222:, the most circulated women's magazine in Bulgaria. In 1969, The CBWM received over 16,000 responses from working women. Their findings indicated that the majority of Bulgarian women wished to have more children, but felt overworked and unable to balance work and maternal duties. The survey also revealed that 12% of Bulgarian children under the age of seven were left without supervision during the work day. The CBWM recommended that the state provide women with paid maternity leave and expand the availability of kindergartens and crèches.
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abortion services and relaxing divorce laws. By 1965, Bulgaria was projected to have the world's greatest percentage of women in the paid workforce. These policies resulted in a decrease in the birth rate, which raised concerns about the state's future supply of labour. The state believed that
Lagadinova's background in science would aid the state in devising a solution to the declining population. Many government officials began to consider outlawing abortion, as neighboring Romania had done, in order to boost the birth rate.
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142:,” which eliminated the civil rights of Bulgarian Jews. In 1941, Bulgaria also supported the Germans in the invasion of the Balkans, occupied most of Eastern Yugoslavia, and deported up to 20,000 Jews from their occupied territories. Elena Lagadinova's entire family, and much of the resistance fighting against the Nazis at the time, were Communists. In 1944, the Bulgarian monarchy sent the
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paid leave at the national minimum wage. Women were guaranteed unpaid leave for three years, after which they were allocated a place in a kindergarten. Employers were legally obligated to hold a woman's position during a mother's absence. Lagadinova also pressured the government to commit to building thousands of new kindergartens.
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Lagadinova worked with various international groups during the United
Nations International Year of Women in 1975, then helped set up coalitions of women's organisations in the 1970s and 1980s to pressure governments to fund maternity leaves. Thanks in part to her work, all countries except Papua New
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The CBMW also played a large role in the enforcement of legislation that benefited women in the workplace, such as limiting working hours for mothers and addressing the lack of quality women's clothing. By 1975, Bulgarian women were promised a 120-day maternity leave, with an additional six months of
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The
Bulgarian Politburo wished to promote education to ensure the incorporation of women into the formal labour market. The country passed laws that supported the formal training of women in many previously male dominated fields such as engineering, and reduced women's dependence on men by legalizing
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in her native Razlog. Early in the war, she protected the identities of her brothers and concealed the partisan actions of her father. She also helped supply nearby villages with necessary resources. At fourteen, Lagadinova committed herself to becoming a freedom fighter with her father and brothers,
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She became known as “The Amazon” (Амазонка). During and after the war, posters and propaganda slogans were made based on her image. She earned her nickname through her courage and tenacity in fighting. From Sofia to Moscow, children's magazines praised her courage and strength, urging boys and girls
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Lagadinova started fighting on active duty during the summer of 1944 and became the youngest female partisan fighter in
Bulgaria during World War II. Having contributed to resistance activities against the Nazi-allied Bulgarian government at eleven years old, she was by the age of fourteen fighting
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Following the end of the war, Lagadinova pursued a PhD in agrobiology at the
Timiryazev Academy in Moscow and conducted additional research in England and Sweden. She returned to Sofia to work in agricultural genetics at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. During her thirteen years as a research
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In 1968, Lagadinova accepted the position as
Secretary of the Fatherland Front and President of the Committee of the Bulgarian Women's Movement. In these roles, she played a significant role in the creation and enforcement of legislation to benefit women in the workplace, including
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in 1930. She came from a low-income background and lost her mother at the age of four. Her father raised her and her two brothers. In her early life, she was surrounded by discussion of the revolution and political commitment; Lagadinova's father was an early supporter of the
239:(WIDF) which aimed to bring women in the Eastern and Western blocs of the Cold War together to defuse aggression in international relations. Lagadinova also provided material and logistical support for new women's committees and movements across Asia and Africa.
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In the late 1960s a Party cadre assigned to oversee
Lagadinova's work attempted to politically influence the Bulgarian Academy of Science's research program, an action that prompted Lagadinova to write a letter to Soviet Premier
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against German occupation, earning the nickname “Амазонка” or “The Amazon.” She was the youngest female fighter in
Bulgaria, beginning her contributions to the war effort at 11 years old and actively fighting at age 14.
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In 1959, Lagadinova was awarded the Order of Cyril, by the
Government of Bulgaria for her work in plant genetics. In 1991, Lagadinova received the prestigious “Presidential Medal of Outstanding Achievement” by the
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Lagadinova contributed to women's right by improving the lives of families in the
Eastern and Western Bloc. During her presidency of the Committee of the Bulgarian Women's Movement (CBWM) she worked with the
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she was based in the cities and had a greater chance of getting caught and killed. While Lagadinova survived, her brother Assen was captured and decapitated by the gendarmerie during the war.
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In order to gather data for this project, Lagadinova led the Committee of the Bulgarian Women's Movement (CBWM) to collaborate with the Central Statistical Agency and the editorial board of
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Ghodsee, Kristen (2012). "Rethinking State Socialist Mass Women's Organizations: The Committee of the Bulgarian Women's Movement and the United Nations Decade for Women, 1975-1985".
81:. She was also a notable figure in global politics, working with other international activists to forge a coalition of national women's organisations, and becoming a member of the
158:, assistant to the partisan network, delivering messages to her family members and others during the war. In this capacity Lagadinova was exposed to greater danger, since as an
173:, (formally named the Moscow Agricultural Institute) considered to be the “oldest internationally renowned institute in Russia.” There she earned a doctoral degree in biology.
211:. In 1968, Zhivkov coerced Lagadinova into accepting a position as the Secretary of the Fatherland Front and president of the Committee of the Bulgarian Women's Movement.
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Ghodsee, Kristen; Nikolova, Miroslava (2015-09-01). "Socialist Wallpaper: The Culture of Everyday Life and the Committee of the Bulgarian Women's Movement, 1968–1990".
203:. In her letter, she raised concerns over the Party cadre's lack of technical expertise, which interfered with her research efforts. Her letter was intercepted by
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in Nairobi she was elected as a general rapporteur. From that year onwards till 1988, she also became the member of the UN Institute for Training Women.
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In 1989, Lagadinova retired from public life. Twenty-seven years after retirement, Lagadinova gave an interview to American ethnographer
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Ghodsee, Kristen (2014). "Pressuring the Politburo: The Committee of the Bulgarian Women's Movement and State Socialist Feminism".
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Razlog, Bulgaria, where Elena Lagadinova was born. The Pirin Mountains, where she escaped to in 1944, are visible in the distance.
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After the Allied victory in 1945, Lagadinova was sent to the Soviet Union to complete her education. She studied at the
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186:, which helped boost the productivity of collective farms. In 1959, the Bulgarian government awarded Lagadinvoa
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Hollander, Ethan J. (May 2008). "The Final Solution in Bulgaria and Romania: A Comparative Perspective".
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Guinea, Suriname, Liberia and the United States now legally guarantee some form of paid maternity leave.
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United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women
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Bulgaria was allied with the Nazis during World War II. In 1941 Bulgaria passed the “
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making her one of the youngest partisans to fight in her region at the time.
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Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society
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to eliminate the partisan threat and showed up at her family home in
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scientist, she helped develop a new robust hybrid strand of wheat
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to recognize her achievements in the field of plant genetics.
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Red Valkyries: Feminist Lessons from Five Revolutionary Women
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with grenades. She managed to escape to the Pirin Mountains.
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Following the Allied victory in 1945, she pursued a PhD in
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She died on October 29, 2017, in a retirement facility in
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Bulgarian agronomist, genetic engineer, and politician
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Brilliant, Fredda, ed. "Madame Elena Lagadinova." In
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alongside her brothers. Lagadinova also served as an
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Contribution to internationalism and women's rights
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