címmel tart előadást, Eleventh European Social Science History conference (ESSHC) in Valencia, 30 March - 2 April 2016. University of Valencia.

Abstract

Feminist movements on the turn of the century are often seen as exclusively urban movements. Yet, the re-examination of archive sources, correspondence and contemporary publications show that activist outside of capitals and cities were involved as well. The Budapest centred national organization, the Feminist Association (founded in 1904 as the Hungarian auxiliary of IWSA) had a large number of local groups and supporters all over the country including women from small towns and also peasant women from rural areas, as typical examples of organizations from below. History writing has neglected these scenes and these activists so far.

The paper aims to describe the ways of functioning, the motivations, the activities of the local groups, highlighting their connections with the main office of the organization in Budapest and also the direct or indirect links to the international level (for example Hungarian delegates of local rural feminist groups were present first ever at an IWSA congress in Amsterdam, 1908). At the same time the paper aims to reveal these in comparison with the way how the main office of the Feminist Network in Budapest was connected to the IWSA.  How values fluctuated, how female empowerment and expressions of solidarity passed through these links and networks? What characterizes the strategies on the international, national and local levels? How were the activities harmonized? What significances personal relations had and how these personal connections influenced the movements? Beyond the comparative analysis the paper will also give so far not recognised examples of how local feminist activities were accepted by the local communities.