To dear patriotic women

Abstract

The time between 1835 and 1848 is one of the key periods in the history of Croatia. During that time a range of cultural and economic institutions were founded, which led to the integration of the highest social strata into the Croatian nation. The biggest battle was fought in the field of language. Because they raised children, women were considered as having the duty to teach children the national language. This period of national revival in Croatia was the time when women stepped from the domestic into the public sphere. Women began to engage actively in social and cultural life. They appeared more and more often with literary works, performed in theatre plays, thus spreading the Croatian language, and they participated eagerly in other efforts to spread the spirit of enlightenment and economic progress around the country. In this way they gained more opportunities for better education and various jobs outside the home. This was also the time when numerous women's societies were founded for the first time in Croatia; women also joined a few men's societies, in particular in the sphere of business. Although women were praised as the pride of the nation, very few documentary traces of them have been preserved in the historical memory.