Women in the age of economic transformation

The world is going through a period of radical change. This is self-evident in post-socialist Europe with the disappearance of centrally planned economies. However, policies of liberalization and privatization are also sweeping the less developed world. While traditional theory predicts beneficial results from these changes, the practical outcome is less certain. Whatever the overall effect, it is clear that some citizens will pay a higher price than others. In Women in the Age of Economic Transformation the authors deal with the impact of structural change on women. Each chapter summarizes the changes that have taken place in a particular economy. This is developed further by an empirical analysis of the effect on women. The authors discuss the evidence of gender bias and reach some telling, if unsurprising, conclusions. It seems that, regardless of the type of change involved, women suffer more in the transformation process. The editors conclude that this is unlikely to be random; rather, it reflects the social and political condition of women. Addressing these issues is thus essential if the burden of economic transformation is to be distributed fairly.