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review September 2026

Women and reproductive politics in socialist Yugoslavia

Review by Sara Žerić Đulović
Black-and-white archival photograph of a woman factory worker wearing a patterned headscarf, safety goggles pushed up on her forehead, and a heavy work coat with rolled sleeves. She stands at a metalworking machine (a bench grinder paired with a small lathe or precision vice setup), one gloved hand resting on the workpiece and the other raised near the grinding wheel. A gooseneck work lamp and hand tools are visible on the workbench in front of a brick wall.
In The New Yugoslav Woman (Indiana University Press, 2025), Branka Bogdan examines reproductive regulation in socialist Yugoslavia between 1945 and 1989, tracing the gap between the postwar constitutional promise of equality and the often painful reality behind the clinic door. Sara Žerić Đulović finds the book methodologically generous, praising its commitment to the history of everyday life.
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