Kata Pejnović (; 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 ...

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and politician.

Life

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

Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia (; or ; ) was a nominally autonomous kingdom and constitutionally defined separate political nation within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was created in 1868 by merging the kingdoms of Kingdom of Croatia (Habs ...

, then part of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

to a poor 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, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats a ...

on 10 April 1938. Following the formation of the ‘anti-communist’ (fascist)

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, ...

after the Axis

invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, was a Nazi Germany, 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 put fo ...

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(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Ital ...

-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,; ; commonly abbreviated as the AVNOJ, was a deliberative and legislative body that was established in Bihać, Yugoslavia, in November 1942. It was established by Josip Broz T ...

() 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 of the

Communist Party of Croatia League of Communists of Croatia (, 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 (, KPH). The party dissolved in 1990. History ...

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

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pejnovic, Kata 1899 births 1966 deaths People from Gospić Serbs of Croatia Serbian Austro-Hungarians 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 Women's International Democratic Federation people