Katarina Milovuk

She was the director of the Higher School for Girls right after its foundation, from 1863 to 1893. Although very young, she had shown a great teaching gift. Katarina Milovuk sought to introduce pedagogy and methodology, Russian, French, and German, the languages she spoke, into the curriculum. Katarina Milovuk was the author of textbooks used in the teaching of pedagogy and methodology. Thanks to her initiative, a school choir was formed. In the beginning, foreign languages (German and French), as well as drawing and piano, were optional subjects at the Higher School for Girls in Belgrade. Parents who wanted their children to attend classes from the previously mentioned subjects had to fund it. Katarina Milovuk held classes in French, but she did not want to take the fee, leaving it to the school.

She was invited to work and participate in the organization of the Higher Serbian School for Girls in Thessaloniki, which lasted for three years, from 1904 to 1907.

She translated from German, Russian, French, and English.

Katarina Milovuk is also credited with the founding of the Women's Society in Belgrade in 1875, which is especially important because of its humanitarian aspect. She was the first president of the Women's Society. The Society started publishing the first women's magazine Domaćica (The Housewife) four years after its establishment. This year is also significant for the foundation of Women's Workshop and "Pazar" where it was possible to purchase works from Women's Workshop. Women's workshop / Radenička School and "Pazar" were aimed at preserving such crafts as sewing and tailoring, and also at training girls between the age of 13 and 17. She is the founder of the Women's Association who fought for the voting right of women who did not have it at the time. She was one of the first women to climb the social ladder in spite of the shackles of the patriarchal Serbian society by strenuously fighting for the rights of women.

In 1893, Katarina Milovuk retired and withdrew from the position of the headmistress of the Higher School for Girls in Belgrade. However, her engagement did not end there. She went to Thessaloniki to work as the head of the Higher Serbian School for Girls with boarding school, where she worked for three years. The school was attended by Serbian girls from the regions under Turkish rule.

In 1906, she was elected the first president of Srpski narodni ženski savez (Serbian National Women's Alliance). She was the vice president of the Kolo srpskih sestara (Circle of Serbian Sisters).

In addition to exceptional pedagogical work, besides the struggle for a better position of women, Katarina Milovuk will be remembered for her exceptional humanitarian work. That is to say, she was a member of the Association for the Support and Education of Poor and Abandoned Children. During wartime, she helped poor children, as well as the children of soldiers. Thanks to the Higher School for Girls and Katarina's efforts, the workshop sewed for the army. She encouraged women to be engaged as nurses during the war years and to help the sick and the wounded. Katarina Milovuk was rewarded for her charity work with the following recognitions: in 1877 she received the Award of the Serbian Red Cross Society; the following year she was awarded the Medal of Queen Natalija, and in 1886 the Medal of Queen Natalija and the Third Order Award of Saint Sava.

Sources:

Stankov, Ljiljana. Katarina Milovuk (1844-1913): i ženski pokret u Srbiji. Beograd, Pedagoški muzej, 2011.
Stojaković, Gordana. Znamenite žene Novog Sada. Novi Sad: Futura publikacije, 2001.
Savremenici i poslednici Dositeja Obradovića i Vuka Stefanovića Karadžića sakupio, obradio i sredio Vlastoje D. Aleksijević (1911–1969); Šesta sveska: slovo M;

Available on:  http://digitalna.nb.rs/wb/NBS/Katalozi_i_bibliografije/P_425/P_425_06#page/0/mode/1up

Chronology and bibliography were made by the editor Milica Đuričić

Translated by Marija Bulatović