Anyone who is from the Balkans, has heard men in their family use this term. The phrase comes from traditional patriarchal Balkan society, where gender roles were rigid and deeply embedded in everyday speech.
Historically, it is often used to imply:
emotional decision-making
impulsiveness
lack of rational judgment (by sexist standards of the time)
vulnerability or softness
In many contexts it functioned similarly to English expressions like “woman’s logic” or “female mind”, not neutral descriptions but value judgements shaped by male-dominated norms.
But don’t be fooled..
This is not some anatomy lesson, oh no, no. This is deep Slavic philosophy. The central nervous system of the Slavic universe.
And in most Slavic households - there is always one true ruler.
The ‘ženska glava’
She knows everything:
where you left your socks
why you are wrong
where the ‘promaja’ (draft) is coming from
exactly how much you’ve weighed since 1993
She controls the food, the mood, and the blood pressure of every man, within a 5 km radius. The woman, the wife, the mother, the commander of domestic operations.