Naša žena

Naša žena (Slovene: Our Woman) was a monthly women's magazine based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The magazine was the first publication addressing women in the Yugoslav Republic of Slovenia^[1] which was in circulation between 1941 and 2015.

History and profile

Naša žena was established in 1941 as a newsletter of the Women’s Antifascist Front of Montenegro and Boka (WAF).^[2][3][4] It was edited by the members of the WAF Central Committee.^[4] It became a clandestine publication in the period of World War II,^[3] and Mara Rupena Osolnik began to serve as its editor-in-chief in 1943.^[5] Following the end of the war it was published by the state agencies on a monthly basis.^[3] The magazine was based in Titograd (now Podgorica in Montenegro) in the 1960s.^[6]

One of its initial goals was to reinforce the socialist struggle for women’s equality and to publish articles on female employment and their family life.^[3] During the communist era Naša žena reinforced the state ideology of socialist women who should be both modern and economically productive.^[2][3] Therefore, it supported a model of women as a working mother and a wife.^[5] The magazine presented tips for them in regard to the fulfillment of these roles all at once.^[5] It encouraged similar role models for women in the 1990s.^[5] The magazine also serialized literary work, including John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat in 1979.^[7]

From its start to late 1980s Naša žena was the most influential publication targeting both families and rural and urban women in Slovenia.^[7] In a 1969 study it was concluded that 33.3% of Slovenians who read print media were the readers of the magazine.^[3]

Naša žena folded in 2015.^[3]

References