Women in Politics: (Un)desirable! Olga Stránská-Absolonová (1872–1927)

Abstract

The turn of the 19th and 20th century was a period of dynamic social change and increasing disputes within the Czech women’s movement between its founders and a new generation of young women with a secondary or higher education. The resultant debates centred on the future role of women in a modern (democratic) society. It was at this time that Olga Stránská-Absolonová, a thirty-year-old widow and mother of two small children, began to work with the Czech women’s movement. Her views tended to reflect those of the ‘young’ feminists and she endeavoured to extend the movement’s theoretical and practical activities into the realm of politics. Stránská-Absolonová was one of the first women to move away from the early feminists and to start forming a new political-feminist movement, with the aid of women’s magazines and, ultimately, the specialist and party press. Although Olga Stránská-Absolonová never received a higher education, thanks to her systematic selftuition and her organizational and journalistic talent, she rapidly worked her way from being a housewife to the position of leading activist and theoreti- cian of the Czech women’s movement. In 1907, she joined the Czech Progressive Party and a year later its Second Congress co-opted her into the party’s Executive Committee. She was editor-in-chief of the “Women’s Guard” feature in Čas magazine and of “Women’s Movement” in Naše doba, while also publishing in other women’s magazines. She sought to explain the causes and mechanisms leading to harmony or disharmony between male and female actors within political parties and the public arena. Stránská-Absolonová remained devoted to journalism and public affairs even after she left the Czech Progressive Party. From 1915 until her premature death, she played a leading role in maternal and child care social work.