Conclusion

Abstract

As Kristen Ghodsee has wisely pointed out, it would be a serious mistake to paint the fortunes of women in the post-socialist world monochro-matically or, for that matter, to imagine that women’s experience since 1989 has been purely negative. On the contrary — taking Bulgaria as a case in point — she has noted, among other things, that women there tend to achieve higher levels of education than men, have had a lower rate of unemployment than men since 2001, and continue to receive longer paid maternity leaves than women in most Western European states.² Class, ethnicity, education, and place of residence all shape the experience of women in Southeastern Europe, as elsewhere. Thus, unemployment, and hence also poverty, tend to be more serious problems in remote rural settings than in larger cities and towns.³

I am grateful to Dasa Duhacek, Christine Hassenstab, and Tanja Rener for comments on an earlier version of this chapter.