
Women’s Labour Activism in Eastern Europe and Beyond: A New Transnational history
Author(s): Selin Çagatay (Author), Mátyás Erdélyi (Author), Alexandra Ghit (Author), Olga Gnydiuk (Author), Veronika Helfert (Author), Ivelina Masheva (Author), Zhanna Popova (Author), Jelena Tešija (Author), Eszter Varsa (Author), Susan Zimmermann (Author)
- Publisher: UCL Press
- Publication Date: March 8, 2026
- Language: English
- Print length: 716 pages
- ISBN-10: 1800089295
- ISBN-13: 9781800089297
Book Description
An inclusive history of women’s activism to improve working conditions in Eastern Europe, Turkey, and beyond.
So often, theories of activism and social change neglect acts of resistance in informal, community, and domestic contexts. This collaborative investigation from a transnational team of scholars addresses two related shortcomings: the lack of class analysis in gender history and the neglect of gender dynamics in labor history.
Women’s Labour Activism in Eastern Europe and Beyond highlights understudied topics in both of these fields, such as radical, grassroots, and interclass women’s labor activism on behalf of lower-income and working-class women and communities; women’s participation in trade unions on both sides of the Iron Curtain; and the heretofore neglected presence of Eastern European women in international organizations, including the cooperative movement.Editorial Reviews
Review
“Women’s Labour Activism in Eastern Europe and Beyond tackles the class biases of women’s history as deftly as it does the gender blindnesses of labour history … It asks: on whose lives do we build our theories of collective action and social change? … The unwaged become as significant as the waged; the informal, community and household spheres emerge from the shadows. … We have been underestimating resistance because we have been ignoring the activism of the majority of workers.” ― From the foreword by Dorothy Sue Cobble
About the Author
Selin Çağatay is a research affiliate on the ZARAH project at the Central European University.
Mátyás Erdélyi is a research affiliate on the ZARAH project at the Central European University.
Alexandra Ghiț is research affiliate on the ZARAH project at the Central European University.
Olga Gnydiuk is a research affiliate on the ZARAH project at the Central European University.
Veronika Helfert is a research affiliate on the ZARAH project at the Central European University.
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