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Romania Women and Women's Organizations
The socialist plan for the emancipation of women aimed
to
eliminate the "barbarously unproductive, petty,
nerve-racking
drudgery" of their lives. The subservience of women was to
be ended
by establishing the complete equality of the sexes before
the law
and by making women economically independent through
employment
outside the home. The legislation was easily accomplished,
and
Romanian women were indeed mobilized into the work force
in large
numbers. By 1970 some 74.9 percent of working-age women
(aged 20 to
59 years) were employed outside the home. But despite the
theoretical commitment of socialism to eradicating sexual
inequality, working women continued to bear the burden of
caring
for children, home, and husband. Romanian husbands tended
to regard
cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping and child care as
essentially
female duties. Consequently women were left with the
lion's share
of household responsibilities and far less time to pursue
educational, recreational, cultural, or social activities.
By the 1980s, illiteracy among females had long since
been
eliminated. Female enrollment in the primary education
system was
proportionate to their numbers, and a woman's access to
higher
education had also increased considerably. Some 44 percent
of
students pursuing higher education were women--up from
32.8 percent
in 1945. Behind these figures, however, lurked stereotyped
sex
roles that were much more difficult to erase. Popularly
held views
continued to divide professions according to sexual
suitability.
Studies showed that most girls chose traditional feminine
specializations, such as education and the humanities,
whereas boys
tended to favor technical and scientific fields.
Consequently young
men acquired skills and filled occupations that were held
in higher
regard and were better paid.
A similar fissure occurred in the industrial workplace,
where
patterns of sex discrimination clearly penalized women.
Although
opportunities abounded for those who wanted to work, women
were
found primarily in the ready-made clothing, textile, soap,
cosmetics, and public health industries. They were also
the
majority in the shoe and food industries and in trade.
Thus women
were concentrated in light industries, whereas economic
development
favored heavy industry, which employed mostly men, was
more
modernized and automated, and paid better wages. Not only
were
women concentrated in branches of the economy where they
labored at
more arduous tasks and earned less, women were seldom
employed as
supervisors, even in the sectors where they dominated in
numbers.
Women also made up more than 60 percent of the
agricultural work
force, which constituted about two-thirds of the total
female labor
force.
This sexual division of labor was due both to
discrimination
and to voluntary choices on the part of women not to enter
certain
professions and not to seek promotions. Generally the
primary
factor in the decision to limit themselves was the double
burden of
homemaking and child rearing, which left little time for
professional preparation or extra responsibilities in the
workplace. In addition, men had negative attitudes toward
women's
careers. In a 1968 study to determine whether professional
women
were supported in their endeavors by their spouses, only
35 percent
of the husbands interviewed valued their wives' careers
more than
their housework. This attitude was reinforced by labor
laws
designed to protect women's reproductive capacities and
provide for
maternal functions, which prohibited women from working in
particular occupations and placed restrictions on hours
and work
load in general.
Although women represented some 30 percent of the PCR
membership in 1980, few actually participated in political
activity. Of those women serving in government, most held
less
powerful positions at the local level or served on women's
committees attached to local trade unions, where the work
was
largely administrative in nature. Women were usually
involved in
issues of special concern to their gender, such as child
care, or
health and welfare matters, and rarely served on the more
important
state committees.
Unlike in the West, feminist groups dedicated expressly
to the
articulation and representation of women's interests did
not exist
in Romania. A national committee of prominent women headed
by
Ceausescu's wife, Elena, was organized to advise the
government on
women's issues. There were also traditional women's
groups, such as
social and educational associations and women's committees
attached
to local trade unions. These organizations served the
interests of
the PCR first and foremost. The PCR officially regarded
feminism
and an independent women's movement as divisive and
unacceptable.
Clearly socialism had not resolved the conflict between
the
sexes, and although it provided equal access to education
and
employment, it did not provide equal opportunity to
succeed. In
that regard, Romania's experience was not very different
from that
of other countries, but it was ironic that such inequality
between
the sexes persisted in a country ideologically committed
to its
elimination.
Data as of July 1989
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