Su Docekal is a socialist and feminist activist who has been involved with Radical Women and the Freedom Socialist Party. In May and June 1993, Docekal and Adrienne Weller traveled to Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Poland, Russia, and Serbia and spoke to women about their experiences since the end of communist rule. Docekal and Weller reported that people of all genders were at first hopeful that democratization and capitalism would improve their lives, but that instead women faced many new hardships. Free health and child care, reproductive rights, and equity in education and employment had been provided by communist governments but were lost when those governments collapsed. Docekal said that she nevertheless remains optimistic that women will lead movements to create more equitable and democratic societies.

This image shows Su Docekal at New Freeway Hall, where she would be speaking about the condition of women’s rights in former communist countries.

Caption information source: “Losing ground – activists say women pay a price for communism’s fall,” by Alan Boyle, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 28, 1993, page C1.