Kata Pejnović (; sr-Cyrl, Ката Пејновић, ; 21 March 1899 – 1966) was a

Croatian Serb The Serbs of Croatia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Срби у Хрватској, Srbi u Hrvatskoj) or Croatian Serbs ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", хрватски Срби, hrvatski Srbi) constitute the largest national minority in Croa ...

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

and politician.

Life

Kata Pejnović was born on 21 March 1899 in the village of

Smiljan Smiljan () is a village in the mountainous region of Western Lika in Croatia. It is located northwest of Gospić, and fifteen kilometers from the Zagreb-Split highway; its population is 418 (2011). Smiljan is the birthplace of inventor and engin ...

in the

Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia ( hr, Kraljevina Hrvatska i Slavonija; hu, Horvát-Szlavónország or ; de-AT, Königreich Kroatien und Slawonien) was a nominally autonomous kingdom and constitutionally defined separate political nation with ...

, then part of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

to a poor Serbian family. She completed her only formal education, elementary school, in 1911, before starting work to help feed her family. Kata Pejnović became politically active in the local Communist movement from 1936 and was accepted into the

Communist Party of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...

on 10 April 1938. Following the formation of the anti-communist

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

after the Axis

invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, or ''Projekt 25'' was a German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was p ...

in April 1941, the Croatian fascists killed her husband and three sons in July. Bedridden from 1963, she died three years later.

Activities

In the communist party, Pejnović focused on reducing ethnic tensions between Serbs and Croats and women's issues. To help spread anti-fascist propaganda among the women of Croatia, she helped to found the first women's newspaper, ''Woman in Struggle'' (Žena u borbi), in

partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...

-controlled Croatia in March 1942. Later that year, she was the only woman delegate to the

Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia The Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia,, mk, Антифашистичко собрание за народно ослободување на Југославија commonly abbreviated as the AVNOJ, was a deliberat ...

( sr, Антифашистичко веће народног ослобођења Југославије) in November and Pejnović was elected President of the Antifascist Women's Front (''Antifašistički front žena'') shortly afterwards. She was elected to the

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

of the

Communist Party of Croatia League of Communists of Croatia ( sh, Savez komunista Hrvatske or SKH) was the Croatian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ). It came into power in 1945. Until 1952, it was known as Communist Party of Croatia (''Komunistička ...

in 1948 and repeatedly served in the Parliament of the People's Republic of Croatia and twice in the Federal Assembly.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pejnovic, Kata 1899 births 1966 deaths People from Gospić Serbs of Croatia Austro-Hungarian Serbs Habsburg Serbs Croatian feminists Croatian politicians Croatian women activists Croatian women's rights activists 20th-century Croatian women politicians 20th-century Croatian politicians Socialist feminists Recipients of the Order of the People's Hero Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery