De-Constructing Communist Romania’s Pro-Feminist Discourse. Women’s Status as Reflected in the Femeia Communist Magazine

In communist Romania, the official discourse of the state would stretch over all fields of activity irrespective of their contiguity to or remoteness from the leading committees. Women magazines enrol in this general orientation and become insidious voices of communist propaganda spreading with little concern for women, their supposedly main interest, but with much solicitude for the communist party’s ideology. The present article demonstrates that the pretended communist concernment for women’s rights and equality is a mere cover for the praise of the communist leaders of the country and of the communist party. The ‘big story’ narrative subversively turns from a construct meant to eulogize women’s bravery and determination into a glorification of communism. Discourse is shrewdly used to disconnect readers from reality in what may be considered the creation of a communist utopia in discourse.

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