(Zagreb) Household chores should be shared: this is what a Croatian cookie manufacturer thought it was promoting by adding to the name of its iconic product, “Domacica” (Housewife), professions such as a lawyer or an artist, but it provoked the ire of feminists in the country.
Posted at 10:30 a.m.
The shortbread, topped with a thin layer of chocolate, has been made at the Kras factory in Zagreb since 1957, when Croatia was part of Yugoslavia, and its popularity extends far beyond Croatian borders. And her name, “Domacica” (Housewife, in Croatian), never offended anyone.
But her admirers discovered last week on the shelves of supermarkets the famous box stamped with a longer name: “Housewife and artist”, “Housewife and lawyer”, “Housewife and leader” or even ” Housewife and nurse.
The objective of this campaign is to “remind us that women, in addition to their work, are those who most often take care of the household on a daily basis too”, explains the manufacturer in a press release sent to AFP on Thursday.
“We want to encourage all members of society to take their share of the duties and responsibilities in a home, so that the sharing of household chores is fair,” according to the same source.
PHOTO DENIS LOVROVIC, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Fans of the cookies discovered the famous tin on supermarket shelves last week with a longer name: “Housewife and Artist”, “Housewife and Lawyer”, “Housewife and Manager” (on the picture).
But the initiative has upset feminists in the country: they believe that it suggests the exact opposite, namely that the place of women is in the house and that they can be where they want from the moment they are free. housewives first.
“The reinforcement of stereotypes and sexism is the worst thing that can happen in advertising”, accuses Sanja Sarnavka, figurehead of the Croatian feminist movement, calling for a boycott of the cookie.
“They could have added the word mistress. It would have been funny at least,” she told local press.
For actress and columnist Jelena Veljaca, the effect of the campaign is nothing but a “new wave of misogyny”.
On social networks, criticism is also linked and some see it as an “attempt at new generation feminism”.
” What nonsense ! Not all women are housewives alongside their work nor is it a shame to be a housewife only,” one woman comments on Facebook.
Others claim that the original name of the biscuit did not evoke for them a “housewife”, but just a homemade shortbread.