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Questioning the Retraditionalization Thesis: Gender Differences in Paid and Unpaid Work in Bulgaria (1970–2010)

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Gender and Power in Eastern Europe

Part of the book series: Societies and Political Orders in Transition ((SOCPOT))

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Abstract

This chapter explores the gendered dimensions of the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy in Bulgaria by systematically analyzing the problem of gender differences in paid and unpaid work. It aims to identify changes in the gendered patterns of work and time use that accompanied the significant socioeconomic and political transformations that occurred in Bulgaria between 1970 and 2010. The article’s central hypothesis questions the relevance of the retraditionalization thesis to the Bulgarian case. Research based on labor market statistics and data from five national representative time use surveys conducted between 1970 and 2010 shows that there have been complex changes in paid and unpaid work, but none follows a retraditionalization pattern.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Poland, Estonia, Hungary, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, and Slovakia.

  2. 2.

    Between 1990 and 2010, the marriage rate decreased from 6.8 to 3.2% (NSI 2015, p. 33).

  3. 3.

    In 1992, the share of children born outside marriage was 18.5%; this number increased to 42% in 2001 and to 58.8% in 2014 (NSI 2015, p. 26).

  4. 4.

    Between 1990 and 2005, the divorce rate increased from 1.3 to 1.9 (NSI 2015, p. 31).

  5. 5.

    The principle of the protection of mothers was guaranteed in 1947 under the first socialist constitution.

  6. 6.

    During this first part of the maternity leave, mothers receive 90% of their salary.

  7. 7.

    Payment during the second year of maternity leave is very low and is currently below minimum wage.

  8. 8.

    According to a 1977 sociological study of 5993 Bulgarian families, only 13% of children younger than three and 35% of children between the ages of three and seven were placed in formal care; 48% of children under 3 years old were cared for by their mothers, 10.5% by the whole family, and 26% by relatives (Kiuranov et al. 1987, p. 141).

  9. 9.

    A quarter of children under seven years old were cared for by relatives (Kiuranov et al. 1987).

  10. 10.

    According to Eurostat 2007 data, only 8% of children in this age group were enrolled in formal childcare: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table

    .do?tab = table&plugin = 1&language = en&pcode = tepsr_sp210.

  11. 11.

    This places Bulgaria in the group of European countries that preserve traditional attitudes (Panova and Buber-Ennser 2016).

  12. 12.

    Szalai provides a systematic account of an identical process in Hungary, where women have managed to make use of the skills they learned under socialism, acquiring relatively good positions in the newly developed service sector (Szalai 2003).

  13. 13.

    The percentage of people working part-time in Bulgaria is negligible: 2% of 20–64 year olds in 2018. See https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/DDN-20190621-1

  14. 14.

    The Central Statistical Office (Centralno statistichesko upravlenie or CSU) was created in 1953 and existed until 1991, when it was replaced by the National Statistical Institute.

  15. 15.

    This was due to a legislative change introducing a five-day workweek and a decrease in weekly working time by three and a half hours (Anachkova 1991, p. 127).

  16. 16.

    24.5% of the Bulgarian population in 2001 (NSI 2019, p. 4).

  17. 17.

    The HETUS (Harmonised European Time Use Survey) project provides statistical information about fifteen European countries. The data are available at https://www.h6.scb.se/tus/tus/StatMeanMact1.html, accessed on 11.08.2020

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Gergana Nenova

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  1. Gergana Nenova
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of East European Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Katharina Bluhm , Gertrud Pickhan , Justyna Stypińska  & Agnieszka Wierzcholska , ,  & 

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Nenova, G. (2021). Questioning the Retraditionalization Thesis: Gender Differences in Paid and Unpaid Work in Bulgaria (1970–2010). In: Bluhm, K., Pickhan, G., Stypińska, J., Wierzcholska, A. (eds) Gender and Power in Eastern Europe. Societies and Political Orders in Transition. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53130-0_11

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