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The Role of Women in the Velvet Revolution
Gese, Taylor ; Szobi, Pavel (advisor) ; Vykoukal, Jiří (referee) ; Matějka, Ondřej (referee)
The Role of Women in Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution Abstract This thesis investigates the role played by women in Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution of 1989. Overall, it finds that despite the marginal role attributed to women in the dominant narrative of the event, women in fact played a key role in every activity of the Velvet Revolution and therefore were a key factor in its success. Drawing on case studies from elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe, it hypothesises about the sources of women's erasure from the historical record and subsequent national memory, arguing that the conservative gender order influenced the type of revolutionary work women did, the lack of visibility they were afforded, as well as their own devaluation of their contributions. Given the similarity in findings, it advocates for the development of an analytical concept to theorise the function of gender in social movements and their subsequent memorialisation. Finally, by documenting the activities done by women, it aims to reorient women as historical and political subjects in the Velvet Revolution, worthy of further historical inquiry. Keywords Velvet Revolution, women, gender, social movements, 1989, Czechoslovakia, historical memory, hegemonic narrative
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