EASTERN EUROPE: Grim picture of women's lives
The upheavals of transition from communism have hit women particularly hard, write Stefan Wagstyl and Charles Clover
For Elena Makarova, a Ukrainian gynaecologist, the most striking effect of the political and economic upheaval of the past 10 years is the declining number of her patients. "Everyone can see the effects of the economic situation on women. Women aren't giving birth," she says.
Dr Makarova's conclusions are echoed in a comprehensive report published today by Unicef, the United Nations children's organisation, which examines the condition of women in the ex-communist states of eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
The authors paint a bleak picture of the lives of women across the region, even in those central European states such as Slovenia and Poland that have made rapid economic progress in the past decade. They say that in many respects, the upheavals of transition from communism have hit women particularly hard. Of the 26m jobs axed in the region since 1989, 14m have been lost by women. Standards of health care have fallen. Kindergarten enrolment has plunged, notably in central Asia. In Kazakhstan, for example, just 12 per cent of pre-school children attend kindergarten compared with 52 per cent before 1990.
After an initial period of euphoria after the collapse of communism, when the young rushed into marriage and parenthood, birth rates have dropped in most countries (see chart). The report says that, while similar changes have happened in the west over a longer period, the suddenness of the shift in the former communist bloc is significant and at least partly due to economic circumstances.
"In many countries, fertility is now at extremely low levels in absolute terms, and if this trend continues, it will have significant social and economic repercussions. It may also reflect the heavy price women and families have paid as they try to support their children despite the economic hardships of the transition." The report argues that in communist times, women fared reasonably well with good access to education, healthcare and jobs. But the paternalistic communist state failed to change underlying attitudes to gender equality.
After 1989, women suffered, notably with the weakening of the communist child care networks. At the same time, rising crime has hit everyone while new-found freedoms have created other problems, such as a rapid increase in smoking and alcohol consumption among young women.
Reports of domestic violence have also multiplied, say the authors. In Moscow, more than one third of divorced women had been beaten by their husbands. The report says domestic violence is not prohibited by law in Armenia, Croatia or Georgia. Croatia and Ukraine are among seven countries that do not recognise marital rape as a crime. In Slovenia, economically the most advanced post-communist country, domestic violence is not considered criminal in cases of "light" injury, which includes "fractured nose, rib, light contusions and pushed-out teeth".
However, the picture is not completely grim. In the UN's international rankings of countries by social development, central European states generally score higher on gender-related issues than on others.
The authors say this reflects the continuing benefit of some aspects of communist rule, notably access to education. This also accounts for another feature of transition - the fact that while overall income inequality has increased throughout the region, inequality between male and female income has stayed constant and are broadly similar to western European levels. Moreover, women are not slow in setting up businesses. A study of nine countries showed a quarter of entrepreneurs were women, a level seen in many developed economies.
The authors conclude that the best way to improve women's position in the region is for governments to collect more of the tax revenues they are owed and to put a bigger priority in spending on healthcare and education. John Micklewright, Unicef's head of research, says international organisations can play only a small role, given their limited resources. "This is a wake-up call to the region's governments to tackle these problems for themselves." It is not a message that will go down well with Dr Makarova or other women in Kiev. Tonya Mikhailovna, a Russian teacher, does not expect life to improve any time soon because women find it difficult to adjust to change. She says: "Women have more responsibilities, and are less flexible than men."