Periodic Reporting for period 1 - A Land of Joiners (A Land of Joiners. A Gender History of Volunteer Fire Departments in a Three-Border-Region of East Central Europe in Times of Political Transformation, 1918-1989)
Reporting period: 2023-03-01 to 2025-02-28
The project “A Land of Joiners” compares social history of women’s participation in a male-dominated Voluntary Firefighting Departments in the East Central European border region between Austria-Hungary-Yugoslavia/Slovenia after the collapse of the Habsburg Empire and the emergence of nation states until the end of the Cold War divide. Drawing on a wide range of regional, local, and associational archival sources, and integrating the voices of women, this project traces motives and purposes of on the one hand the new states and regimes and on the other hand of the volunteer firefighting departments, to implement policies to achieve broader participation and equality of women.
Historical studies both in and about East Central Europe are traditionally very much focused on the emergence of, and the political conflicts in and around, the nation state. For many decades, ‘high politics’ occupied the forefront of historiographical narratives, whose most relevant actors were predictably coherently members of the political elite, parties, and governmental bodies. Such an approach does not leave much room for agents that were not part of the state, that is actors of so-called civil society. The project looks at East Central European history by focusing on non-state actors, particularly on developing democratic and inclusive policies in the voluntary associations.
The project in particular focuses on voluntary firefighting departments, an association which service and the specific ways through which they were organised, were indispensable in authoritarian, democratic, and dictatorial regimes alike. In East Central Europe, first volunteer firefighting departments were established in the second half of the nineteenth century as purely male domain. Nowadays, on the level of European Union, there are significant differences in the number of volunteer firefighting departments and the voluntary firefighters among the member states. On average, less than 1% of the EU population is involved in volunteer firefighting. Not just in Europe, but world-wide, East Central Europe represents the frontrunner in the number of volunteer firefighting departments. In the border, the concentration of volunteer firefighting departments is the largest or one of the largest in each of the three countries; in Prekmurje region in Slovenia, for example, with the number rising up to 12% of the population being involved in volunteer firefighting.
Rather than focusing on national case studies, this project situates a comparative and international analysis of women’s engagement and participation in voluntary associations. It investigates the relationship between local voluntary firefighting departments and gender equality and democratization project in a diverse national, political, and social realities of East Central Europe between 1918 and 1989. It shows, that in the Habsburg monarchy, firefighting association laws did not allow women to join. Nevertheless, the first examples of women’s groups within firefighting brigades have been observed in the years leading up to 1914. In Interwar Yugoslavia, the firefighting law allowed women to join the voluntary firefighting departments, mainly as Samaritans. Building on women’s emancipatory endeavors starting in the 1950s, the 1970s were a peak decade for women’s inclusion in the Slovenian Firefighting Organization. This integration did not focus on finding ‘suitable’ tasks for women within the firefighting department, but on the principle that women and men should participate equally in operational tasks and jobs related to welfare and school activities. In Austria, the 1990s were the decisive decade for women’s inclusion in firefighting departments. In 2022, in Austria, almost 9% of all firefighters were female, an increase of approximately 147% since 2008 and in 2023 in Slovenia almost one-third of all firefighters were women.
Historical studies both in and about East Central Europe are traditionally very much focused on the emergence of, and the political conflicts in and around, the nation state. For many decades, ‘high politics’ occupied the forefront of historiographical narratives, whose most relevant actors were predictably coherently members of the political elite, parties, and governmental bodies. Such an approach does not leave much room for agents that were not part of the state, that is actors of so-called civil society. The project looks at East Central European history by focusing on non-state actors, particularly on developing democratic and inclusive policies in the voluntary associations.
The project in particular focuses on voluntary firefighting departments, an association which service and the specific ways through which they were organised, were indispensable in authoritarian, democratic, and dictatorial regimes alike. In East Central Europe, first volunteer firefighting departments were established in the second half of the nineteenth century as purely male domain. Nowadays, on the level of European Union, there are significant differences in the number of volunteer firefighting departments and the voluntary firefighters among the member states. On average, less than 1% of the EU population is involved in volunteer firefighting. Not just in Europe, but world-wide, East Central Europe represents the frontrunner in the number of volunteer firefighting departments. In the border, the concentration of volunteer firefighting departments is the largest or one of the largest in each of the three countries; in Prekmurje region in Slovenia, for example, with the number rising up to 12% of the population being involved in volunteer firefighting.
Rather than focusing on national case studies, this project situates a comparative and international analysis of women’s engagement and participation in voluntary associations. It investigates the relationship between local voluntary firefighting departments and gender equality and democratization project in a diverse national, political, and social realities of East Central Europe between 1918 and 1989. It shows, that in the Habsburg monarchy, firefighting association laws did not allow women to join. Nevertheless, the first examples of women’s groups within firefighting brigades have been observed in the years leading up to 1914. In Interwar Yugoslavia, the firefighting law allowed women to join the voluntary firefighting departments, mainly as Samaritans. Building on women’s emancipatory endeavors starting in the 1950s, the 1970s were a peak decade for women’s inclusion in the Slovenian Firefighting Organization. This integration did not focus on finding ‘suitable’ tasks for women within the firefighting department, but on the principle that women and men should participate equally in operational tasks and jobs related to welfare and school activities. In Austria, the 1990s were the decisive decade for women’s inclusion in firefighting departments. In 2022, in Austria, almost 9% of all firefighters were female, an increase of approximately 147% since 2008 and in 2023 in Slovenia almost one-third of all firefighters were women.
Beside managing the project, the work of this project was conducted in 4 work packages. In the work package 1, fellow prepared an extensive bibliography of major concepts and debates on the history of social and political history of Europe in the 20th century (especially Austro-Hungary, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia), with a focus on gender, voluntary associations, women integration, women in international organizations, and regional history. This overview serves as a basis for the Introduction of fellow upcoming monograph.
Work package 3 involved assembly of a database of the most relevant sources from the regional archives, libraries, archives of the local, regional, national and international firefighting associations, firefighting magazines and journals. The fellow did research in Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, and in the Czech Republic.
The fellow exceeded deliverables in the work package four in writing and submitting three articles to academic peer-reviewed journals, secured two book contracts with high-rank academic publishers, submitted two articles as part of collective volumes which are in printing and is preparing a book monograph to be submitted to an university press.
In the last, fifth work package, the fellow planned, conceptualized and co-organized one international conference, where scholars presented and discussed the relationship between voluntarism and solidarity in state-socialist countries. The fellow also organized one round table about visions and practices of democracy in socialist Yugoslavia, as well as one workshop about women and the history of work and social welfare in Europe. The fellow also participated in four conferences, presenting different aspects of volunteering. During the course of the project, the fellow was in constant contact with the firefighting associations and museums and organized 3 talks, whereas two are still planned. The fellow also got in dialogue with the public, especially children, at the European Researchers’ Night and discussed the importance of the firefighting service and friendly cooperation between firefighters during critical political periods. Three articles in national firefighting journals have still being planned.
Work package 3 involved assembly of a database of the most relevant sources from the regional archives, libraries, archives of the local, regional, national and international firefighting associations, firefighting magazines and journals. The fellow did research in Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, and in the Czech Republic.
The fellow exceeded deliverables in the work package four in writing and submitting three articles to academic peer-reviewed journals, secured two book contracts with high-rank academic publishers, submitted two articles as part of collective volumes which are in printing and is preparing a book monograph to be submitted to an university press.
In the last, fifth work package, the fellow planned, conceptualized and co-organized one international conference, where scholars presented and discussed the relationship between voluntarism and solidarity in state-socialist countries. The fellow also organized one round table about visions and practices of democracy in socialist Yugoslavia, as well as one workshop about women and the history of work and social welfare in Europe. The fellow also participated in four conferences, presenting different aspects of volunteering. During the course of the project, the fellow was in constant contact with the firefighting associations and museums and organized 3 talks, whereas two are still planned. The fellow also got in dialogue with the public, especially children, at the European Researchers’ Night and discussed the importance of the firefighting service and friendly cooperation between firefighters during critical political periods. Three articles in national firefighting journals have still being planned.
At the moment when equal engagement, participation, and leadership represent one of the European Union’s core values (Gender Action Plan III 2021-2025) and when the Women Commission of the International Association of Fire and Rescue Services (CTIF) appeals to establish equal opportunities for women, this project makes an original and timely contribution to scholarship and public debate about gender equality, equal participation, the history behind the associations’ politics of gender, and to the social history of East Central Europe after 1918.