The processes of transformation and the EU accession have in Croatia and Slovenia, in the field of gender equality, occurred without taking into account the existing gender knowledge created through the state socialist women's organisations (Blagojević 2004; Ghodsee 2004; Weiner 2009). Though Yugoslavia has developed elaborated policies and institutions for the improvement of women’s position, in the successor states the women’s policy agencies were built anew on the Western feminist concepts. Nowadays, after more than 20 years of existence, the new institutions still do not fully function, causing a compliance gap between the new legislative and the observed practice (Bego 2015; Chiva 2009; Dobrotić et al. 2013; Ghodsee et al. 2010; Irvine, Sutlović 2015; Špehar 2012). As the main cause of this, in the public discourse the socialist legacy is most commonly recognized. I want to challenge this narrative by asking if the socialist legacy be seen as something positive which could inform and contribute to further institution building? Or to put it differently, could socialist legacy provide us with an answer to the question why do WPAs fail?
This research will examine the trajectories of institutionally produced gender knowledge (Cavaghan 2010; Ostendorf 2012), from the state socialist women’s organizations to the women’s policy agencies, in 1980 – 2013 period in Yugoslavia, Croatia and Slovenia. Through the theoretical framework of feminist historical institutionalism (e.g. Waylen 2009, 2011; Mackay et al. 2010; Mackay 2011; Krook, Mackay 2011) and the usage of comparative case study and process tracing method, this research will identify causal mechanisms behind the transformation processes. Focusing on formal and informal actors within and outside institutions, the research will disclose specific influences and circumstances of changes in gender knowledge over time. Through establishment of causal processes, the research will demonstrate the trajectories that have long been contested, in order to answer the following questions: 1.) under whose influence and which circumstances has gender knowledge been created and changed over time? 2.) how have different domestic circumstances influenced the trajectories of gender knowledge in Croatia and Slovenia?
The existing studies of state feminism have focused on Western post-industrial democracies, making this research one of the first to be conducted in Eastern (post)socialist countries. Besides opening questions of political construction of knowledge, knowledge transition and institutional functioning, the research will examine the efficacy of the EU equality agenda in the post-socialist context, reflecting the possibilities of social change.
