Cinderella Goes To Market

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The events of autumn 1989 ushered in a period of wrenching political, economic and social change in East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary. What was the situation of women in these countries before the fall of communism, and has their situation been enhanced by the changes that followed? Einhorn's ( Living in Berlin ) illuminating, thorough analysis, based on first-person interviews, begins with the so-called emancipation of women under state socialism. She then explores the reality, in which women had to meet a ``triple burden,'' simultaneously exhorted to work outside the home, participate actively in political life and raise families. On the other hand, Einhorn shows how the transition to market economies has brought staggering unemployment rates for women, and loss of maternity and childcare leave. Further, women's levels of political representation have fallen drastically in the emerging democracies. The author examines women's movements before and after 1989, and explores the ``allergy to feminism'' exhibited by women in these countries. The tremendous physical and psychological toll exacted by the socialist Superwoman ethic is a key factor in women's attitudes and aspirations during the current transitional period. (Oct.)

Library Journal

State socialism did not emancipate women of pre-1989 revolutionary Central European societies. But are democracy and the market likely to? In this comparative study of women in Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Hungary, and Poland, Einhorn (Univ. of Sussex, England) questions whether women may lose social welfare and economic and reproductive rights as they gain civil and political ones. Some of the issues she considers include the contradictory reliance on women's workforce labor and service as unpaid housewives; the socialist state record on women's reproductive rights; and the impact of Western democracy, which privileges male autonomous citizenship. She offers reflections of these issues in literature, media, and religion. Chapter notes provide sources; relevant tables are appended. The scholarly but accessible work is highly recommended.-- Helen Rippier Wheeler, Womanhood Media, Berkeley, Cal.