Volume 8, 2017
The Other Half of Communism: Women's Outlook
Iemima Ploscariu
Pages 147-166
Rhetoric and Ritual
Neo-Protestant Women and Gender Equality in Communist Romania
In communist Romania, as in other Central and East European communist countries, women became fellow workers in the building of the new proletariat state. However, there was a discrepancy between state rhetoric and the treatment of women in reality. Though not the most targeted faith group in communist Romania, neo-Protestant women faced, nevertheless, multiple levels of marginalization, due to their sex and to their religion. These women re-appropriated the state’s gender equality rhetoric and, along with their faith, produced a sense of personal agency, which allowed them to overcome barriers in their various communities.