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The Construction of Reproductive Control in Ceaușescu’s Romania: Women’s Autonomy as Shaped by Legal and Political Rhetoric
Malmö University, Faculty of Culture and Society (KS), Department of Global Political Studies (GPS).
2025 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 12 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

This bachelor thesis investigates how the Ceaușescu regime’s (1965-1989) legal and political discourses shaped women’s reproductive autonomy and perpetuated gender inequalities in Romania. By employing Critical Discourse Analysis, specifically Fairclough’s three-dimensional model, and drawing on Critical Legal Studies, Instrumental Reason, and Feminist Perspectives, the study analyses constitutional documents, official decrees, political speeches, government guidelines, and state-controlled media. The analysis reveals that the regime systematically instrumentalised women’s bodies and family roles for demographic objectives. Discourse was used to legitimise repressive policies through linguistic manipulation of concepts like “equality” and “freedom,” while control was enforced via pervasive surveillance and mandatory examinations. An idealised “normative socialist mother” was discursively constructed, and non-compliance was criminalised. Hence, this thesis contributes to human rights-focused CDA, offering crucial insights into the historical mechanisms and enduring legacy of reproductive control relevant to contemporary challenges to women’s rights.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2025. , p. 50
Keywords [en]
Romania, Ceaușescu, reproductive rights, discourse analysis, gender, state control
National Category
Social Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-79082OAI: oai:DiVA.org:mau-79082DiVA, id: diva2:1992523
Educational program
KS GPS Human Rights
Presentation
2025-08-27, 15:23 (English)
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2025-09-05 Created: 2025-08-27 Last updated: 2025-09-05Bibliographically approved

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Stanca, Miruna Florentina
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