Antifeminist Discourses in the 19th and 20th Centuries: Forms, Arguments, and Political Context in East-Central Europe (An Introduction)

This introductory study to a thematic issue traces the historical trajectories of antifeminist discourse in East-Central Europe from the late 18th century to the mid-20th century, focusing on its ideological foundations, rhetorical strategies, and socio-political contexts.
While antifeminism is often perceived as a recent backlash amplified by digital platforms and far-right populism, this study underscores its long-standing presence as a reaction to feminist demands for equal citizenship, particularly in response to the women’s suffrage movement and broader emancipatory efforts. Antifeminist rhetoric in this region, shaped by nationalism, conservatism, religious norms, and later authoritarian ideologies, evolved alongside modern feminist movements.
The study identifies a range of antifeminist expressions—from essentialist arguments grounded in biological determinism to their incorporation into authoritarian regimes that instrumentalized motherhood and femininity in the service of national or racial ideologies. Drawing on diverse case studies from the Habsburg monarchy and its successor states, the authors highlight the dynamic interplay between antifeminist and feminist narratives, the transnational circulation of anti-emancipatory arguments, and the socio-cultural mechanisms that influenced public debates on gender roles. They argue that antifeminist discourse functioned not only as a reactive force, but also as a constitutive element of modernity—shaping national identities and defining the parameters of political participation.
By foregrounding antifeminism as a distinct historical phenomenon, this study emphasizes the potential of its contextualized analysis to address a significant gap in gender historiography and to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of gender, modernization and citizenship in East-Central Europe.