Celebrating March 8: a failed attempt at de-Sovietization?

ABSTRACT

Despite its international history of gender equality activism, Women’s Day in the independent Baltic states in the twenty-first century resembles the way in which the day was celebrated in the Soviet past. The ‘festival of gender’ continues its existence, only slowly giving way to sporadic expressions of emancipatory ideas. It survives despite efforts in the three Baltic states to get rid of ‘everything Soviet’ during the process of regaining freedom including rituals and calendric practices. Proposing a polysemic reading of 8 March, this article interprets the contemporary meanings and practices of Women’s Day in the post-socialist world.

KEYWORDS:

• International women’s day
• post-socialism
• calendric practices
• festive traditions
• gender regimes
• politics of time

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the European Regional Development Fund under grant No.1.1.1.1/16/A/040 “Empowering the Knowledge Society: Interdisciplinary Perspective on Public Involvement in the Production of Digital Cultural Heritage,” implemented at the Institute of Literature, Folklore, and Art, at the University of Latvia.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. This article is primarily focused on the celebration of International Women’s Day in Latvia, but a smaller-scale examination of related practices in Lithuania and Estonia enables comparisons at the Baltic level.

2. The basic empirical material for this article is derived from an online survey conducted in Latvia between 2017 and 2018 in a study entitled ‘Virtual ethnography: An online study of contemporary calendric practices,’ which involved more than 1,500 respondents. The survey took place conjointly on two sites: (1) the portal www.Delfi.lv where the principle of multiple-choice questions was exploited and (2) on the homepage of the Archives of Latvian Folklore (Institute of Literature, Folklore, and Art at the University of Latvia) where respondents were expected to document their personal experience and memory narratives. Additionally, I have been observing and documenting the dynamics of the post-socialist celebration of 8 March since 2005, conducting participant observation and ‘go-along’ walking interviews Riga (in 2005), Vilnius (in 2006), and Tallinn (in 2011 and 2019), as well as studying the media discourse, statistic data, and political and legislative documents. The Latvian material also includes a small-scale survey (15 respondents) conducted in 2005 and an essay competition co-organized with the women’s weekly magazine Ieva (Eve) the same year.

3. Such laws on public holidays were adopted in Latvia on 3 October, in Estonia on 16 October, and in Lithuania on 25 October 1990.

4. Transcript of the evening session of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Latvia, 2 October 1990. http://saeima.lv/steno/AP_steno/1990/st_901002v.htm

5. Early attempts to link socialism to colonialism began in the mid-twentieth century (Vardys 1964) but critical postcolonial thinking did not address post-socialist conditions before the turn of the century (Burawoy and Verdery 1999; Moore2001; Verdery 2002). People who conducted research about Baltic issues soon joined in the debate, providing a book on Baltic postcolonialism (Kelertas 2006). For a detailed history of Soviet and, particularly, Baltic issues as part of the discourse of postcolonialism, see Kalnačs (2016, 14–38). Studies related to Baltic postcolonialism today represent a growing field of knowledge, producing an ever more comprehensive body of literature. See, for example, a special issue of the Journal of Baltic Studies (volume 47, issue 1, 2016), as reprinted by Routledge (Annus 2018).

6. When it comes to these observances, there are certain variations among the three Baltic States. All three have eliminated 7 October and 7 and 8 November from their calendars, and all three have reinstated Mother’s Day as a celebration. The approach toward 9 May, however, has differed. Estonia and Latvia have kept the date, renaming it ‘Peace Day’ and ‘Remembrance Day for the Victims of World War II’ respectively. This eventually disappeared from the Estonian calendar, while Latvia moved ‘Victory Day’ to 8 May in 1995. The date was absent from the Lithuanian calendar until 2005, when it appeared as the ‘Remembrance Day for the Victims of World War II’ on 8 May. After the three countries joined the European Union, 9 May became ‘Europe Day’ in all three.

7. The online survey in Latvia (conducted in 2017) found that 10.2% of respondents (1,488 in all) stopped celebrating 8 March after the restoration of independence, while another 4.6% discontinued the tradition for a while and then returned to it later. The survey question related to whether people celebrated 8 March or Women’s Day, with 55.3% of respondents saying that they always did, 27.2% never celebrated it (it may be that some of these respondents were born after 1990), and 2.7% started to do so recently. A series of interviews in Lithuania in 2006 indicated a similar decline and restoration of 8 March traditions.

8. A quote from the online survey about Women’s Day in Latvia in 2017.

9. In 2015, for instance, the employees of a lending company, Ladyloan, picketed outside of parliament in Riga, wearing white beanies with an embroidered tulip and the words ‘Women’s Day is a holiday!’

10. More than a few survey respondents described Mother’s Day as an ‘invented celebration,’ as opposed to ‘their own’ 8 March.

11. The concept of a gender regime was defined by Lett (2012, 565–6) ‘as a particular and unique assemblage’ of relations between sexes ‘within a specific documentary, relational and historical context.’

12. A university professor, personal communication.

13. A husband (man) who proves unable to replace his wife (woman) in her household duties is a popular and international figure that has been frequently exploited cross-culturally, originating in the traditional folktale type ‘A man who does his wife’s work’ (i.e. folktales classified by the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index as type 1408).

14. In psychology, ‘gender narcissism’ designates excessive love for one’s gender identity, see Schoenewolf (2016). The quote is from a response to the Latvian online survey, 2017.

15. A comment from the Latvian online survey, 2017.

16. A fragment from an essay competition organized by the women’s weekly magazine Ieva, February 2005.

17. Other public holidays included New Year’s Day on 1 January, International Workers’ Solidarity Day on 1–2 May, the Victory Day of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945 on 9 May, Soviet Constitution Day on 7 October, and the anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution on 7–8 November.

18. Quoted from the Ieva essay competition.

19. According to Eurostat, the gender pay gap in 2017 was 25.6% in Estonia, 15.7% in Latvia, and 15.2% in Lithuania against the background of a European average of 16%. See http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=earn_gr_gpgr2&lang=en.

20. According to the European Agency for Fundamental Rights, Latvia had the highest rate of physical and sexual violence by a partner or non-partner from the age of 15 (39%) in 2017, while Estonia equaled the European average (33%), and Lithuania was below the average (31%). See, https://fra.europa.eu/en/publications-and-resources/data-and-maps/survey-data-explorer-violence-against-women-survey.

21. From a response to the Latvian online survey, 2017.

22. Between 4 and 10 March 2019, the first Ladyfest was organized in Latvia, aimed at replacing the celebration of gender with alternative activities highlighting women’s artistic and intellectual achievments. Ladyfests have repeatedly taken place in Vilnius and Tallinn.

23. Another 25% do not expect congratulations but enjoy being surprised on Women’s Day, while the smallest share of respondents (5%) said that they suffer if they are ignored on 8 March.

24. ‘Parimad maasikad parimale naisele’ was the colorful label was attached to each box of berries sold at the Viru shopping center in Tallinn on 8 March 2019.

25. ‘Sieviešu dienas omāru vakariņas’ was the special offer at the Gastronome grill restaurant in Riga on 8 March 2018. ‘From men to women’ was the slogan at a sold-out Women’s Day gala concert ‘Meestelt naistele’ at the Alexela Concert Hall in Tallinn on 8 March 2019. The last phrase was accompanied by gendered comments that were meant both for the local and the international audience: ‘Six beloved Estonian male singers will be united on stage to enchant the audience with beautiful songs and ballads to honour the special women in our lives.’ The show ‘Moteris ir gvazdikai: renkuosi būt pasveikinta’ was performed at the Keistolių Theater in Vilnius in 2006.

26. During the week before 8 March 2018, the largest international bus company in the Baltic region, Lux Express, increased the number of bus trips from St. Petersburg to Tallinn to accommodate growing demand.

27. In 2016, an image of the poster with a heart-shaped bucket of tulips was also posted by Ušakovs on his Facebook page, see https://www.facebook.com/NilsUsakovs/photos/m%C4%AB%C4%BC%C4%81s-sievietes-lai-jums-katra-no-gada-365-dien%C4%81m-ir-k%C4%81-sv%C4%93tki-daudz-laimes-m%C4%ABle/1098894213474829/

28. In 2016, photos of the process on the official Facebook page of the Lithuanian police received nearly 10,000 ‘likes’ and more than 1,500 ‘shares’ (Lewis 2016).

29. There are nine such days in Latvia each year; five require people to raise the national flag with a black ribbon to signal mourning.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Regional Development Fund [1.1.1.1/16/A/040].

Notes on contributors

Dace Bula

Dace Bula is a cultural scholar, currently the Director of the Institute of Literature, Folklore, and Art at the University of Latvia. Her research interests include the history and theory of folklore studies, folk culture and nationalism, nostalgia, local identity, and eco-narratives. She has published two monographs (in Latvian): The Nation of Singers: Folklore and National Ideology (2000) and Contemporary Folkloristics: Paradigm Shift (2011), as well as edited a number of volumes, such as Latvian Folkloristics in the Interwar Period (2017), Mapping the History of Folklore Studies (with Sandis Laime, 2017), and Singing the Nations: Herder’s Legacy (with Sigrid Rieuwerts, 2008).