Suchergebnisse

Settling Accounts: Violence, Justice, and Accountability in Postsocialist Europe. John Borneman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997. 197 pp.

Examines how the economic, social, & cultural reorganization of the former East Germany is affecting the lives of women in Brandenburg & other rural districts. Under collectivized agriculture, rural East German women were a strong community force, learned to use agricultural technology, & often pursued higher education. By 1971, 57% were highly skilled employees. By 1988, 90+% held diplomas for skilled agrarian professions, although few were managers. Postunification decollectivization resulted in massive unemployment for these women; 180,000 (compared to 120,000 men) lost their jobs during late 1989-mid 1992, a trend that has continued. Men are often favored for reemployment, & most of the women who would like to start their own farms lack capital. Results of this disruption include poverty, retraditionalization of gender relations, & a decline in women's community status. West German rhetoric about family farms & property rights is not meaningful to most of these women. Some are now calling for policies to promote employment & require equal employment. 25 References. E. Blackwell