CHANGES IN GENDER INEQUALITY IN 6 EASTERN-EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

This article addresses the question whether or not gender inequality o n the labour market increased after the collapse of the communist part ies in eastern Europe. Are women the losers in the process of transfor mation! Several researchers claim that women are the victims; they lin k this claim to the needs of capitalist production, gender ideologies or the lack of social movements to defend women's interests. We argue that a more thorough analysis is necessary to draw the conclusion that women are the losers. We use data from the survey 'Social Stratificat ion in Eastern Europe after 1989' which was conducted in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Slovakia in 1993. Our con clusion is that women in general do not seem to have suffered major se tbacks in their economic positions compared to those of men in the fir st five years after the demise of state socialism. They did not withdr aw in large numbers to become full-time housewives, as predicted by va rious researchers. The restructuring of the economy was instrumental i n preventing a large increase in gender differences. Before 1988, wome n were over-represented in the service sector and men in industry. Due to the growth of the service sector, women's experience and current p ositions are useful in maintaining their employment patterns. However, men have improved their positions more in areas related to the emergi ng market economy. Between countries, we did not find many differences in changes in gender inequality between 1988 and 1993, but there are differences which existed already in 1988 and before.