Women's role in building democracy in Central and Eastern Europe since 1989

This project bring together new data on woman's contribution to building democracy in Central and Eastern Europe since the fall of the Iron curtain in 1989. It is based on extensive interviews with women activists and decision makers in ten countries, along with studies of legislative processes in these states to understand how women are helping to shape and build new civil society and new democratic practice in these countries. As communism effectively destroyed the public space, the home and family became one of the few locations of discussion of public issues from 1945 to 1989. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the impetus for reform assumed a more conventional public role. Culminating in a consolidation of democratic structures and membership of the European Union. This study seeks to understand the influence of women in Central and Eastern Europe on the democratisation process, on legislative enactment on equality as required for EU membership, and on shaping the legislative agenda to take account of women's concerns.