Creating a 'socialist way of life': family and reproduction policies in Bulgaria, 1944–1989
Brunnbauer, U.; Taylor, K.
Continuity and Change 19(2): 283-312
2004
ISSN/ISBN: 0268-4160 Document Number: 252521
This article explores the policies of the Bulgarian socialist regime (1944–1989) towards the family. Initially, the Bulgarian Communist Party focussed on the abolition of the patriarchal family, the emancipation of women and the struggle against 'bourgeois residues' in family life. However, the dramatic decline of the birth rate – a result of rapid urbanization and increasing female employment – led to a re-direction of official discourse. Reproduction became heavily politicized, as the 1968 ban on abortion makes evident. Despite pro-natalist measures, the government was unable to stop the fertility decline. This article demonstrates how socialist family policy was gradually modified through negotiation between the Party and the population.