Draga Dejanović bila je naša prva feministkinja, spisateljica i glumica.
Rođena sredinom dalekog 19. veka, Draga se 1862. priključuje glumačkom ansamblu Srpskog narodnog pozorišta u Novom Sadu, naredne godine u Beogradu, a ubrzo se seli u Stari Bečej gde je radila kao učiteljica.
Njena spisateljska karijera počinje takođe 1862., u listu „Danica“, a kroz svoje publikacije Draga se otvoreno zalaže za osnovne feminističke zahteve, čime ulazi u istoriju kao prva srpska feministkinja. Draga je zagovarala potpunu društvenu emancipaciju žena – u ekonomskom i obrazovnom smislu, smatrajući da je samo obrazovanje ključno u celom procesu. Isticala je da žene treba da imaju mogućnost da samostalno privređuju i da imaju pravo na isto obrazovanje kao i muškarci. U članku „Zla sreća devojačka“ u kojem je o ovome pisala, kritikuje patrijarhalno uređenje, a patrijarhalno obrazovanje naziva besmislenim, površnim i nazadnim.
Draga je postavila i sopstvenu feminističku teoriju, u čijoj je osnovi takođe bilo obrazovanje devojčica. U svojoj teoriji Draga je iznela duboku analizu položaja žene i objasnila kauzalitet između vaspitanja ženske dece i njihovog kasnijeg položaja u društvu. Smatrala je da su same žene dobrim delom krive za položaj u kojem se nalaze jer robuju predrasudama koje im se vaspitanjem usađuju. Jedino moguće rešenje ona vidi u jednakom vaspitanju muške i ženske dece i podjednakom pripremanju i osposobljavanju i za „umni“ i za „fizički“ rad. Pisala je da žene, jednako kao muškarci, treba da izučavaju zanate – krojački, sajdžijski, pekarski, cipelarski, staklarski…
Draga je bila svesna radikalne prirode svojih ideja i očekivala je da će se mnoge žene smejati njenom mišljenju, ali je istakla da se ne plaši toga, nego činjenice da će „ženski svet zbog te nesvesti ostati u današnjem žalosnom stanju“. Feministička teorija Drage Dejanović i ideje za koje se zalagala bile su direktna inspiracija sestrama Ninković i njihovom političkom angažmanu.
Draga Dejanović was the first Serbian feminist, a writer and an actress.
She was born in the middle of the 19th century, in 1862 she joins the Serbian Nation Theater in Novi Sad as an actress, next year she moves to Belgrade and swiftly after she moves to
Stari Bečej where she works as a teacher.
Her writing carrier starts, as well in 1862, in the magazine “Danica”, and through her publications she openly represents feminist ideas. That made her the first Serbian feminist. Draga advocates the emancipation of women – in the economic and educational way, truly believing that education is the key factor in the whole process. She urged the ideas that women should be entrepreneurs as well as men and that they have equal rights to education. In the article “Zla sreća devojačka” (The Bad Luck of a Young Woman) in which she wrote about it, she criticizes patriarchy and she underlines that the patriarchal education is absurd, artificial and regressive.
Draga created her own feminist theory with the base in the education of the girls. In her theory she analyse the position of women and explains the connection between formation of women and their later place in the society. She believed that women themselves are partially guilty for their own position as they are slaves of the formation and education they take from their own homes. The only solution she sees in an equal formation and education of boys and girls and the equal preparation for both physical as well as the intellectual deeds. She wrote that men as well as women should be the part of artisanal sphere.
Draga was aware that her ideas were radical for the society she was living in and she was expecting that other women will laugh at her ideas. She wasn’t afraid of that, but she was terrified that the “women will keep the sad position of the present day”. Feminist theory of Draga Dejanović and the ideas she was fighting for were the big inspiration for Ninković sisters and their political work.