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« At that time in Albania men were the ones in control. That is, [in control] of everything. My mother was in charge of the house (noikokira). She did the cooking, she did the laundry, since in those days we didn’t have washing machines, or refrigerators, or anything else. All the housework was done by women. Women took care of the house. That’s why my mother stopped working when we were growing up. She couldn’t go to work. Only my father and we were working. Also you couldn’t have your tummy out like nowadays. At that time women wore skirts that reached down to their toes. That was a good thing. It wasn’t bad. But if my father lived today (laughing) he probably would have gone mad. If you go now to Albania you’ll see that things have become the same as here. Women now [in Albania] are just like here. Women are in control of everything. »
« And I was working from seven to three! We had a break at noon… and back to work. Work! Work! We were like men! […] For us, women, emancipatia was the worst thing! Emancipatia is the word, It means the woman to be the same as man, to have the same pravat, you know, the same rights. This is the worst thing for us. Because…men got used to saying "Okay, my wife can do that.". No, my husband is not like that. He works, he worked very much. But, it’s mostly like that. That’s why all Bulgarian women are here! Why? To work. The same way we worked there, we work here too. We came to work. »
Communist women
