Western standards for post-communist women?

Bad memories of heavy-handed communist attempts to level the gender playing field abound, and distrust of Western-style feminism runs deep. Yet women in the "transition" countries have good reason to use all available tools to fight for their rights today.

Equal rights during communism

In the communist states, the emancipation of women was considered necessary for the overall socialist revolutionary project and was therefore ordered from above. To achieve emancipation, legal equality between men and women was introduced, women were encouraged to work outside the home, equality of opportunity in education and private life was promoted and sexually exploitative images and writings, as well as prostitution, were prohibited. [1] Women were to fulfil two roles in society, a "maternal" function and a role in production - childcare facilities and paid maternity leave were consequently provided for, quotas guaranteeing the representation of women were introduced. Unfortunately these efforts lacked commitment, and when the economy slowed and output and productivity levels stagnated, women were the first to suffer. Due to the scarcity of labour-saving equipment and hours wasted in queues for consumer goods, household work was especially arduous. The lack of proper contraception resulted in high abortion rates together with accompanying risks to women's health. Protective labour legislation introduced by communist states was not very effective. Often women performed heavy labour in the countryside or worked in unsanitary, polluted and noisy conditions.

Within the workforce women were horizontally and vertically segregated. They held few high paying posts and were concentrated in low-paying jobs. [2] In the political realm, women were nearly excluded from positions of power and responsibility. What had been thought of as emancipation soon turned out to be a blanket reinforcement of the traditional division of labour, and constituted a triple burden for women: the household and children, work outside the home, and compulsory political participation.

Despite these conditions, few women's NGOs ever formed in communist countries. It is a peculiarity of the communist states that women's organisations only worked inside general human rights NGOs. [3] Women's issues were intertwined with questions of human and civil rights; the joint struggle for these rights was considered more urgent than the struggle for equal rights.

Although women played a significant role in the opposition to communism, and later in the process of transition, their problems and issues became increasingly marginalized as other themes became urgent in the aftermath of the transition. The introduction of the market economy, technological progress and new ideological configurations, in addition to the loss of social institutions including nurseries and kindergartens, brought many difficulties for women, particularly rising unemployment and falling participation in public life. [4]

Equal rights after Communism

Today in the transition countries the level of female employment and the gender gap compare favourably with the European Union average. This is due to high female participation in the former command economies [5] and to the continued general need for a second income for family subsistence. [6] However, women continue to work in low-paid sectors with low social status, such as in the health and social service sector. On average, women earn only 77.7 percent of men's wages. [7] Existing protective legislation for paid employment, such as maternity leave, prohibitions on the employment of pregnant women in some capacities, and on night shifts or overtime, may be an improvement on pre-transition conditions, but unfortunately employers tend to hire men rather than women whose rights are perceived as costly. [8] What had been thought of as protection has often resulted in further unemployment for women.

Women are seriously under-represented in national and regional political arenas and in positions of authority. With the abolition of quota systems, the number of women holding parliamentary seats fell in the first elections after 1990, sometimes by more than 13 percent. [9] The rates continue to be significantly below the EU average. [10]

There are many forms of violence to which women are especially vulnerable, including domestic violence, sexual abuse and harassment. Frequently offences are not well defined and the legal system does not properly address the issues. Spurious explanations for crimes, such as blaming women for rape, compounded by a lack of female police officers and judicial figures deter women from reporting violence to the police. [11] A phenomenon that appeared early in the transition was the rapid growth in the number of women involved in the sex industry. This includes not only women working in prostitution, but also women trafficked against their will. Primary reasons are adverse economic conditions, a lack of opportunities and poverty. [12] There is an urgent need to introduce appropriate measures such as criminal penalties against traffickers and mechanisms to provide support and protection for victims, in order to guarantee women's human rights.

Western standards for Eastern countries?

Those transition involved in acceding to the EU are required to improve their standards of gender equality and human rights. They must transpose Community legislation into national law and ensure its implementation. In the year 2000, only the Czech Republic, Hungary and Lithuania made significant progress in the transposition into national law of nine required Community Directives. [13] Some positive examples of institutional empowerment are Lithuania's inter-institutional equal-opportunities commission and an associated ombudsman, or Hungary's participation in the medium-term Community action programme on gender equality from 1999 to 2000. But on the whole, the institutional capacity for enforcing equality legislation is unsatisfactory. [14] Efforts are insufficiently energetic and experience is lacking. Low resources go hand in hand with a paucity of political will.

As a declaration of intent, all states have at least ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Unfortunately, reports submitted by states on the progressive implementation of the CEDAW are not subject to public debate. [15] Moreover, only three states have ratified the Treaty's Optional Protocol providing for the right to individual complaint. [16]

But does this slow adherence to western norms signify their inappropriateness for eastern countries? Or will the usefulness of these norms reach beyond the low political will to adopt them and ultimately improve life for women in candidate countries? A brief comparison of their mutual histories is informative.

In western European countries, the process of promoting equal opportunities for women and men took place in three stages. In the seventies women fought for their political rights. In the eighties legal rights were formally established and some attempts were made to eliminate discrimination. It took until the nineties for the interests and differences of both genders to be considered in order to create equal opportunities in all areas of life. [17] Although there is still much to achieve the existing legal and social structures for gender equality in western Europe, developed over three decades, appear advanced in comparison with fresher eastern European endeavours.

Eastern Europeans have little experience of free, democratic and liberal societies, with the corresponding guarantees of rights and freedoms. On the contrary, totalitarian societies tended to generate a fear of advocating rights or arguing against authorities. [18] For many, fighting for women's rights or postulating quotas has no significant tradition and is reminiscent of either imposed socialist "feminism", meaning a double or triple burden for women, or "radical" western feminism, a concept still rejected by most eastern citizens. In early 1990, a newly formed Hungarian Women's Association entered a long debate before agreeing to identify themselves as feminists. [19]

The most popular sort of feminist initiatives has been the creation of solidarity networks. As the state retires from social caretaking, women are the first to suffer from the weakness of social institutions. Self-help groups then become an indispensable means for feminists to tackle the problems experienced by women. Another form of feminist initiative in transition countries aims at engendering a higher participation of women in the public and political sphere, as well as activities in networks publicising women's problems. An example is the all-party group of female parliamentarians in Poland who actively shaped the constitutional discussion about abortion and brought women's interests to the public notice. [20] In doing so, they opposed the traditional gender stereotypes widespread amongst both men and women. In communist times, the family was the most important social unit, guaranteeing privacy and individualism. Today social esteem for the traditional family unit remains extremely high. Many people consider that the women's place is at home, especially given the prevalence in the past of the "double burden". The Catholic church is particularly acknowledged as a guardian of the family and an adversary of communist ideas. Conservative arguments follow these traditions and undermine women's struggles for independence and equality. [21]

Despite these negative connotations, women's NGOs have been founded and are incorporated into international networks. Western European standards of equal opportunities and equal rights may yet be useful to the rest of the continent - transition countries may seize the potential. However, there is an urgent need for support, especially for women's NGOs, in order to raise awareness, intensify public debate about these issues and promote gender equality. Preparing the legal ground and helping the candidate countries to adopt the European social model, with its commitment to gender equality and equal opportunities, are only the first steps. Societal attitudes must also change. Balanced participation is absolutely necessary for a healthily functioning democracy, the development of a civil society and a real culture of gender equality, including the equitable division of labour at home and parental leave instead of maternal leave only.

In all, post-communists feminists take what they can from the political flux underway in their countries, and use it to promote their own vision of a more equal society. The EU can help with its programs, such as the Community Framework Strategy on Gender Equality from 2001 to 2005. But it finally up to candidate country women to participate in and profit from all offered help and experience, in order to end the prevailing inequality in their respective countries.

Footnotes

[1] Molyneux, M., The "Woman Question" in the Age of Communism's Collapse, 1994, in Evans, M., The Woman Question, SAGE Publications Ltd, London, 1994, p. 305.

[2] Molyneux, p. 308.

[3] Lemke, C., Frauen und Politik in den Transformationsprozessen Osteuropas, in Reihe, "Politik der Geschlechterverhältnisse" , BD. 6, Frauenbewegung und Frauenpolitik in Osteuropa, 1996, Campus Verlag, Frankfurt, p. 19.

[4] For detailed information on each of the countries see International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, Women 2000, An Investigation into the Status of Women's Rights in Central and South-Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States, Vienna, 2000.

[5] Annual Report on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in the European Union 2000, Report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, 02.04.2001, p. 30. Online here.

[6] Firlit-Fesnak, Grazyna, Frauenpolitik im Kontext der Systemtransformation in Polen: Sozialpolitische Probleme und frauenpolitische Organisierung, in Reihe 1996, p. 88.

[7] UNICEF-Regional Monitoring Report No 6, 1999, The MONEE Project, CEE/CIS/Baltics, Women in Transition, p.29. Online here.

[8] Molyneux, p. 315.

[9] United Nations Office at Vienna, The impact of economic and political reform on the status of women in Eastern Europe: proceedings of a United Nations regional seminar, Vienna 8 - 12 April 1991, New York, 1992, p. 8.

[10] Annual Report on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in the European Union 2000, p. 32.

[11] International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights 2000, p. 14.

[12] UNICEF-Regional Monitoring Report, p. 87.

[13] See a list of the nine Community Directives and the state of transposition in national law in the Annual Report on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in the European Union 2000, p. 28.

[14] Annual Report on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in the European Union 2000, p. 29.

[15] International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights 2000, p. 537.

[16] For dates of ratification of the CEDAW and the Optional Protocol see online here.

[17] Papp, Ülle-Marike, National gender equality policy, in UNDP, Estonia 2000:Towards a Balanced Society. Women and Men in Estonia, 2000. Online here.

[18] Papp 2000.

[19] Molyneux, p. 324.

[20] Lemke, p. 22.

[21] Lemke, p. 25.