Amanda Orza

The legacy of Communist Social and Political Practices upon Post-communist Political Culture
A Gendered Approach

Scholars have extensively examined communism in Central and Eastern Europe, its fall and the transformation that
followed, however chiefly undermining the gender dimension. However, under the assumption that the political culture is a result of
every day habits and social norms, which are passed onto individuals through the family and community, the role of women should
not be understated. Gender, being both a broad identity concept and a microcosm, which reflects the process of social, economic and
political changes, may provide for an additional understanding of the nature of a society. Namely, even seemingly ungendered
processes are constrained, constituted, legitimated, and institutionalized through socially and culturally produced ideas about the male-
female difference.1 With the fall of communism, the lack of political culture supportive of womens activism became more evident as
women took upon a relatively limited involvement in the official policymaking arena.2 The lack of female interest in politics may be
the result of a combination of factors such as the repossession of the private sphere, rejection of the previously imposed gender
egalitarianism through forced political mobilization, and past connection with the communist regime which also implies a lack of a
tradition of active participation in public life.3 The assessment of the capitalist-reconstructed policies affecting the genders divide,
e.g. abortion laws, gives an insight of the extent of continuity of the new social and political structures in respect to the old system.4
Above all, the political marginalization of women in Central and Eastern Europe is a continuation of the type of gender
segregation, and womens political behavior and attitudes that have been developed and maintained under communist rule.5 Namely,
socialist states attempted to resolve the so-called Woman Question by abolishing gender differences in line with their ideology
through economic means. Even though socialist states introduced progressive legislation and egalitarian policies, their success in
establishing gender equality remains contested. Ideally, the domestic slave using Lenins denomination, was to be liberated.
However, in practice by defining women as mothers and workers without a reciprocal definition for men, the traditional gender roles
were actually enforced rather than subdued. Scholars have named the phenomenon a double burden, at times even triple if
considering the womens political duty toward the state as well. An illustration of the female role under communism is a report of the
GDR Central Committee which explicitly made a commitment to facilitate women to harmonize their employment, social
commitment and maternal responsibilities.6 Still, women did not evade their imposed responsibility toward the community. A survey
from Bulgaria showed that more than 90 percent of women participated in organizations under the state structure.7 Such forced
mobilization of women fueled a backlash against gender equality in the democratic system and had grave repercussions on the
political roles they assumed.8 Rugulska notes that women were penalized for the perceived benefits of communist equality.9 That is
to say, womens activity under communism largely tarnished their post-communist political involvement, which resulted in their
political and professional peripheralization.
However, the reality is that under communism women occupied what were perceived as feminized posts and positions at
the local level, and were habitually marginalized from the power hubs.10 The high womens representation was merely a faade that
was aimed to add to the legitimacy of the regime. Nevertheless, it left long-term implications for womens participation in
democracy.11 In addition, recalling the tight control that the socialist state exerted upon official organizations, the participation did not
provide with a significant experience in autonomous interest-driven political activity.12 An example is the case of the Czech Lands
and Slovakia, where a significant number of women became apathetic towards politics, to a degree indisputably due the meaningless
political experience they shared under communism.13 Similarly affected were the Polish women who apart from having unequal
access to political positions since they were limited to local politics, also suffered from fewer career advancement opportunities in
comparison to men. Polish women had been active in the roundtable discussion that brought the collapse of the regime, and the
underground resistance emulated to an extent the situation in the Party structures.14 Still, due to a ubiquitous prejudice which is
unrelenting in both countries, politics are deemed dirty, masculine, and inappropriate for women. Accordingly, women did not strive
to acquire skills and knowledge to exert political pressure, pursue political activism or join political structures.15
After having experienced too much equality in the past, with the victory of the democratic model, women embraced the
possibility of returning to the private sphere. 16 Given their experiences under communism, women found the home to be liberating
rather than oppressive. In contrast to an over-politicized daily life, the private sphere remained to an extent idealized as a safe haven,
or as Drakulic terms it, pigeonholes free of state interference. For instance, Kadar granted in Hungary a partial rehabilitation of
Amanda Orza
the right for privacy to individuals of commendable behavior in the public sphere.17 What is more, Hungarian women declared that
they perceived the private realm as a site of self-protection and invisible political opposition to the monolithic regime. In that sense,
Szalai argues that women took refuge in their economic and family roles.18 Central and Eastern European women did not interpret the
household as a confinement after they were finally granted the freedom of choice. Consequently, these women, unlike to Western
feminists, did not oppose the household for being a patriarchal institution. 19 The difference is hardly surprising if considering that
feminism is the product of a political culture of a particular country and of a particular social system, and thus bears the imprint of
the past.20 Cases in point are the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where a multitude of womens groups sprung out after 1989 but for the
most part supported what they termed sane feminism that advocated domestication of women.21 These attitudes, Wolchik asserts,
are constructed by the socialist propaganda campaigns which emphasized womens maternal roles as their main contribution to
society.22
Despite the attempts of the former Eastern bloc to break away from its socialist past, the discourse on womens rights and
roles in both the private and public sphere continued to counter pose the genders. Paradoxically, while post-communist politics strove
for legitimization through the attack of all that was perceived as communist, the issue over abortion policies reveals the preservation
of the gender power imbalance.23 Abortion is specifically significant as it is one the most contentious policies and among the first
questions raised after the fall of socialism.24 In the light of pervasive systemic changes, politicians initially claimed that issues
regarding gender equality are of secondary importance and a luxury. Nevertheless, they attempted to appropriate female reproduction
rights and strip women of their reproductive freedom.25 During socialist times, the official policy on womens reproductive facilities
was constructed as a response to the labor force requirements and the demographic trends.26 In contrast, according to the liberal
theory, procreation matters should belong to the domestic realm and have no intersections with politics.27 Thus, the abortion battle
illustrates the distorted relationship between the post-communist state and its citizens, and the invasive paths that political actors
embarked upon.28
In Poland abortion was perpetually delegalized and liberalized as numerous Poles argued for a ban despite a liberal legislation in the
past. Zielinska finds the causes for high interest in addressing the issue in biases deeply rooted in the Polish society which
conceptualize women as creatures with a chief reproductive purpose.29 Accordingly, focusing on the Czech and Slovak Republics,
Wolchik acknowledges the influence of the communist legacy in defining gender roles and attitudes regarding abortion but adds the
impact of transition.30 Even though in Czechoslovakia at the time abortion remained legal despite increasingly declining birth rates,
other measures were introduced to stimulate population growth.31 Similarly to the communist period, in the discussions at the policy
formation stage women were perceived as resources to be mobilized [...] to the extent that they were not explicitly considered at
all.32 Somewhat contradictory, both genders sought to break away from communist dictated goal of social equality and reduce the
role of the state while simultaneously retaining state- provided benefits.33 While the majority of men and women in both the Czech
land and Slovakia opposed to a restriction of abortion access, surveys show that the Poles that opposed the re- criminalization of
abortion constituted mostly of the elderly and residents of the rural areas.34
In summary, even though the annus mirabilis is often perceived as a point in time when Central and Eastern Europe
shredded its undemocratic characteristics, the investigation of the political culture reveals that attitudes and behaviors towards norms,
the political system and the gender divide are deeply embedded. At times concealed, the communist legacy remains to shape the
perception of both women and men regarding womens participation in politics and efforts aimed at gender equality. The forced
mobilization of women and the official ambition of abolishing gender differences under communism, together with womens negative
experience in politics and their allegiance to the private sphere significantly marked the perception of female roles and rights in post-
communist times. Both men and women do not take womens involvement in the public sphere seriously. Still, more importantly,
women lack a gender consciousness and as the issue of abortion policies shows, are mobilized only when directly threatened by
democratic politics. Thus, communism did take its toll in stifling political activism, which remains evident in the Central and Eastern
European political culture.

Amanda Orza


1 Gal, Susan, and Gail Kligman. Pg 5.
2 Regulska, Joanna. Pg 56.
3 Jaquette, Jane S., and Sharon L. Wolchik. Pg. 7.
4 Marody, Mira, and Anna Giza-Poleszczuk. Pg. 152.
5 Siemienska, Renata. Pg. 126.
6 Einhorn, Barbara. Pg. 29.
7 Kostova, Dobrinka. Pg. 22.
8 Wolchik, Sharon L. "Gender and the Politics of Transition in the Czech Republic and Slovakia." Pg. 129.
9 Regulska, Joanna. Pg .46.
10 Ibid. Pg. 37.
11 Jaquette, Jane S., and Sharon L. Wolchik. Pg. 11.
12 Wolchik, Sharon L. "Gender and the Politics of Transition in the Czech Republic and Slovakia." Pg. 160.
13 Ibid. Pg. 166.
14 Ibid. Pg. 38.
15 Regulska, Joanna. Pg. 36.
16 Jaquette, Jane S., and Sharon L. Wolchik. Pg. 13.
17 Einhorn, Barbara. Pg. 58.
18 Siemienska, Renata. Pg. 133
19 Einhorn, Barbara. Pg. 64.
20 Wolchik, Sharon L. "Gender and the Politics of Transition in the Czech Republic and Slovakia." Pg. 177.
21 Ibid. Pg. 125.
22 Ibid. Pg. 127.
23 Verdery, Katherine. Pg. 82.
24 Gal, Susan, and Gail Kligman. Pg. 3.
25 Einhorn, Barbara. Pg. 75.
26 Ibid.
27 Gal, Susan, and Gail Kligman. Pg. 9.
28 Ibid. Pg. 10.
29 Zielinska, Eleonora. Pg. 52.
30 Wolchik, Sharon L. "Reproductive Policies in the Czech and Slovak Republics." Pg. 58.
31 Ibid. Pg. 65.
32 Ibid. Pg. 71.
33 Ibid.
34 Zielinska, Eleonora. Pg. 39.

Amanda Orza
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