Conference on the Underground: Women in Dissent

The tenth annual conference dedicated to the phenomenon of the underground (and beyond) will address the neglected topic of the role of women in the dissident movement. Did the role of women consist “merely” in taking care of the household, helping to distribute samizdat literature, or standing in for their imprisoned husbands? Based on archival research and published studies, we know that the above picture is overly simplistic and distorted. Yes, women played an essential role in family life, but they also contributed greatly to dissident activities. They were active in Charter 77 politics, as well as in the Committee for the Defence of the Unjustly Prosecuted. Women became the soul of the “country houses”, islands of freedom in normalized Czechoslovakia. They ran dissident apartments where various activities took place, ranging from arts events to pure politics. Women in the dissent created their own distinctive art, wrote poems, painted pictures and played music. This and more will be discussed by historians and those who were there at a conference at the Václav Havel Library.