their Children, Paper presented to: Transitions and Transcendence. Mutual Perspectives of East and West, Conference

on Womens Issues. American University in Bulgaria. Blagoevgrad may 1994, pp. 21-23.

Kostova D., Similar or Different? Women in Postcommunist Bulgaria, in Rueschemeyer M. (ed), Women in the Politics of

Postcommunist Eastern Europe, New York 1994, pp. 116-128.

Kostova D., The Transition to Democracy in Bulgaria: Challenges and Resks for Women, in Moghadam V.M. (ed),

Democratic Reform and the Position of Women in Transitional Economies, Oxford 1993, pp. 92-109.

Merdjanska K., Panova R., The Family Enclosure in the Bulgarian Context. From Herodotus to the End of the Twentieth

Century, The European Journal of Womens Studies, 2(1), 1995, pp. 21-32.

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Merdjanska K., Panova R., The Family Enclosure in the Bulgarian Context. From Herodotus to the End of the TwentiethCentury, The European Journal of Womens Studies, 2(1), 1995, pp. 21-32.

Stoev V., The Ghetto. The Bulgarian Woman and the Iron Regime, Womens Studies International Forum, 17(2-3), 1994.

Petrova D., What can Women do to Change the Totalitarian Cultural Context? , Womens Studies International Forum,17(2-3) 1994, pp. 267-271.

Sokolova B., Bulgarian Women: Problems Past, Problems Present, Women a cultural review, 3(3), 1992, pp. 261-270.

Staikova R., Gadeleva S., Die Frauen in Bulgarien - ihre Bestimmung heute und in Zukunft, Feministische Studien, 2,

1992.

Todorova M., Balkan Family Structure and the European Pattern. Demographic Developments in Ottoman Bulgaria,

Washington D.C. 1993.

Todorova M., Historical Tradition and Transformation In Bulgaria: Womens Issues or Feminist Issues?, Journal of Womens

History, 5(3), 1994 (Special Issue), pp. 129-143.

Vitanova I., The Establishing of Womens Studies in Bulgaria - or How Far Can You Go, Womens History Review,

2(1), 1993, pp. 143-148.


SOURCES

Womens social position and rights according to the Bulgarian constitutions

There are not any specific texts in the first Bulgarian constitution of 1879 (the TurnovoConstitution, called so after the name of the city where it was adopted), relating to the posi-tion of women.

The second republican constitution was adopted in 1947 (the so-called DimitrovsConstitution, after the name of the Communist leader and prime minister Georgi Dimitrov,1882-1949, contained several relevant articles.

From the Constitution of Peoples Republic of Bulgaria (1947):

Art. 3. All citizen of the age of 18 years and over, can elect and be elected (members of anybody of government), irrespective of their sex, nationality, race, creed, education, occupation,social and economic standing, except for mentally disabled persons and those stripped of civiland political rights by judgment-at-law

Art. 72. Women are equal with men in all spheres of public, private, economic, social, cultur-

al and political life.Equality of women is realized by guaranteeing equal right to work, equal pay, right of annualholidays, right of social security, old age pensions and right to education.

Women-mothers enjoy a special protection in terms of conditions of work. The state takes spe-cial care of mothers and children by setting up of maternity hospitals, day care centers and dis-pensaries, women are guaranteed paid leaves from work both before and after giving birth, andfree obstetrical and medical service

Art. 76. Marriage and family are under the special protection of state.

Only the civil marriage contracted before respective authorities has legal value.

Children born out of wedlock enjoy the same rights as those born in wedlock


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92 Roumen L. Genov

From the Constitution of Peoples Republic of Bulgaria (1971):

(This one was called Zhivkovs Constitution after the name of the then Communist leader andPresident of the State Council, Todor Zhivkov (1911-1998).

Art. 36. Women and men in Peoples Republic of Bulgaria enjoy equal rights.

Art. 37. Women-mothers enjoy a special protection by the state, the economic and publicorganizations, which guarantee them leave before and after giving birth while retaining theirpay, free obstetrical and medical care, maternity clinics, alleviation of the conditions of work,extension of the system of childrens care centers, of the public utilities and catering estalish-ments.

Art. 38. (1) Marriage and family are under the protection of the state.

(2) Only the civil marriage has legal value.

(3) Spouses have equal rights and obligations in marriage and family. Parents have the rightand obligation to bring up their children and educate them in the spirit of Communism.

(4) Children born out of wedlock enjoy the same rights as those born in wedlock

In 1991, after the end of the one-party Communist regime, a new democratic constitution wasadopted by the 7th Grand National Assembly.

From the Constitution of Republic of Bulgaria (1991):

Art. 46. (1). Marriage is a free union between man and woman. Only the civil marriage is legal.

(2) Spouses have equal rights and obligations in marriage and family.

(3) The form of marriage, the conditions and ways of contracting or dissolving it, and person-

al and property relations between spouses, are regulated by law.Art. 47. (1) Bringing up and education of the children until their coming to age is obligation oftheir parents and is supported by the state.

(2) Women-mothers enjoy the special protection of the state, which guarantees them paidleave before and after giving birth, alleviation of the conditions of work and other forms ofsocial support.

(3) Children born out of wedlock enjoy the same rights as those born in wedlock.

(4) Conditions and the form of limitation or deprivation of parental rights are regulated by law

Art. 48. (1) Citizens entitled to the right to work. The state is setting up the framework guar-anteeing this right

Art. 52. (1) Citizens are entitled to the right of health insurance, which guarantees them accessto medical service and to free health service under conditions and form regulated by law .


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Woman in Bulgarian society