Gender Regimes in Transition in Central and Eastern Europe

Common understandings of welfare states has been enriched by recent scholarly work on the relationship between welfare regimes and gender. This book uses these debates to illuminate the changing gender regimes in countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It has particular significance as countries in the region make the transition from communism and into a European Union that has issues of women's employment, work-life balance, and gender equality at the heart of its social policy. The analysis draws on quantitative comparative data and on rich qualitative data from a new study of mothers in Polish households, illuminating the effects of changing welfare and gender relations from the perspective of those most directly affected: mothers of young children. This book is an important addition to the literature and is recommended to academics and students interested in the study of gender relations, welfare states, and international and comparative European social policy.