Women in the Face of Change

Book excerpt: The years 1989 and 1990 will probably be best remembered for the speed and breadth of political and economic change which swept through what used to be referred to as the Communist Bloc. With the disintegration of this bloc, there has been no shortage of western advice on how to `democratize' economy and politiy in these societies. However, little thought has been given to what this change means for the millions of women who have toiled for decades alongside men in the factories and fields as well as performing their `womanly mission' in the home. This collection from women in Eastern and Western Europe, and covering both Europe and China, poses many questions about the impact of change. It contributes to the debate that seeks to combat inertia and ethnocentrism within western feminism and also to the separate and the critical `women's voice' which is re-emerging in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and China.