Examines how political and economic change in what used to be called the 'communist bloc' affects the millions of women who live in these societies.

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.

Introduction: Section 1. Swings and Roundabouts: The Political Economy of Reform 1. Women, Employment and Social Policy
Reforms in the Soviet Union Natalia Rimachevskaia 2.
Watering Another Man's Garden: Gender Issues and Educational Reforms in China Shirin Rai 3. Gender and Political
Participation in Rural China Zhang Junzuo 4. Uneven Burdens: Women in Rural Poland Frances Pine Section 2. The Construction and Reconstruction of Gendered Identities
5. Reforming socialism, Women and Reproduction Delia Davin 6. Whose Space is it Anyway? Youth, Gender and Civil Society in the Soviet Union Hilary Pilkington 7. Sexual Revolution or Sexploitation? the Pornography and Erotica Debate in the Soviet Union Ros Sheeves 8. Monogamy and Female Sexuality in the Peoples Republic of China Harriet Evans Section 3. Towards a Woman's Consciousness? 9. The Politics of Change: Women's Experience in Hungary Chris Corrin 10. Feminism and Bolshevism: Two Worlds, Two Ideologies Marina Malysheva 11. The Women's Movement in the USSR: A Myth or a Real Challenge? Valentina Konstantinova Index