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Florentina Scarneci and Stefan Ungurean, eds., Vieti paralele in secolul XX. Istorie orala si memorie recenta in Tara Barsei [Parallel lives in the Twentieth Century. Oral History and Recent Memory in the Barsa Land]. Brasov: Ed. Phoenix, 2002. Contains 17 oral histories, life stories, which address gender issues such as courtship, marriage, parenting under the communist regime.
Ghizela Cosma, Eniko Magyari Vincze and Ovidiu Pecican, eds., Prezente feminine. Studii despre femei in Romania [Female Presences. Studies about Women in Romania] Cluj: Ed. Fundatiei Desire, 2002. Contains historical, literary, anthropological, social, psychological, and philosophical studies about women and gender issues in Romania between the 18th and 21st centuries. An important aspect is the wide coverage in terms of topics and ethnic differences.
Transylvanian Review, vol X, no. 3, Autumn 2001. Has a special section, "Paradigms," that focuses on women's history. It includes the following articles: Sorina Paula Bolovan, "Aspects Regarding the Status of the Woman in the Transylvanian Romanian Village during the Modern Times," pp. 3-11; Ghizela Cosma, "Le movement feministe en Transylvanie dans la periode de l'entre-deux-guerres," pp. 12-22; Sorin Mitu, "Popular Images of Femininity in Transylvanian Souerces from the Beginning of the 19th Century," pp. 23-27. Adrian Majuru, "Lupta pentru drepturi intre medieval si modern." [Thestruggle for rights between Medieval and Modern Times] Analize.Revista de studii feministe, no. 12 (2002): 69-74.
I also have a little description of a very valuable volume published recently in Romanian, an anthology of texts by/about women involved in various forms of activism:
Stefania Mihailescu, _Emanciparea femeii romane. Antologie te texte.Vol. 1 (1815-1918). Bucharest: Ed. Ecumenica, 2001.
This is a pioneering work in the field of women and gender history in Romania, as it collects for the first time an impressive number of primary sources (250), closely connected to the Romanian women's movement in the Romanian Principalities (Wallachia and Moldavia) and in Transylvania over a period of 100 years. This collection will enable interested scholars in tracing important trajectories over this period of time, identifying significant voices in the debates over women's civil, political, and social rights, as well as connections between these internal developments and broader trends in Europe.
The documents range from statues of various organizations, some philanthropic, other educational, and a few openly feminist, to polemical exchanges between feminist activists and their misogynist counterparts about the nature of woman/women, the relationship between biology, gender and intelligence, and other important debates of the time. Of great significance for the historian of feminism is the use of that time in various contexts and relatively early, in the 1880s, and by both women and men who actively agitated for granting civil and political rights to women.
What would make this collection even more useful would be a companion volume
to include the publications and statues of non-Romanian women living in the
three aforementioned provinces, from the same period. Hungarian, German, and
Jewish women all organized in similar philanthropic and cultural organizations
at the local level, and there was a great deal of interest among them with regard
to granting women the vote, especially by the beginning of the twentieth century.
-compiled by Maria Bucur