Women in the political life of eastern Europe: Ten years after the end of communism

This paper will comment on three interrelated aspects: on women's participa tion in political life, on the share of women among elected political repre sentatives, and finally on the pursuit of women's issues and women's intere sts in politics. Clearly these are interrelated in complex ways, and I will not deal with them throughout in separate sections; but it is useful to ke ep them analytically separate. I begin with some reflections on the communi st period, particularly on the importance of women's participation in the l abor force for their readiness to participate in political life after the e nd of the communist regime. I then turn to some of the implications of the transition years for women's participation. This is followed by a discussio n of consequences different electoral arrangements as well as parties' poli tical positions have on women's representation among elected representative s. A final section looks at other factors that promote women's success in p olitics.