Women in transition: Changes in gender wage differentials in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union

Under state socialism, women fared relatively well in the labor market: fem ale-male wage differentials were similar to these in the West, and female l abor force participation rates were among the highest in the world. Have th ese women maintained their relative positions since the introduction of mar ket reforms? The author investigates this question using household surveys from seven formerly socialist countries. The results indicate a consistent increase in female relative wages across Eastern Europe, and a substantial decline in female relative wages in Russia and Ukraine. Women in the latter countries have been penalized by the tremendous widening of the wage distr ibution in those countries. Increased wage inequality in Eastern Europe has also depressed female relative wages, but these losses have been more than offset by gains in rewards to observed skills and by an apparent decline i n discrimination against women.