Authors

Sara Žerić¹;  ¹ IOS Regensburg, Germany

Discussion

In 1973, a thematic conference on the temporary employment of women abroad was held in Croatia. At that point it became clear that the problems of women in migration cannot be separated from the general problems and consequences related to the migration process in Yugoslavia. Since then, the issues of migrant women have been constantly discussed. However, this issue was not only related to women who left Yugoslavia as workers or family members. There was another important part - women who remained in the country after the departure of their spouses. These are women who have become the leaders of their families. This paper will focus on the everyday life of women during the socialist period in Imotska Krajina, a municipality that had the highest rate of external migration, not only in Croatia or Yugoslavia but in the whole Europe. The main focus of this paper will be so-called devizne fabrike (remittances factories). The first such investment was in the textile factory "Pionirka". This factory was not chosen randomly; "Pionirka" already had its main plant in Imotski, and as a textile factory, it employed a mostly female workforce. Because of that, this phenome in Imotski it is considered also a as a phenomenon thanks to which women from this patriarchal environment were able to achieve emancipation for the first time through working in the factory.