Family Conceptions at the Intersection of Feminism, Public Health, and Nationalism in Czechoslovakia (1918–1939)

Abstract

Even the seemingly liberal Czechoslovak political elites were anxious about the notion of depopulation, and feared the death of the nation, which led them to disregard the societal need for modernizing family planning. At the same time, Czechoslovak women experts were significantly involved in debates on conceptions of the family. They fueled debates on the sexual liberation of women in Czechoslovakia not as a matter of ideology or morality, but as a matter of public health, social justice, and reproductive rights. This paper aims to look at these women experts and their active role in academic debates on Czechoslovak policies on family and reproduction. Looking at the case of Czechoslovakia, as a non-Western country, this article then discusses the issues of the marginalization of women's activism and feminism in the East. The article suggests that, by applying a decolonial lens, a broader inclusion of the history of feminism of non-Western women can be achieved.