Gender Equity Unmasked: Democracy, Gender, and Education in Central/Southeastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

Abstract

In the early 1990s, the countries of Central and Southeastern Europe (CEE and SEE) and the former Soviet Union (FSU) moved from authoritarianism to democracy, capitalism, and market economies, thus joining “democracy’s third-wave.” As in most cases of democratization, the transformation processes in the former socialist bloc have created opportunities to “rethink the bases of social consensus and revise the rules of the game,” signaling the possibility for new political culture and institutions. As such, periods of democratic transformation constitute “political openings” in the widest sense, generating extensive opportunities for sociopolitical activism and expanding the bases for political participation of previously marginalized actors. In particular, democratic transformation processes provide unique opportunities for women to address their secondary status, to insist on their inclusion in the democratization process, to engage in formal or informal politics, and to demand that their particular issues be incorporated in the political system. While acknowledging the ostensibly equal public status of women under socialist political and economic policies, this article makes a two-tiered argument regarding gender equity in the region. First, gender equity under the socialist regime was largely a myth, despite government’s public presentation of it. Second, gender equity may not necessarily be achieved through