Chris Corrin - Gender and Identity in Central and Eastern Europe

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Gender and Identity in
Central and Eastern Europe

Edited by
CHRIS CORRIN

First Published in 1999 by
FRANK CASS PUBLISHERS

This edition published 2013 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Copyright 1999 Frank Cass Publishers

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Gender and identity in central and eastern Europe. (The
journal of communist studies and transition politics; v.
(15)
1. Women Europe, Eastern 2. Women Former Soviet republics 3. Sex role Europe, Eastern 4. Sex role Former Soviet republics 5. Feminism Political aspects Europe, Eastern 6. Feminism Political aspects Former Soviet republics I. Corrin, Chris
305.420947

ISBN 0 7146 5033 1 (cloth)
ISBN 0 7146 8087 7 (paper)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gender and identity in Central and Eastern / edited by Chris
Corrin.

p. cm.

This group of studies first appeared in a special issue on

Gender and identity in Central and Eastern Europe of The journal of communist studies and transition politics (ISSN 1352-3279) published by Frank Cass P. [ ].

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.

ISBN 0-7146-5033-1 (cloth). ISBN 0-7146-8087-7 (pbk.)

1. Women-Europe, EasternSocial conditions. 2. WomenEurope, CentralSocial conditions. 3. Women in politicsEurope, Eastern. 4. Women in politicsEurope, Central. I. Corrin, Chris, 1956

II. Journal of communist studies and transition politics.

HQ1590.7.G45 1999

305.420940dc21 99-17015

CIP

This group of Studies first appeared in a Special Issue on
Gender and Identity in Central and Eastern Europe
of The Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics (ISSN 13523279)
15/1 (March 1999) published by Frank Cass.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher of this book.

CHRIS CORRIN

The transitional changes which societies in Central and Eastern Europe have been undergoing for a decade since the collapse of the soviet empire have had far-reaching effects on the lives of their citizens. Changes and continuities are apparent in various spheres, and this special issue considers the cross-cutting influences of gender and identity in the ways in which various changes are experienced and influenced. It has long been recognized that women are agents of change and yet suffer as victims in some of the post-Soviet moves from state socialist systems to new societies with multi-party democracies and developing market economies.

Early studies in this area had a focus on recognizing the realities of actually existing socialism within a gendered analysis of change, equality and difference and the choices (or lack of them) for women.1 More recent books have considered what these changes and continuities have meant for different groups of women, and the relevance of gender within this, particularly from the Russian perspective.2 One notable collection analysing transitional change and gender politics in Central and Eastern Europe is that by Tanya Renne,3 which allows various individuals and very varied groups of women in Central and Eastern Europe to voice their experiences and perspectives on the social and political changes facing them.

The present collection of articles reviews elements of the decade of changes from the perspectives of gender and identity. Some contributions highlight feminist analyses and resistance to the negative consequences of certain changes for various groups in society and argue that womens activities have played a large part in securing democratic developments in various countries. Following from a gender-based analysis of formal public participation in politics in Slovenia through to an exploration of the shifting boundaries of gender and sexuality in youth cultural discourse in Russia, focus is on the importance of considerations of gender in thinking through change. Across the six articles is a common feminist definition of what is political. That is, the authors do not view political participation in a narrow vein concerned only with functional aspects of the external, public world. The viewpoint that politics is about relations of power in society and how these are mediated can be clearly followed throughout. From the power of violence, to the power of ideas concerning motherhood, and to sexuality as a lever of power, it is clear that key sites of struggle are being analysed.

In each contribution the recognition that various identities are constructed at particular times and in certain conditions is apparent in assessing the particular locations of various women and womens groups and how these have changed and are changing through transitional times. Hilary Pilkington has pointed out in considering social identity that identities of gender, generation, sexuality, class, race, ethnicity and religion are constructed in time and space.4 Spanning a variety of constructions of gender and considering the ways in which these have been differently negotiated over time are key themes of the studies collected here. The term difference is itself a key term in feminist analysis, and a mere tolerance of difference, as Audre Lorde long ago pointed out, is grossly reformist, since Difference must not be merely tolerated, but seen as a fund of necessary polarities between which our creativity can spark like a dialectic. Only then does the necessity for interdependency become unthreatening.5 Here Lorde is reiterating the basic humanist and feminist principle regarding the necessity to overcome fear and learned behaviour regarding differences as causes for separation and suspicion rather than as forces for change. In the various studies collected here, we see outlines of some womens abilities and willingess to overcome the fear of difference, recognize its existence in a multiplicity of areas, and use that knowledge to learn how to identify themselves and their goals, define their own terms and make common cause with others who share those visions.

Whether the authors are explicitly considering differences of, say, ethnicity as in the Bulgarian study, or of constructions of sexuality in the Russian article, the need for considering womens