Women in Transition

Voices from Lithuania

Edited by Suzanne LaFont

Subjects: Cultural Anthropology
Paperback : 9780791438121, 137 pages, July 1998
Hardcover : 9780791438114, 137 pages, July 1998

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Table of contents

Editor's Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Suzanne LaFont

1. A Historical Perspective on the Role of Women

Viktorija Baršauskiene and Giedre Rymeikyte

2. Women in History and Literature

Dalia Vyšniauskiene

3. Life Histories: Three Generations of Lithuanian Women

Agne Pankuniene

4. Women in the Domestic Domain

Giedre Purvaneckiene

5. Lithuanian Women and Education: Discrimination and Career Choices

Palmira Juceviciene

6. Women and the Economy

Vida Kanopiene

7. The Church, Nationalism, and the Reproductive Rights of Women

Dalia Gineitiene

8. Why and How the Party of Women Was Formed in Lithuania

Dalia Teišerskyte

9. Moving Forward: Women's Studies and Organizations

Marija Aušrine Pavilioniene

10. Modem Women in Lithuania

Renata Guobuzaite

11. Marija Gimbutas: Tribute to a Lithuanian Legend

Joan Marler

Notes on Contributors

Index

Written by leading women scholars, this first and only book published about Lithuanian women details the historical, social, economic, and political issues affecting women during the transition from communism to democracy.

Description

Women in Transition addresses the historical, social, economic and political dynamics affecting the lives of women during Lithuania's transition from communism to democracy. This book demonstrates that democracy has not diminished gender discrimination. In fact, the recent political and economic changes threaten to widen the gender gap through a decline in political representation, an increase in women's unemployment and underemployment, and the threat of restrictive reproductive policies. Furthermore, low birth rates coupled with a sharp rise in nationalism has led to propaganda encouraging women to return to home and family. Women in Transition details how women are responding to these changes.

The first and only book published about Lithuanian women by Lithuanian women, this unique volume fills a gap in knowledge of the country's society and the role of its women. An important contribution to the growing body of literature on post-communism, the book is written by many of the leading women scholars in Lithuania including the head of the Women's Studies program and the Chair of the Sociology Department at Vilnius University; the Counsellor to the Parliament on Women's Issues; the Dean of Kaunas University; and the Chairperson of the Women's Party of Lithuania. Suzanne LaFont, former Visiting Professor at Kaunas University, has edited the book and provided an introduction.

Suzanne LaFont is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Continuing Education at New York University and author of The Emergence of an Afro-Caribbean Legal Tradition in Jamaica.

Reviews

The first and only book published about Lithuanian women by Lithuanian women, this unique volume fills a gap in knowledge of the country's society and the role of its women. An important contribution to the growing body of literature on post-communism, the book is written by many of the leading women scholars in Lithuania including the head of the Women's Studies program and the Chair of the Sociology Department at Vilnius University; the Counsellor to the Parliament on Women's Issues; the Dean of Kaunas University; and the Chairperson of the Women's Party of Lithuania. Suzanne LaFont, former Visiting Professor at Kaunas University, has edited the book and provided an introduction.