Gender in transition: Unemployment in Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia

East European Politics and Societies

Volumn 11, Issue 3, 1997, Pages 470-496

  Fodor, Éva ^a  

^a DARTMOUTH COLLEGE   (United States)

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EID: 0038866252     PISSN: 08883254     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0888325497011003003     Document Type: Article

References (73)

1. I thank Gyuri Karády for his keen observation. His impression, it should be noted, is not without foundation. In Hungary, for example, already in 1980 almost 50 percent of financial executives and chief accountants were women (Statistics on Women, Budapest: KSH, 1982). At the same time, the proportion of women who held CEO positions was much lower at around 16 percent.
2. Barbara Einhorn, Cinderella Goes to Market: Citizenship, Gender and Women's Movements in East Central Europe (London: Verso, 1993), 1.
3. Einhorn, Cinderella, 113.
4. Nanette Funk and Magda Mueller, eds., Gender Politics in Communism: Reflections from Eastern Europe and the Former Society Union (New York: Routledge Press, 1993), 2.
5. See Alena Heitlinger, "The Impact of the Transition from Communism on the Status of Women in the Czech and Slovak Republics," in Nanette Funk and Magda Mueller, ed., Gender Politics. See also, Ewa Hauser, Barbara Heyns, and Jane Mansbridge, "Feminism in the Interstices of Politics and Culture: Poland in Transition" (ibid.); or Sharon Wolchik, "Women and the Politics of Transition in the Czech and Slovak Republics," in Marilyn Rueschemeyer, ed., Women in the Politics of Postcommunist Eastern Europe. (M. E. Sharpe, 1994).
6. See Alena Heitlinger, "The Impact of the Transition from Communism on the Status of Women in the Czech and Slovak Republics," in Nanette Funk and Magda Mueller, ed., Gender Politics. See also, Ewa Hauser, Barbara Heyns, and Jane Mansbridge, "Feminism in the Interstices of Politics and Culture: Poland in Transition" (ibid.); or Sharon Wolchik, "Women and the Politics of Transition in the Czech and Slovak Republics," in Marilyn Rueschemeyer, ed., Women in the Politics of Postcommunist Eastern Europe. (M. E. Sharpe, 1994).
7. See Alena Heitlinger, "The Impact of the Transition from Communism on the Status of Women in the Czech and Slovak Republics," in Nanette Funk and Magda Mueller, ed., Gender Politics. See also, Ewa Hauser, Barbara Heyns, and Jane Mansbridge, "Feminism in the Interstices of Politics and Culture: Poland in Transition" (ibid.); or Sharon Wolchik, "Women and the Politics of Transition in the Czech and Slovak Republics," in Marilyn Rueschemeyer, ed., Women in the Politics of Postcommunist Eastern Europe. (M. E. Sharpe, 1994).
8. Sharon Wolchik, "Women and the Politics of Transition in the Czech and Slovak Republics," in Marilyn Rueschemeyer, ed., Women in the Politics.
9. See Barbara F. Reskin and Patricia Roos, Job Queues, Gender Queues: Explaining Women's Inroads into Male Occupations (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990) for a discussion of changes in occupational sex segregation in the U.S. - a process that could in many ways prove to be analogous to what is happening in East Central Europe.
10. See Victor Nee, "The Theory of Market Transition - From Redistribution to Markets in State Socialism," American Sociological Review (1989) 54: 663-81. See also József Böröcz and Akos Róna-Tas, "Small Leap Forward: The Emergence of Economic Elites," Theory and Society 24: 5 (October 1995).
11. See Victor Nee, "The Theory of Market Transition - From Redistribution to Markets in State Socialism," American Sociological Review (1989) 54: 663-81. See also József Böröcz and Akos Róna-Tas, "Small Leap Forward: The Emergence of Economic Elites," Theory and Society 24: 5 (October 1995).
12. The reader should keep in mind that the measurement of unemployment is unfortunately quite unreliable in East Central Europe. The aggregate statistics above, published by the International Labor Office, are based on data collected by employment offices. Since registering with these offices is the precondition for receiving unemployment benefits, at least in the first few years (before people reach the limit in receiving this financial aid), employment-office data probably overestimate unemployment rates. Ethnographic information suggests that a significant number of unemployed people do work in the "black or gray" market and earn substantial incomes.
13. Note that the population in Tables 2 and 4 are people of working age - i.e., women between 20 and 55 years old in Hungary and Slovakia, and between 20 and 60 in Poland; and men between 20 and 60 years old in Hungary and Slovakia, and between 20 and 65 in Poland. While 60-65 years of age was the retirement limit in Poland, voluntary retirement could be taken as early as 55-60. Tables 2 and 4 use data from the survey "Social Stratification in Eastern Europe After 1989" (Szelenyi and Treiman, Research Proposal, UCLA, 1990).
14. Contrary to popular belief, the proportion of homemakers in the population did not increase much in any of the three countries and no more than the proportion of those who took maternity leave, a few percentage points between 1988 and 1993.
15. Hungarian Statistical Yearbook (Budapest: KSH, 1993).
16. The wide variation observed across countries is due to their somewhat differing policies regarding retirement. For example, in Poland, while the official retirement age was the highest of the three countries, voluntary retirement was allowed five years earlier. Hence the high proportion of early retirees there. This was not the case in Hungary and Slovakia. In these two countries, retirement before the centrally set age of 55 for women and 60 for men had serious financial consequences.
17. See also Eric Hanley and Iván Szelényi, "Changing Social Structure During the Market Transition: The Case of Central Europe" (manuscript, 1996).
18. This paper is by necessity quite limited in scope and does not discuss a number of very important, and no doubt gendered, aspects of the phenomenon of unemployment in the region. For example, studies show that in most of these countries there are more women than men among those who have been out of work for a year or longer. (See Employment Observatory, 3. EC Publication, 1993.) Several authots have pointed out the sexist nature of job advertisements and job requirements, as well as the gender differences in the amount welfare recipients collect. Such discussions, regrettably, will have to be left for future scholarly attempts when cross-nationally comparative, longitudinal, better-quality data are available.
19. The economic restructuring of the 1980s in Central and South America may be on a scale that is similar to the current transformations in East Central Europe. There is a sizable literature on the effect of these changes on the position of women. See, for example, Lourdes Beneria and Shelley Feldman, Unequal Burden: Economic Crises, Persistent Poverty, and Women's Work (Westview Press, 1992).
20. Veronica Beechey, "Women and Production: A Critical Analysis of Some Sociological Analysis of Women's Work," in A. Kuhn and A. M. Wolpe, eds., Feminism and Materialism (London and New York: Routledge and Kegal Paul, 1978).
21. Ruth Milkman, "Women's Work and Economic Crisis: Some Lessons of the Great Depression," The Review of the Radical Political Economics 8: 1 (Spring 1976).
22. Patricia P. Bouillaguet-Bernard and Annie Gauvin, "Female Labor Reserves and Restructuring Employment in Booms and Slumps in France," in Jill Rubery, ed., Women and Recessions (London and New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1989).
23. Margarete Benston, "The Political Economy of Women's Liberation," Monthly Review 21 (1969).
24. Jill Rubery, "Women and Recession: A Comparative Perspective," in Jill Rubery, ed., Women and Recessions (New York and London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1989).
25. Irene Breugel, 'Women as a Reserve Army of Labor: A Note on Recent British Experience," Feminist Review 3 (1979): 12-See also Rubery, Women and Recessions.
26. Irene Breugel, 'Women as a Reserve Army of Labor: A Note on Recent British Experience," Feminist Review 3 (1979): 12-See also Rubery, Women and Recessions.
27. Jane Humphries, "Women's Employment in Restructuring America: The Changing Experience of Women in Three Recessions," in Rubery, Women and Recessions.
28. See Milkman, "Women's Work"; Humphries, "Women's Employment"; or Jill Rubery and Roger Tarling, "Women's Employment in Declining Britain," in Rubery, Women and Recessions.
29. See Milkman, "Women's Work"; Humphries, "Women's Employment"; or Jill Rubery and Roger Tarling, "Women's Employment in Declining Britain," in Rubery, Women and Recessions.
30. See Milkman, "Women's Work"; Humphries, "Women's Employment"; or Jill Rubery and Roger Tarling, "Women's Employment in Declining Britain," in Rubery, Women and Recessions.
31. I use the term "conservative/traditional gender ideologies" to describe trends of thought that emphasize the view that a woman's "natural" place is in the home and that her primary role and function in life is motherhood. This idea propagates the family wage, the abolition of abortion, and public child care in order to encourage women to have more babies and stay at home to look after them.
32. Joanna Goven, "Gender Politics in Hungary: Autonomy and Anti-Feminism," in Nanette Funk and Magda Mueller, eds., Gender Politics: or Rueschemeyer, Women in the Politics.
33. Joanna Goven, "Gender Politics in Hungary: Autonomy and Anti-Feminism," in Nanette Funk and Magda Mueller, eds., Gender Politics: or Rueschemeyer, Women in the Politics.
34. Olga Tóth, "Nök a munkavállalásról" ("Women's Attitude on Work") (manuscript 1991).
35. Chris Corrin, Magyar Women: Hungarian Women's Lives, 1960s-1990s (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993).
36. There were restrictions and renegotiation in the other two countries (and in the Czech republic) as well, but access to abortion did not change in essence.
37. Jacqueline Heinen, "Unemployment and Women's Attitudes in Poland," Social Politics 2: 1 (Spring 1995).
38. In Poland by 1992, the number of children attending nursery school/kindergarten was reduced to 56 percent of those who attended in 1990. The comparable percentage is only 82 percent in Czechoslovakia and Hungary. (See Statistical Yearbooks of Poland 1992, the Czech and Slovak Republics 1993, and Hungary 1993).
39. Heinen, "Unemployment"; and Eleonore Zielinskia, "Recent Trends in Abortion Legislation in Eastern Europe, with Particular Reference to Poland," Criminal Law Forum 4 (1994): 47-90.
40. Heinen, "Unemployment"; and Eleonore Zielinskia, "Recent Trends in Abortion Legislation in Eastern Europe, with Particular Reference to Poland," Criminal Law Forum 4 (1994): 47-90.
41. Irena E. Kotowska, "Discrimination Against Women in the Labor Market in Poland During the Transition to a Market Economy," Social Politics 2 (1995): 76-90; Elzbieta Matynia, "Women after Communism: A Bitter Freedom," Social Research 61 (1994): 351-77.
42. Irena E. Kotowska, "Discrimination Against Women in the Labor Market in Poland During the Transition to a Market Economy," Social Politics 2 (1995): 76-90; Elzbieta Matynia, "Women after Communism: A Bitter Freedom," Social Research 61 (1994): 351-77.
43. See Milkman, Women's Work, 81.
44. Irena Kotowska, "Discrimination Against Women."
45. See, for example, Marilyn Rueschemeyer and Szonja Szelényi, "Socialise Transformation and Gender Inequality: Women in the GDR and in Hungary," 81-109 , in David Childs, Thomas A. Baylis, and Marilyn Rueschemeyer, eds., East Germany in a Comparative Perspective (London: Routledge, 1989). See also Sharon L. Wolchik, "The Status of Women in a Socialist Order: Czechoslovakia, 1948-78," Slavic Review (1979), 583-602; or Einhorn, Cinderella.
46. See, for example, Marilyn Rueschemeyer and Szonja Szelényi, "Socialise Transformation and Gender Inequality: Women in the GDR and in Hungary," 81-109 , in David Childs, Thomas A. Baylis, and Marilyn Rueschemeyer, eds., East Germany in a Comparative Perspective (London: Routledge, 1989). See also Sharon L. Wolchik, "The Status of Women in a Socialist Order: Czechoslovakia, 1948-78," Slavic Review (1979), 583-602; or Einhorn, Cinderella.
47. See, for example, Marilyn Rueschemeyer and Szonja Szelényi, "Socialise Transformation and Gender Inequality: Women in the GDR and in Hungary," 81-109 , in David Childs, Thomas A. Baylis, and Marilyn Rueschemeyer, eds., East Germany in a Comparative Perspective (London: Routledge, 1989). See also Sharon L. Wolchik, "The Status of Women in a Socialist Order: Czechoslovakia, 1948-78," Slavic Review (1979), 583-602; or Einhorn, Cinderella.
48. See, for example, Marilyn Rueschemeyer and Szonja Szelényi, "Socialise Transformation and Gender Inequality: Women in the GDR and in Hungary," 81-109 , in David Childs, Thomas A. Baylis, and Marilyn Rueschemeyer, eds., East Germany in a Comparative Perspective (London: Routledge, 1989). See also Sharon L. Wolchik, "The Status of Women in a Socialist Order: Czechoslovakia, 1948-78," Slavic Review (1979), 583-602; or Einhorn, Cinderella.
49. Monica S. Fong and Gilian Paull, "Women's Economic Status in the Restructuring of Eastern Europe." (Paper presented at the UNU/WIDER Research Conference, Helsinki, September 1-3, 1991.) See also Mária Ladó, "Situation and Perspectives of Women in the Labor Market: The Case of Hungary" (manuscript, 1992).
50. Monica S. Fong and Gilian Paull, "Women's Economic Status in the Restructuring of Eastern Europe." (Paper presented at the UNU/WIDER Research Conference, Helsinki, September 1-3, 1991.) See also Mária Ladó, "Situation and Perspectives of Women in the Labor Market: The Case of Hungary" (manuscript, 1992).
51. József Böröcz, "Simulating the Great Transformation: Property Change Under Prolonged Informality in Hungary," Archives Europeennes de Sociologie 34 (1993) 80-106. See also György Lengyel, "Trends in Entrepreneurial Inclinations in Eastern Europe" (manuscript, 1995).
52. József Böröcz, "Simulating the Great Transformation: Property Change Under Prolonged Informality in Hungary," Archives Europeennes de Sociologie 34 (1993) 80-106. See also György Lengyel, "Trends in Entrepreneurial Inclinations in Eastern Europe" (manuscript, 1995).
53. Szonja Szelényi, "Social Inequality and Party Membership: Patterns of Recruitment into the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party," American Sociological Review 52 (1989): 559-73).
54. The lowest level of elite reproduction is observable among the Polish nomenklatura, and the Communist party lost many of its members in the 1980s here. See Eva Fodor, Edmund Wnuk-Lipinski, and Natasha Yershova, "The New Political and Cultural Elites in Hungary, Poland, Russia," Theory and Society 24:5 (October 1995): 783-800.
55. Jadwiga Staniszkis, The Dynamics of the Breakthrough in Eastern Europe: The Polish Experience (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991); or Akos Róna-Tas, "The First Shall Be Last? Entrepreneurship and Communist Cadres in the Transition from Socialism," American Journal of Sociology 100 (1994): 40-69.
56. Jadwiga Staniszkis, The Dynamics of the Breakthrough in Eastern Europe: The Polish Experience (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991); or Akos Róna-Tas, "The First Shall Be Last? Entrepreneurship and Communist Cadres in the Transition from Socialism," American Journal of Sociology 100 (1994): 40-69.
57. See, for example, Gail Kligman, "The Social Legacy of Communism: Women, Children, and the Feminization of Poverty," in James J. Millar and Sharon L. Wolchik, eds., The Social Legacy of Communism (Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Cambridge University Press, 1993); Katalin Koncz, "Nök a munakeröpiacon" (Women in the Labor Market), in Nök a mai társadalomban (Women in Today's Society), Budapest, 1995; Maxine Molyneux, "Women's Rights and the International Context: Some Reflections on the Post-Communist States," Millennium: Journal of International Studies 23:2 (1994): 287-3131.
58. See, for example, Gail Kligman, "The Social Legacy of Communism: Women, Children, and the Feminization of Poverty," in James J. Millar and Sharon L. Wolchik, eds., The Social Legacy of Communism (Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Cambridge University Press, 1993); Katalin Koncz, "Nök a munakeröpiacon" (Women in the Labor Market), in Nök a mai társadalomban (Women in Today's Society), Budapest, 1995; Maxine Molyneux, "Women's Rights and the International Context: Some Reflections on the Post-Communist States," Millennium: Journal of International Studies 23:2 (1994): 287-3131.
59. See, for example, Gail Kligman, "The Social Legacy of Communism: Women, Children, and the Feminization of Poverty," in James J. Millar and Sharon L. Wolchik, eds., The Social Legacy of Communism (Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Cambridge University Press, 1993); Katalin Koncz, "Nök a munakeröpiacon" (Women in the Labor Market), in Nök a mai társadalomban (Women in Today's Society), Budapest, 1995; Maxine Molyneux, "Women's Rights and the International Context: Some Reflections on the Post-Communist States," Millennium: Journal of International Studies 23:2 (1994): 287-3131.
60. Rebecca Matthews, "A Fair Day's Wage: Labor Markets, Non-farm Employment in a Transition Society." (Paper presented at the conference "The Market Transition Debate: Between Capitalism and Socialism," Center for Social Theory and Comparative History, Los Angeles, May, 1995.)
61. A decline in real GDP is registered for every year in Hungary and Slovakia between 1990 and the end of 1992, while Poland experiences a slight growth in 1992, after years of serious contraction (Country Reports, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, 4th quarter 1994, EIU).
62. Paula England, Comparable Worth: Theories and Evidence (New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1991).
63. Ruth Milkman, "Organizing the Sexual Division of Labor: Historical Perspectives on Women's Work and the American Labor Movement," Socialist Review 10 (1980): 125-41. See also Milkman, "Women Workers and the Labor Movement in Hard Times: Comparing the 1930s with the 1980s," in Lourdes Beneria and Catherine R. Stimpson, eds., Women. Household, and the Economy (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987).
64. Ruth Milkman, "Organizing the Sexual Division of Labor: Historical Perspectives on Women's Work and the American Labor Movement," Socialist Review 10 (1980): 125-41. See also Milkman, "Women Workers and the Labor Movement in Hard Times: Comparing the 1930s with the 1980s," in Lourdes Beneria and Catherine R. Stimpson, eds., Women, Household, and the Economy (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987).
65. Similar tendencies have been noted in various European countries as well - e.g., France, Britain, or Italy (see Rubery, Women and Recessions).
66. As in Table 2, the data for each time period refer to the working age and actively working population in each country. Because they describe slightly different segments of the population, these figures differ somewhat from the ones presented in published aggregate statistics (see, for example, Yearbook of Labor Statistics, 1993), and my tables at the end of this chapter (where I used pairwise deletion of missing data to correspond to the population in the models). The variation, however, is small, and the general trend is the same across all sets of data.
67. Foglalkoztatottság és keresti arányok (Employment and Wages) (Budapest: Központi Statisztikai Hivatal, 1989).
68. Ivan Szelényi and Donald J. Treiman, "Social Stratification in Eastern Europe After 1989" (NSF Grant Proposal, 1990).
69. The survey was conducted among those between 20 and 69 years of age. This is unfortunate, since it means that we lose the youngest cohort, which, according to aggregate statistics, has been rather hard hit by unemployment.
70. As noted earlier, retirement age was 55 years for women and 60 for men in Hungary and Slovakia, and 60 years for women and 65 for men in Poland.
71. In 1993, each of the three countries had regulations that guaranteed the jobs of those returning from maternity leave for varying amounts of time. In addition, in labor-force statistics, women on maternity leave are usually counted among the active population. If maternity leave affects women's chances of becoming unemployed, it will be uncovered in the analysis. This would be impossible to examine without counting them as actives.
72. The proportion of part-time workers has not grown significantly in the past years in any of these countries; practically everyone in the labor force still works full-time.
73. If we exclude tertiary educated people, academic high-school degrees still have a negative, though smaller, effect on unemployment in Slovakia.