Nela Pamuković
Field of expertise: suppression of violence against women, feminist activism – second wave in countries of former Yugoslavia, lesbian activism
Short bio: Nela Pamuković is feminist, lesbian and antiwar activist, active in feminist movement since 1987 when she joined Women’s Group Trešnjevka in Zagreb, that started the first anti-violence project in the area of Eastern Europe – SOS Helpline for Women and Children Victims of Violence (1988), and the Shelter for women survivors of domestic/male violence (1990). She is co-founder of the Centre for Women War Victims (1992), Zagreb Women’s Lobby (1992), Autonomous Women’s House Zagreb (1992), Centre for Women’s Studies (1995), Coordination of Women’s Groups SEKA (1996), Lesbian Group Kontra (1997), and participated in numerous public campaigns and coalitions (antiviolence, antiwar, pre-election, trafficking, LGBT, secularism). She is employed as a coordinator of the Centre for Women War Victims-ROSA.

Biljana Kašić
Field of expertise: feminist theories, culture of peace, politics of equality, theory of identities, postcolonial theories, women’s studies, ethics and justice
Short bio: Biljana Kašić is feminist and peace activist, especially interested in ‘activist theory’ and critical epistemology. She holds doctorate in political science and is currently employed at the Sociology Department, Zadar University. She is co-founder of the Centre for Women’s Studies in Zagreb and was program coordinator (1995-2005) with Ž. Jelavić. In CWS she initiated and coordinated numerous projects in the field of education, gender research, politics and publishing. She is coordinator for international cooperation at the CWS, and contact person/expert for Athena network, Global Fund for Women, The Councile of Europe-Equality Division, El Taller. She is author of articles and books in her field of expertise, and guest lecturer in Croatian and European universities.

Željka Jelavić
Field of expertise: feminism, activism, women’s studies, body and sexuality
Short bio: Graduated in sociology and ethnology at Zagreb University, received M.A. in Gender Studies from the CEU in Budapest. She is co-founder of the Centre for Women’s Studies in Zagreb and was program coordinator (1995-2005) with B. Kašić. She taught several courses on women’s studies, feminist anthropology and body, was editor in chief of feminist journalThe Third(1998-2001) and head of the graduate seminar Feminist Critical Analysis at the IUC in Dubrovnik (2000- 2004). Editor and author of several feminist handbooks. Sh e collaborates with women’s organizations in Croatia and abroad as a trainer and consultant .

Selection

Report on the selection process by the Croatian FRAGEN team

Experts were given written instructions based on the Manual for selection of texts. After three independent experts’ lists were provided, the project coordinator formed the longlist of texts where some additional texts were added (suggested additionally by the same experts). The experts then prioritized them, according to the instructions.
The main concerns for discussion were:

1. whether all selected texts can be considered as manifests, as well as whether their influence in changing gender relations can be proven. Some texts did not fulfill those criteria, although they were theoretically relevant (e.g. B. Despot);
2. with some authors and texts, we wanted to select the one text that can be selected as both the most influential and having a character of a manifest (this was the case with Lydia Sklevicky, whose several texts were firstly proposed);
3. final choice was made with some political texts after tracing the original form which has significant historical relevance (e.g. Political platform of the Women’s Network of Croatia is mostly /90%/ based on the Women’s election platform from 1997);
4. an additional text is added for highlighting the beginnings of public activities of the contemporary LGBT movement (an influential first report on the state of human rights of sexual and gender minorities from 2002), because in 2000s feminist lesbian movement is one of the most visible and outspoken group that significantly influence both gender relations and gender politics.