Women in Power in Post-Communist Parliaments
Edited by Marilyn Rueschmeyer and Sharon L. Wolchik
Copub.: Indiana University Press

Women in Power in Post-Communist Parliaments examines the life and work of women who have reached positions of political power after the end of communism in Europe. It explores the roles they have adopted, the relationships they have cultivated, and the agendas they have pursued. In contrast to much of the literature on women in post-communist states, this volume treats the issues comparatively, in six countries with interesting differences—the Czech Republic, Germany (with a focus on parliamentarians from the former GDR), Slovenia, Bulgaria, Poland, and Russia. Interviews with and written statements by the "women in power" give voice to their experiences as political actors within an environment of volatile economies and new foreign engagements.

Order this book from Indiana University Press -

Marilyn Rueschemeyer is Professor Emerita of Sociology at the Rhode Island School of Design and Adjunct Professor at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Relations. Her books include Professional Work and Marriage: An East-West Comparison and Women in the Politics of Postcommunist Eastern Europe .
More Information about Marilyn Rueschmeyer can be found here.

Sharon L. Wolchik is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University. She is author of Czechoslovakia in Transition: Politics, Economics, and Society and editor (with James R. Millar) of The Social Legacy of Communism . She was a former Woodrow Wilson Center Public Policy Fellow, January–July 1995 and January–July 1999. This project developed out of a 2004 conference sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson Center.
More Information about Sharon L. Wolchik can be found here.

Comments on this book
"Women in Power gives us a more personal lens to understand the ways in which the parliaments, as well as the women who have made it into the houses, have adjusted to the new cultures and mandates of the post-communist world." —Jean Robinson, Indiana University, Bloomington

"This is a highly generative and coherent piece of scholarship. . . . The most important cross-national comparative book to date on the role of women in post-communist politics." —Mitchell A. Orenstein, Johns Hopkins University

Read about other Woodrow Wilson Center Press books.

List of Tables and Figures

Acknowledgments

1 Women in Power: The Issues, Marilyn Rueschemeyer and Sharon L. Wolchik

Part I. Women in Six National Parliaments

2 Women in the Russian State Duma, Linda J. Cook and Carol Nechemias

3 Women’s Representation in the Polish Parliament and the Determinants of Their Effectiveness, Renata Siemienska

4 What Difference Do Female Deputies Make in the Slovene Parliament? Milica G. Antic

5 Women in Parliament in the Czech Republic, Sharon L. Wolchik

6 East German Women in the Parliament of Unified Germany, Marilyn Rueschemeyer

7 The Return of the King: Women in the Bulgarian Parliament, Kristen Ghodsee

Part II. Perspectives of Women Parliamentarians

8 Russian Women Parliamentarians: In Their Own Voices, Compiled and Translated by Carol Nechemias

9 The Perspective of the Head of the Parliamentary Women’s Group in Poland, Senator Dorota Kempka Speaks with Agnieszka Majcher

10 A Specialist in Culture in the Slovene Parliament, Majda Širca

11 Negotiating the Czech Parliament,

An Interview with Anna Curdová, House of Deputies, Czech Parliament

12 My Entry into Politics during the Time of German Reunification: Where Do East German Female Politicians Stand in Europe Today? Constanze Krehl

13 Women in Politics in Bulgaria, Kina Andreeva

14 Women in Power: Concluding Thoughts, Marilyn Rueschemeyer and Sharon L. Wolchik

Selected Bibliography

Contributors

Index