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Mar 24, 2005 - and Age-Specific Vulnerabilities', Rome, 20-21 April 2001. ...... Nicolai Genov looks at the development of the social dialogue in the transition.
VOL. 8 · NO. 2 · SOUTH-EAST EUROPE REVIEW FOR LABOUR AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS

SOUTH EAST EUROPE REVIEW FOR LABOUR AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS

SEER

QUARTERLY OF THE

Hans Böckler Stiftung EUROPEAN TRADE UNION INSTITUTE

ISSN 1435-2869

Nomos

SOUTH EAST EUROPE REVIEW FOR LABOUR AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS Number 2/2005 Publisher: Hans-Böckler-Stiftung and the European Trade Union Institute Editor: Béla Galgoczi Associate Editor: Calvin Allen Editorial Board: Dr. Jens Becker, Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main; Dr. Béla Galgóczi, Research officer at the European Trade Union Institute, Brussels; Dr. Frank Gerlach, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung; Henning Jorgensen, Director of the European Trade Union Institute, Brussels; Dr. Dobrin Kanev, New Bulgarian University, Sofia; Dr. Darko Marinković, Megatrend, University of applied sciences, Belgrade; Dr. Igor Munteanu, Viitorul Foundation, Chișinau; Dr. Kemal Öke, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Ankara; Dr. Ekaterina Ribarova, Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria, Sofia; Prof. Bruno S. Sergi, University of Messina & CERC-University of Melbourne; Ljiljana Vidučić, PhD Professor at the University of Split, Croatia; Prof. Dr. Edward Zammit, University of Malta, Msida

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QUARTERLY OF THE HANS-BÖCKLER-FOUNDATION

SEER South-East Europe Review for Labour and Social Affairs ‘Equal opportunities in south-eastern Europe’

Volume 8 · Number 2

What are the Hans-Böckler Foundation (HBF) and the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI)? The Hans-Böckler-Foundation is the DGB (German Trade Union Confederation) organisation for employee codetermination, research and study promotion. In all its fields of activity it is committed to codetermination as a principle for designing a democratic society. It promotes this idea, supports all representatives in the codetermination area and advocates the broadening and extension of codetermination rights. The ETUI is the research centre of the ETUC, studying socio-economic matters and industrial relations. It forms a bridge between the trade union movement and the academic world by conducting and promoting intellectually independent research on two areas of strategic importance for the trade unions: Europeanisation of industrial relations and Employment, labour market and social policy. The ETUI works via networks with research bodies and universities in various countries. It disperses the results of its work via conferences and seminars on topics of interest to the trade union movement and via its wide-ranging publications. If you want to know more about the two institutions please write to the editors or see the homepages www.boeckler.de and www.etuc.org/etui. Aims and Objectives of the South-East Europe Review for Labour and Social Affairs The SEER tries to stimulate the exchange of information among researchers, trade unionists and people who have a special interest in the political, social and economic development of the region of south-east Europe. The SEER tries to draw attention to new research results and the latest analysis about the ongoing process of political and social changes in the south-east of Europe. The SEER tries to create more understanding for the importance of the elaboration of democratic structures in industrial relations. The SEER tries to combine contributions from different disciplines and “political schools” into an information package of interest for policy makers, researchers, academics and trade unionists from various backgrounds. The editors would like to point out that it is the authors who are responsible for the content of their own articles and that neither the editors nor the publishers, the Hans-Böckler-Foundation and the European Trade Union Institute, necessarily share the opinions of the authors whose work is featured in the SEER. Editor Béla Galgoczi European Trade Union Institute Boulevard du Roi Albert II 5 B-1210 Brussels Tel. ++ 32-2-2240492 Fax ++ 32-2-2240502 eMail: [email protected] Production: Nomos Verlag ISSN 1435-2869

Associate Editor Calvin Allen Connect 30, St. George’s Road Wimbledon London SW19 4BD Tel. ++ 44-20 8971 6025 Fax ++ 44-20 8971 6002 eMail: [email protected]

Contents

Page

Editorial

5

Vesna Bajić

The social and economic position of women in Serbia

7

Zdravka Leutar Ivan Leutar

The position of women between the worlds of labour and family

23

Angela Munteanu

Remittances and the governance deficit in Moldova: Remedies or sources of inequalities?

41

Milivoje Radović Dragan Đurić

The labour market and the Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy in Montenegro

51

E. Elif Yücetürk M. Kemal Öke

Mobbing and bullying: legal aspects relating to workplace bullying in Turkey

61

Rossitsa Rangelova Ageing and health status of the Bulgarian population Svetozar Zlatanov

71

Zdravko Saveski

The process of the reduction of workers’ rights in Macedonia in the period 1993-2003

95

Burçak Özoælu Poçan

The restructuring of the Turkish public sector as part of the strategy for Europeanisation

111

Ljiljana Jeremić

An overview of the consequences of financial mutation

131

Book review

137

About the authors

141

Editorial

The current issue of the SEER (2005/2) focuses on the issue of equal opportunities in south-east Europe according to several dimensions. Countries that experienced relative welfare and social cohesion in the eighties have been pushed into a precarious situation in the post-war period. Women have carried the burdens of social cataclysm to a great extent, while modern times demand that men and women alike strike a better balance between family and work. The difficult economic and social circumstances facing the region, however, make it much more difficult to do so. Social exclusion, at the same time, has become a widespread phenomenon and inequalities have grown to extreme levels in certain countries. What is the situation of marginalised groups (the long-term unemployed, unskilled people, those from minority ethnic groups and displaced people) and what efforts are being made to rebalance the situation? Within the scope of the European integration process, this dimension – being one of the fundamentals of the European social model – will have special importance. Similar to previous editions of the SEER, we give, besides articles on the focus topic, space to other relevant articles dealing with social and economic developments in the region. Regarding the focus topic of this issue – ’Equal opportunities in south-eastern Europe’ – we find five accounts: two analyses on gender issues with a view to Serbia and Croatia; a conceptual overview of the sources of inequality in Moldova; one article examining the case of poverty in Montenegro; and a report from Turkey focuses on the phenomenon of mobbing and bullying in workplaces. Vesna Bajić examines the situation of women in today’s Serbia, with a view to their position in politics and education, but most importantly on the labour market in general. Here, the author uses various statistics to review the labour market position of women in Serbia. She also pays attention to the specific subject of how women are exposed to flexibility requirements in a globalised economy. Zdravka and Ivan Leutar provide a comparative analysis on the role of women between the worlds of work and family in three countries: Croatia; Austria; and Poland. Angela Munteanu gives an account on the roots of poverty and inequality in Moldova. Putting current challenges into their historical perspective, she gives a thorough description of the regional differences that are one of the roots of inequality in the poorest country in Europe. The author also argues that the magnitude of inequality in Moldova also certifies to the incapability of the state administration. Milivoje Radović and Dragan Đurić review the Montenegrin labour market from a point of view of equal opportunities and deliver a summary of the efforts of the government to reduce poverty and inequality through labour market policies. E. Elif Yücetürk and M. Kemal Öke provide an analytic review of mobbing and bullying in the workplace in Turkey, starting with legal definitions, then giving a statistical overview of practice according to the major categories of the problem. Four other articles deal with other relevant social and economic developments in the region: Rossitsa Rangelova and Svetozar Zlatanov explore the issue of ageing and health in Bulgaria, a country with advanced demographic difficulties; Zdravko Saveski examines the process of the consecutive amendments of the Labour Code in 2/2005

South-East Europe Review

S. 5 – 6

5

Editorial

Macedonia to come to the conclusion that it gives a picture of a linear deterioration of workers’ rights; Burçak Özoælu Poçan analyses the restructuring of the Turkish public sector as part of the Europeanisation strategy underway in Turkey; and Ljiljana Jeremić examines in her article financial risk management in an international perspective. Finally, we have a book review by Albrecht Rothacher on a book devoted to ‘Patterns of Europeanisation in Central and Eastern Europe’.

Béla Galgoczi Calvin Allen

6

August 2005

South-East Europe Review

2/2005

Vesna Bajić

The social and economic position of women in Serbia1 General overview We cannot speak about the position of women in Serbia without having a closer look at the level of the relevant social and economic position of women until 1990, the general social and political conditions following this period which have had a direct impact on the position of women and, finally, without studying the effect of the transition process (for which no-one in this country can determine the stage at which it is at the moment), which is taking place within another, much greater and more important process for women called globalisation. In the last decade of the 20th century, women in Serbia enjoyed a relatively positive heritage: they were well-educated (in comparison with the situation preceding World War II), accounting for 39% of the total number of employees, and with relatively satisfactory social and health care protection. Also very important is the one-year maternity leave, along with adequate social care for children, i.e. a developed network of pre-school institutions, which is a rather important element in the process of the emancipation of women, as well as the right to give birth only to wanted children or, in other words, the right to have control over one's own body. Also important is that a large number of women have crossed from the private into the public sphere and that there has been, after all, a positive step forward in the area of the traditional social expectations of women. One would have said that, in the early ‘90s, men and women had approximately identical positions in society and that it only depended on women's preferences whether they would be employed and to what extent they would dedicate their life to their profession. Unfortunately, this was not true. The position of women was not favourable even in those ‘golden times’ of proclaimed equality and it was during the 1990s that the process of the erosion of the very few achievements that protected women from open and insulting discrimination started to get underway. The early 1990s were marked by tempestuous changes which had a negative impact on the position of women in Serbia: • disintegration of the former state, followed by wars and other consequences of war • change in the existing social and economic order, i.e. the beginning of the socalled transition • and something that, one could claim, is characteristic of this area: non-critical rejection or acceptance of the so-called ‘ideological packages’. One of those ‘pack1

2/2005

This analysis is the part of a research study which carried out in co-operation with the women’s organization ‘B.a.b.e.’ from Croatia and the ICFTU CEE Women’s Network at the beginning of 2004.

South-East Europe Review

S. 7 – 22

7

Vesna Bajić

ages’ contained numerous social achievements that were erroneously interpreted as part and parcel of the past ideas of a defunct system, not as the general achievements of civilisation. In the midst of the social and economic chaos which followed the disintegration of Yugoslavia, reinforced by the wars fought in the first half of the 1990s, international sanctions, hyper-inflation, poverty and the general total downfall of the system on the one hand, and the ever-stronger influence of the church on national policies on the other, women were pushed even farther into the margins of society. Speaking about women's needs and interests during this period was a socially unacceptable gesture, often met with mockery and, not so rarely, ridicule. Inequality for women in Serbia is deeply rooted, having been, and remaining, visible at every step. Sometimes, as in the case of violence against women, it is brutally overt; however, it is more often hidden and systematically blurred by declaratively articulated but insufficiently defined equality in the legislation, as well as in national social and economic policies. They may be considered to be unreliable, but statistics do indicate certain trends or conditions in society. Thus, according to research by the SCAN Agency from Novi Sad in January 2001, conducted on a representative sample across the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, within the ‘Social and Economic Position of Women in Yugoslavia’ project, the proportion of women in the total number of owners of registered material goods was around 20%. Statistics on average wages for men and women indicate that well-paid jobs have never been available to women, regardless of their level of education. Women's wages have been lower than men’s by approximately 20% and their pensions have been lower by approximately 25%. The entire burden of household and family care has continued to be carried by women, who have been more appreciated as mothers and housewives than as experts. Women in politics The process of the loss of women’s hard-earned rights started in politics when socalled ‘tradition’ cast away its disguise and showed its true face by rejecting all the achievements of one system and accepting another, all within the social package of the 19th century. The first multi-party elections in Serbia showed that women, who make up 51% of the total population of the country, were not wanted in politics, i.e. in the creation of the new state and society. Their participation in the Serbian parliament dropped from an average 20% in the previous single-party system to 1.6%. It should be emphasised here that none of the opposition parties at the time, whether democratic or nationalist, had women representatives in the republic’s parliament; the opposition was merely a men's club. No considerable progress was achieved after the federal elections held in September 2000, nor following the republic elections in December 2000, given that the percentage of women in assemblies at all levels did not even reach 7%. However, in the elections for the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia held in December 2000, there were 173 women out of a total of 1 530 candi8

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The social and economic position of women in Serbia

dates, i.e. 11.31%, and, following the elections, women represented 12.8% of the 250 delegates in the National Assembly. Table 1 – Assembly of the Republic of Serbia 2

3

Year

Total members of parliament

Women

% women

19922

250

10

4.0

20033

250

32

12.8

Considerable progress has been made in recent times, but the representation of women in the political life of the country is still drastically lower than the 33% quota and the minimum demands that women put forward to all the political parties during the pre-election campaign in 2000. Despite politicians from the opposition reaching out to women during a large part of the 2000 pre-election campaign, their party programmes did not treat women as an interest group whose equality should be protected by special legislative provisions and mechanisms. On the contrary, almost all party programmes defined the protection of women mainly through the protection of women's reproductive rights and maternity;4 therefore, it is not surprising that few women politicians made their way on to the electoral lists. The low representation of women in parliaments during the 1991-2003 period inevitably affected all the decisions and laws that were adopted in the meantime and in which women's specific needs were not treated as something of a special interest for society. A direct consequence of such an approach has been a drastic deterioration in the position of women, not only in the area of politics but also in all other spheres. Women and education The equality of women is unimaginable without economic independence, which is directly co-related to, and determined by, the level of women's education. The right to education in itself represents one of the fundamental human rights; however, to what extent it will be realised depends on social conditions in the country being comprehensive, as well as on the informal rules of social groups in which women live. It is indisputable that women have made great progress in this respect since World War II and that, during the nineties, they became almost equal to men from the point of view of the level of their education. However, if we analyse data on the level of qualifications of people over 15 years of age collected during the 2002 Census, the proportion of women is significantly higher in the category of the population without any educa2 3 4

2/2005

Statistics from the book Women in Serbia – Are we victims of discrimination? multiple authors, UGS Nezavisnost Women's Group: Belgrade 2001, p. 35. Participation of women calculated on the basis of data from the website of the government of the Republic of Serbia. Analysis of the programmes of the political parties, Group for the Promotion of Women's Political Rights, Belgrade.

South-East Europe Review

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tion, with partly completed and completed primary education. In all other categories, women make up less than 50% of people currently in education, as well as in the category of secondary, post-secondary and higher education. The percentage of the population without any education and over 15 years of age is relatively small (5.65%), but women make up as much as 78.47% of it, as well as almost 60% of people in the category with uncompleted primary education and 54% of those in the category who have completed only their primary education. Other categories also fail to produce a better picture for women: secondary education has been completed, or will be completed, by 41% of the population, among which 19% are women; and only 11% of the population has post-secondary and higher education qualifications, among which only 5% are women. From this aspect, it seems that, in Serbia, women's right to education means generally the right to elementary literacy because, out of the total number of women over 15, almost 52% have no qualifications (i.e. are without education, uncompleted primary school and completed primary education), 36.42% of women attend or have only secondary education, while only 9.8% of the total number of women have postsecondary or higher education.5 If we analyse the proportion of women in all categories of education in the light of the approximately 56.4% of the population over 15 who are living in urban areas, we can conclude that the position of women in urban areas is somewhat more favourable. An exception here is the category of population with uncompleted primary education (1st-7th grade of primary school), where the proportion of women living in towns and cities is higher by almost 15% in comparison with the proportion in rural areas. The very high proportion of women in the category of people without any schooling in rural areas (80.2%) is directly related to the age structure of the rural population. For decades, Serbia has been faced with the problem of ‘ageing villages’, particularly in central Serbia where a large number of young people has moved to towns and cities after graduating from school in the search for employment. However, based on periodical, targeted research carried out for the purpose of specific state institutions, it can be said that, during the nineties, the number of young people deciding to continue their education after having completed secondary education constantly increased. Thus, in 1994/1995, 29% of graduates from secondary schools, i.e. 31% of women of the same generation, enrolled in polytechnics and universities, whereas the following year this number increased by 33.5%. Also, during the nineties, the proportion of women among university graduates increased, amounting to 60% in 1998, 59% in 1999, 58%6 in 2000 and 58.4% in 2001. Women also make up the majority on post-graduate and specialised courses; in 2001, women accounted for 60.95% of people receiving specialised qualifications, 52% of those receiving masters degrees and 38% of people awarded PhDs. 5 6

10

Calculations based on data from Census 2002, website of the Republic Bureau of Statistics, Belgrade, 2003. Situation and Challenges of New Gender Equality Here and Now (In Yugoslavia) Agency SCAN, Novi Sad, February 2002.

South-East Europe Review

2/2005

The social and economic position of women in Serbia

Women and employment The economic independence of women is a basic pre-requisite for equality. Inequality of any social group, including women, is firstly reflected in their capacity to secure their livelihood through their own work, or with the help of their own material resources. In the case of women, this is the weakest link. The patriarchal and traditional social pattern excludes women from ownership of significant material goods – land, property and savings. Women only have the ‘right’ to work, which may – but need not – be recognised and paid. This social pattern has never been completely abandoned in this region, although in the second half of the 20th century, women did abandon their traditional roles of housewives, starting to make considerable contributions to the economic development of the country, most of all due to the general social climate in post-war Yugoslavia. The late 1980s, before the disintegration of the former SFR Yugoslavia, saw women with a solid education background, making up 38.5% of total employment and with relatively satisfactory social and economic protection. However, despite the immense progress achieved in almost all social spheres, they have never managed to get rid of the burden of their role as ‘the foundation of the house and the family’. It would seem that men have been very eager to share their responsibility as family breadwinners while, at the same time, failing to share all the obligations imposed by family life. This unrecognised and unpaid work takes up that part of the day which is normally defined as ‘free’ time and which requires one's extra physical and psychological efforts. At first sight, it may seem superfluous to prove which member of the family most commonly does this work, or works more, but in support of this statement we should provide concrete data on the use of time, i.e. the average number of hours per week spent by an adult on work activities. It is noticeable that women in Serbia still spend the same number of hours as men in paid work – 40 hours per week, due to the incomplete process of the transition and the negligible proportion of women working part-time. Flexible forms of work have still not been introduced in the economy to any large extent, one of the reasons being the very high share of the informal sector and the unregulated work status of the employed. In a normal week, apart from their regular work outside the household, women spend an average of four hours on housework every working day and another six hours per day at weekends, i.e. a total of 32 hours on housework, whereas men spend an average of nine hours per week on housework and family obligations.7 In analysing women's employment during the previous decade, one should take into consideration the political and social circumstances in which certain changes in the structure of total employment took place, and which were not caused solely by the process of transition or market fluctuations. Those were the social and economic crisis and the chaos which ensued after the disintegration of former Yugoslavia, the wars waged in the newly-formed neighbouring countries during the nineties, as well as the conflict in Kosovo and Metohia at the very end of the last century. Social and eco7

2/2005

Competitiveness of Women with Children in Labour Market multiple authors, Voice that Makes the Difference: Belgrade, 2002, p. 42.

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Vesna Bajić

nomic chaos was intensified by the sanctions imposed by the international community and hyper-inflation in 1992 and 1993, as well as the uncontrolled redistribution of social wealth from the very beginning of the transition period during which the rules were often amended: the 1990s witnessed: Adoption on three separate occasions of laws which were aimed at regulating the privatisation of socially-owned companies.8

Data on the participation of women in total employment, as well as their proportional share of the total number of people in employment should be interpreted in the light of all these circumstances. Table 2 – Employment structure in Republic of Serbia Year

Total number of working age men (15-64 yrs)

Total number of employed men

%m

Total number of working age women (15-64 yrs)

Total number of employed women

%f

2002

2 494 719

1 284 000

51.74%

2 538 086

959 000

37.78%

The above table indicates that the participation rate of women is lower than the participation rate of men by some fourteen percentage points, which does not correspond in the least to their proportion of the total population. The following table illustrates changes in the participation of women in total employment from 1994 to 2002: Table 3 – Employment in Serbia – annual averages9 Year

Total

Men

% men

Women

% women

1994

2 272 000

1 378 000

60.65

894 000

39.3

1998

2 158 000

1 275 000

59.08

883 000

40.9

1999

1 963 000

1 136 000

57.87

827 000

42.1

2000

1 907 000

1 046 000

54.85

816 000

42.7

2002

1 849 000

1 046 000

56.57

803 000

43.4

If we have a closer look at the table, we will notice the trend of a falling number of people in employment, in which men have been affected more significantly than women over the same period (in 2002, there were approximately 24% fewer employed males compared to 1994, whereas the number of women fell by around 10%). 8 9

12

Jelka Kljajić Imširović (2002): Economic Position of Women 1990-2002 Economically Equal Campaign: Belgrade. Annual Statistical Report 2002 Central Bureau of Statistics, Belgrade, 2003, with calculations made for previous years based on Jelka Kljajić Imširović (2002), ibid.

South-East Europe Review

2/2005

The social and economic position of women in Serbia

This period clearly witnessed a drop in the overall number of people in employment – but it clearly also witnessed a change in the structure of employment in that there was a steady increase in the proportion of women in total employment – from 39.3% in 1994 to 43.4% in 2002. Before we proceed to an analysis of women's employment across individual sectors of activity, we should emphasise again that, due to the incomplete process of privatisation and restructuring of the economy, no major changes have occurred in the employment structure. According to the available data, we can conduct an analysis for the period between 1993 and 1999; however, we should note here that no major structural changes have occurred even subsequent to this period. The table below shows a considerable decrease in the number of employed persons across all economic sectors, with the exception of financial and other services (mainly banking). Secondly, there has been a slight change in the structure of women's participation. We can note a growth, although a modest one, in the proportion of women in the majority of sectors, particularly in those traditionally known as ‘male’ ones, e.g. agriculture and fishing, forestry, construction industry, transport and communications, etc. A modest decrease occurred in the sector of water supply, hospitality services and tourism. The table below shows the division between ‘male’ and ‘female’ activities and, subsequently, the direction of women's education and choice of profession. In traditionally ‘male’ activities, which generally presuppose education in technical professions at all levels, the proportion of employed women on average remains under 25%, with the exception of industry in which around 36% of employees are women. However, we should bear in mind that this sector also involves socalled ‘light industry’, i.e. textiles, pharmaceuticals, the food-processing industry, etc., in which women make up the majority of employees: their proportion in the total number of employees in these trades raises the percentage of women across the entire sector. Contrary to this, women make up more than one-half of the total number of employees in tertiary (service) and non-economic sectors, such as commerce, hospitality and tourism, banking, culture and education, health and social welfare; even in the sector of public authorities and political organisations in which women, as a rule, assume lower-ranked positions. Until 1993, the sector with by far the highest percentage of women was financial and other services. This was an almost completely feminised profession in which women accounted for 88.92% of the total number of employees. No statistics are available on the number of women in leading positions in the economy or in banking, but we might presuppose that the majority of women work in lower-ranked positions as clerks or assistants and that they occupied lower-scale managerial positions in the hierarchy. This makes the changes in the employment structure all the more interesting: i.e. this is the only sector which witnessed an increase in the number of employees over this period of time – by about 30% – at the same time as a decrease in the proportion of women, by 15%. In total, the participation rate of women in the sector fell by some 31 percentage points. It is evident that the increased national unemployment rate and the creation of new jobs attracted greater interest in these jobs among men who, to a certain extent, also held the advantage in employment. It is important 2/2005

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Vesna Bajić

to note here that these jobs generally require lower qualifications (secondary education) but involve considerably higher average earnings in comparison with other sectors. Table 4 – Employment by economic sector, by gender Activity

1993

1999

Total

Women

% women

Total

Women

% women

Industry and mining

874 040

318 460

36.43

680 223

246 287

36.20

Agriculture and fishing

101 257

25 312

24.99

72 777

19 698

27.06

Economic activities

Forestry

10 098

1 238

12.25

7 234

1 019

14.08

Water supply

4 957

724

15.54

4 115

635

15.43

Construction

150 144

19 761

13.16

97 408

14 825

15.22

Transport and communications

138 004

26 250

19.02

113 252

24 654

21.77

Commerce

211 416

108 590

51.36

124 261

65 147

52.42

Hospitality and tourism

48 957

29 600

60.46

38 968

23 185

59.50

Crafts

38 948

10 958

28.13

28 214

8 231

29.17

Housing, public utilities

47 091

9 462

20.09

47 004

10 272

21.85

Finances and other services

49 471

43 993

88.92

64 297

37 229

57.90

163 765

90 967

55.54

154 608

91 821

59.38

Health and social welfare 160 945

Non-economic activities Culture and education Public authorities and social and political groups and organisations Self-employed persons

119 304

74.12

159 719

121 323

75.96

83 323

44 786

53.75

78 807

44 915

57.00

208 410

62 265

29.87

292 310

117 408

40.16

Source: Index No. 8/1994 and 4/2000. Federal Bureau for Statistics of FR Yugoslavia.

If we compare the changes which occurred in the employment structure by gender in specific activities with the level of wages during 1998 in the same activities, we notice that a mild increase in the proportion of women in certain activities is also accompanied by a slight difference in wages. Normally, women earn 10% less than the average wage and 20% less than men. Higher wages earned by women are found in three activities: forestry; housing and public utilities; as well as in freelance work, although we can exclude this due to its specific nature. In 1999, the proportion of employed women in forestry amounted to 14%, while it was 21.85% in housing and public utilities; thus, we can easily conclude that the higher wages in these activities are directly 14

South-East Europe Review

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The social and economic position of women in Serbia

related to the higher level of education and to the higher positions occupied by working women. The nature of these activities requires less complex jobs involving greater physical strain, employing a greater number of lower-skilled workers, which partly explains the low percentage of employed women with a considerably higher level of earnings than men. The same explanation can be used in the case of two other activities with a predominantly male labour force – agriculture and the fishing industry, and the construction industry, in which the difference between men's and women's wages is less than 10%. In all other activities, there is a significant difference in wages which cannot be explained solely on the basis of employees' level of education. This difference lies at a point between 12% and 19% compared to average wages while, in comparison with men's wages, the difference becomes even greater, almost double. It is interesting to analyse those activities in which women make up over 50% of employees and in which there are sharp differences, e.g. in the public authorities sector, in which the difference amounts to 19%. A greater difference is found only in water supply, where it amounts to as much as 37.52%. The proportion of women in the total number of employees in this activity is only 15%, but we estimate that, in this particular case, we are dealing with very low-ranked jobs which require no special qualifications. It is evident that low-ranked jobs are very differently evaluated and paid depending on who does them most commonly – men or women. We can see from the presented wage figures, the proportion of women in the total number of employees across different activities and the structure of education that the most significant difference in wages exists in the category of the unskilled and skilled labour force, and that it slowly disappears as the level of women's education increases. This can be illustrated with reference to culture and education, in which the high level of education of men and women is relatively equal and where the difference in wages amounts to a mere 2%.

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Vesna Bajić

Table 5 – Average monthly wages by activity and gender for 1998 Total

Women

% women

Total a + b

1 200.66

1 081.07

90.04

a. Economic activities total

1 147.57

1 007.09

87.76

Industry and mining

Proportion of women in total number of employees, 1999

1 104.69

925.38

83.77

36.20

Agriculture and fishing

811.96

763.90

94.08

27.06

Forestry

841.33

1 076.41

127.94

14.08

Water supply

1 012.08

632.40

62.48

15.43

Construction

1 314.00

1 212.77

92.29

15.22

Transport and communications

1 407.97

1 252.10

88.93

21.77

Commerce

1 035.36

877.88

84.79

52.42

952.25

825.36

86.67

59.50

Hospitality and tourism Crafts

1 459.96

1 200.51

82.23

29.17

Housing and public utilities

959.96

1 085.21

113.96

21.85

Finances and other services

1 812.39

1 646.72

90.96

57.90

b. Non-economic activities total

1 380.93

1 240.34

89.92

Culture and education

1 281.96

1 256.30

97.99

59.38

Health and social welfare

1 371.77

1 226.37

89.40

75.96

Public authorities

1 523.45

1 234.05

81.00

57.00

Freelance work

2 448.59

3 470.95

141.75

40.16

Source: Labour Force Survey – September 1998, Federal Bureau of Statistics of FRY (unpublished data).

The existing difference in men's and women's wages has been reflected in their pensions. The previous pension and disability insurance laws prescribed equal criteria for both sexes (calculations were based on ten consecutive years of service with the highest personal average wage), but women's pensions were 25% lower than men's.10 With pensions reform, which was initially supposed to introduce a number of novelties, e.g. an equal number of required years of service for retirement for men and women, as well as a calculation of pensions based on wages across all years of service, the pension level would have been lower by an additional 20%, which would have drastically increased the already-existing difference.11 The successful interven10

11

16

According to the Ministry of Social Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, no special records are kept with regards to women. However, according to a statement made by the Minister of Social Affairs, Gordana Matković, in a public debate on pension reform in early 2002, women's pensions are about 25% lower than men's. ibid.

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The social and economic position of women in Serbia

tion of trade unions at the Social and Economic Council prevented the relevant ministry from introducing an equal required number of years of service for retirement for women; however, the concrete effects of the remaining reforms on the level of women's pensions will become visible only over the next ten years. There is no doubt that the difference between men's and women's pensions should increase in view of the new method of calculating pensions and the general trend towards the ever-growing gap between men's and women's wages. However, we should not forget that we are dealing here with statistics from 1998 and that the increasing gap between men's and women's wages is also one of the negative impacts of the process of globalisation. The globalisation process has been the subject of numerous analyses and deliberations; however, it is important to stop here and ponder on its neo-liberal aspects, according to which the labour force has again turned into goods in the context of an overcrowded world labour market, as well as the effect of this on the position of women in Serbia. Globalisation, flexible forms of employment and women The neo-liberal concept of globalisation and the predominant doctrine of ‘maximum market, minimum state’ has, among others, introduced the deregulation of labour rights also in Serbia; in other words, reduced the formal protection of workers and simplified dismissal procedures. To the maximum extent, the state is being distanced from the labour market and any intervention in employee/employer issues, as well as any influence on working conditions and wage levels. This has resulted in a drop in the average wage level and has stimulated the introduction of flexible forms of working – part-time work, teleworking, homeworking and flexible working hours schemes.12 In Serbia, this process started with the adoption of the new, restrictive Labour Law in late 2001 and it can be expected that flexible forms of employment (which, due to abuse by employers, also includes fixed-term employment) will become predominant in the years to come. Experiences in both western Europe and in the countries of central and eastern Europe which entered the transition process in less dramatic circumstances than Serbia show that, in practice, flexible forms of employment are generally intended for women and that they are based on the prior experiences of countries with a pure market economy. Due to a lack of public/social services offering pre-school childcare, women in these countries were forced to balance their professional and family obligations through compromise, accepting lower wages, part-time work, fixed-term employment, homeworking and other such forms. It is important to underline here that flexible forms of employment were not completely unknown in our practice before 1990. The phenomenon of the recruitment of young people through student and youth services turned into almost an epidemic during the 1980s. Even in the socialist social model, employers were keen to recruit workers through such organisations even for work which was not occasional nor which had resulted from an increased workload, but which was permanent. Almost all 12

2/2005

Branislava Bujišić (2002) Women and Globalisation – from the Economic Point of View, Emancipation Starts in a Woman's Soul UGS ‘Nezavisnost’ Women's Section: Belgrade.

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companies, large and small, state and private, soon introduced the practice of recruiting young people at first and, later, people of all ages, for a period of up to several years, without paying their social and health contributions or securing a number of rights based on the employment relationship – the right to annual leave, travel pay, meal vouchers and the right to trade union organisation. In some rare cases, those workers would enter into permanent employment; however, they would most often be simply dismissed. Another similar case is fixed-term employment. Employers used to conclude employment contracts with employees for a three-month period and frequently renewed them over several years, thus avoiding numerous legal obligations towards their employees. Another great advantage employers have gained by employing workers on a fixed-term basis is a guarantee of desired behaviour through the creation of an atmosphere of continuous insecurity, as well as through simple dismissal procedures in case employees did not respect the will of the employer or they fell ill with illnesses which required longer treatment. A special form of the violation of labour rights in fixed-term employment appears in cases of pregnancies. As a rule, employment contracts in these cases are not renewed even where the woman concerned has worked in the company for a number of years. There has been a case of such a dismissal where the employer suggested to the female employee ‘to feel free to come back when she resolves the problem,’ i.e. when the child is old enough. The development of the private sector in Serbia from the early 1990s onwards started with the opening of a large number of businesses with a small number of employees, which has persisted as a landmark of the overall state of social and political relations in that period. In the context of the lack of adequate laws which would regulate this new area, as well as effective control mechanisms over their implementation, private employers have accepted and introduced in practice a neo-liberal concept of business organisation with the tacit agreement of the state. In a climate of the general chaos, abusing citizens' sudden impoverishment and the ever-growing unemployment, private employers have freely created new labour regulations. Employees, particularly women, cornered by economic necessity, accepted all the conditions set by employers and thus, not through their own fault, contributed to the lowering of labour standards and wage levels to very low limits. Permanent employment became a practically unknown category, or a privilege of the few, generally specialists with higher education levels. On the other hand, trade unions were caught completely unprepared when such changes in socio-economic working conditions occurred, maintaining the mechanisms of organisation and action from the past – focused on employees in large socially-owned or state-owned companies although their privatisation was more than imminent. The problem was intensified by differences between trade unions which weakened their strength and their powers at exerting influence. Ten years later, the consequences have been immense, with employees in small private companies practically abandoned to the whims of the labour market while in larger private companies union organising has become almost impossible because the majority of employees 18

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The social and economic position of women in Serbia

have been recruited through young people’s co-operatives or on the basis of fixedterm contracts. In this atmosphere, a new Labour Law was adopted in late 2001 legalising the already-existing flexible forms of work, recruitment through young people’s co-operatives, work on a contract basis and fixed-time employment, without any preciselystipulated criteria and conditions under which employers could recruit workers in this manner. Also introduced were new forms of flexible employment, e.g. teleworking, homeworking and part-time work, again lacking specifically determined criteria and limits, which are likely additionally to affect women's starting positions on the labour market. A very important provision of the new Labour Law which will directly affect the positions of working women are the new regulations concerning maternity leave. The new provisions of the Labour Law represent considerable progress in that they allow fathers to use this leave, in agreement with the child's mother, and not only in extreme cases such as the death of the mother, serious illness or abandonment of the child. However, maternity leave remains divided into two categories – three-month maternity leave and nine-month childcare leave. The relevant ministry explained this differentiation as a mere problem of terminology to help facilitate fathers participate in childcare, but there is a justifiable concern that this might be abused by employers. It is possible to anticipate mothers being asked to return to work after the three-month maternity leave whereas fathers, for the same reason, would not be able, or want, to care for the child until the age of one. This claim can be supported by the results of joint research and analysis conducted by The Voice that Makes a Difference and G17 organisations on the position of women with children on the labour market over the past ten years. Of all the surveyed women, 53% had taken maternity leave of up to one year and as many as 36% had made use of the legislative option of extended twoyear leave.13 Among the 1 200 women surveyed, there was not a single case of a father of a newly-born baby taking the leave, whereas ‘one woman in five withdrew from the labour market due to childbirth or childcare.’14 Women and unemployment Like other countries in transition, Serbia has, since the beginning of the 1990s, been faced with a sharp growth in the unemployment rate that it did not – nor was able to – resolve systematically in the circumstances of the time. Almost the entire economic life of that period took place in conditions and in an environment which were subjugated to and directed by the political needs of the ruling structures, while the problem of unemployment, for this reason, appeared and disappeared as merely a topic in political debates, depending on the daily political needs of certain parties. This state of affairs has persisted until today, as there are still no strategic development objectives at the national level which would provide the only possible basis for a systematic resolution of this problem. 13 14

2/2005

The Voice That Makes a Difference, op. cit. p. 33. ibid, p. 33.

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Vesna Bajić

The scope of unemployment growth during the studied period is presented in the table below. Table 6 – Republic of Serbia – unemployment trends Year

Total

Women

% women

1993

657 491

364 368

55.42

2003

969 466

527 786

54.44

Sources: 1. Serbia in figures – website of the Republic Bureau for Statistics, Belgrade, 2003. 2. Website of the Republic Labour Market Institute Bulletin July 2003.

From 1993, the total number of unemployed people increased by over 50%, reaching the incredible figure of 969 466 in July 2003. Women make up the majority of unemployed people in this period: in 1993, they accounted for 55.43%; and in 2003, 54.44%. These percentages are not in proportion with their share of the total workingage population (in 2002, it was approximately 50.60%), although a slight change can be noted in this period in the gender structure of unemployed people in terms of a smaller proportion of unemployed women from various aspects – age, length of job search or qualifications. In addition, certain categories account for a considerably higher difference in the percentages, i.e. the less favourable position of women seeking employment in comparison with men is more clearly visible. For example, according to the statistics of the Republic Labour Market Institute for the first half of 2003, 48.57% of all those who had been seeking employment for less than one year were women. Proportionally to the increase in the length of job search increases the proportion of women among such people: in the category of unemployed persons waiting for a job for over eight years, women account for as much as 66.37%. Compared to 1993, we can see a decreased number of employed women in almost all categories of different lengths of job search, with the exception of the category of 3-5 years which witnessed a mild increase, although the size of the change in every case is very small. Table 7 – Republic of Serbia: duration of job search over one year, according to gender Length of unemployment

1993 Total

%

Total

Women

%

Up to 1 year

105 697

54 752

51.80

245 720

119 369

48.70

1-3 yrs

229 491

120 481

52.49

313 650

163 012

51.97

3-5 yrs

138 961

73 264

52.72

133 358

71 807

53.84

5-8 yrs

109 308

65 034

59.49

111 116

63 660

57.29

74 034

50 837

68.66

165 622

109 380

66.37

Over 8 yrs

Women

2003

Calculations are based on data from the 1993 Annual Statistical Review of the Republic Labour Market Institute and from the RLMI Bulletin July 2003, taken from the website of the Republic Labour Market Institute.

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It is interesting to examine the data on the proportion of women among unemployed people by age: in the category of unemployed people between 19 and 25, women make up 52.66% of the population; while among unemployed people between 26 and 30, their proportion increases to 59.17%. The largest number of unemployed people is to be found in the 31-40 age group, in which women account for 58.8%. Within the total number of unemployed women, this age group contributes 28.7%. Even greater differences in percentages can be found if we analyse the structure of unemployment by qualifications: in the low skills category (primary schools), women account for 55.76% of the population; secondary school education – 63.79%; postsecondary education – 60.23%; and higher education – 57.72%. We can see an increase in the proportion of women among the unemployed in parallel with the increase in the level of their qualifications, although there has been a mild drop in the unemployment rate of women with post-secondary and higher education (in 1993, the proportion of women with post-secondary qualifications was 68.56%; and with higher education, 59.47%). Despite this, the rate is still in the region of 60% and can be considered to be unacceptably high. The highest increase in the unemployment rate of women since 1993 may be seen in the category of secondary-school education, rising from a base of 61.88% to 63.79% in 2003.15 Women also outnumber men among people seeking their first job; of the total of 548 224 unemployed people in this category (representing 56% of total unemployment), women account for 58.22%.16 Instead of a conclusion If we summarise the data presented above, we will reach the unambivalent conclusion that the unequal position of women in society is also reflected in their position on the labour market. The reason for the larger proportion of women in the total number of unemployed people in all categories lies in women having greater difficulties finding employment and in their job search being much longer than men's, regardless of their qualifications, with women's age being one of the crucial factors. The exceptionally high proportion of unemployed women in the category of secondary, post-secondary and higher education qualifications, as well as in middle age, reflects the general attitude in society towards unemployed women as secondary human resources. The huge and ever-increasing number of unemployed people forces women to accept jobs for which they are over-qualified – or any type of employment at all, even work in the informal sector. This has a ‘boomerang effect’ on all participants in the labour market (both employed and unemployed) in terms of the general reduction of wage levels and labour standards, as well as carrying negative consequences for men and additional profound discrimination against women. Furthermore, the introduction of new laws in this area (Labour Law, the Employment Act) has abolished some of the mechanisms which used to guarantee women a 15 16

2/2005

Data for 1993. Taken from 1993 Annual Statistical Review of the Republic Labour Market Institute, Belgrade. Website of the Republic Labour Market Institute, July 2003.

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Vesna Bajić

somewhat more just position in the labour market. The obligation on the part of the employer to respect the criteria of obligatory job advertising in the recruitment of new workers, the employment of only those who are registered with the Labour Market Institute and the observation of the length of period waiting for a job could, at least to a small extent, have improved the less favourable starting position of women in the labour market. With the abolition of all these obligations, the only existing control mechanism of discrimination against certain social groups has been swept away. Women have been left to the whim of a completely liberalised labour market which, at the moment, knows no rules and which has proven to serve as fertile ground for the deepening of the already-existing economic gap between the sexes.

22

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Zdravka Leutar and Ivan Leutar

The position of women between the worlds of labour and family Introduction The distribution of labour between a woman/wife and a man/husband within a family is only the background of social labour distribution. By the end of the 19th century, the classics of sociology were already concerned with the issue of the distribution of labour within society. In 1893, Durkheim saw the distribution of labour between the sexes as a model for organic solidarity in the entire society (1977: 96). Engels wrote about privatisation of one part of social labour and economic pressure on women in existing civil society (1975: 212). After them, the relationship of labour distribution between the sexes has been the object of many other theoretical attempts and analyses. Such analyses especially emphasise the change in the activity and status of women between the labour market and home life. They are segregated in incomes and in professional status, which is considered to be a function of strengthening traditional labour distribution within the family (Schunter-Kleemann, 1994). Therefore, in most cases, the role of the father is perceived as of a breadwinner and the 'head' of the family, and that of the mother is of a housewife and the one who takes care of children (Weber-Kellerman, 1974; Beier, 1983; Rosenbaum, 1982; Laslett and Brenner, 1989). The traditional model of the family came to crisis in the second half of the 20th century due to intensive social changes which included the development of service trades followed by the increase in employment of women (Pfau and Effinger, 1994). That model has been gradually transformed into a two-breadwinners model, but the process has not been (or is not) equally fast in all countries. It is more strongly present in Scandinavian countries, where we find plenty of measures considering family policy: women more and more enter the world of labour while society, with its services, helps in upbringing and educating children (Siim, 1993; Ellingsaeter, 1995; Crompton, 1998; Puljiz, 2000). On the other hand, the increase in the number of single-parent families also puts in question the functioning of both models: the one with a single, male breadwinner; and the other with two breadwinners. The reconciliation of professional and family obligations is today one of the main issues in many European countries, as well as at the level of the EU which has, in parallel with its priority to fight unemployment, developed an action programme for the realisation of equal opportunities for both men and women. Its aims in that context are: reconciliation of the worlds of labour and family for both women and men; the promotion of equal opportunities in an ever-changing economy, with special emphasis on education, training and other labour market themes; and establishing the best possible conditions for the realisation of equal rights for men and women (European Commission, 1999:39). These aims contribute to the improvement of women's quality of life within society and can be realised in several fields (Zrinščak, 2003): 2/2005

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Zdravka Leutar and Ivan Leutar



• • • •

the field of economy – in the sense of establishing equal opportunities for employment for both sexes, and making the combination of work and family obligations easier increasing the participation of women in the decision-making field – in relevant bodies, commissions and other expert groups full participation in social rights for women full participation in all human rights from the side of women activity in the field of changing attitudes, norms, behaviours and values connected with the traditional role of women.

In discussing how society has to ensure these preconditions, other authors have stressed the need for legislation concerning flexible forms of work, adaptation of the working environment, initiatives in the field of family policy in the sense of regulated and paid maternity leave, accessible and quality institutions for childcare and, finally, changing/raising consciousness itself within families about the value of family work (Čudina-Obradović and Obradović, 2001). The latest, albeit rare, surveys carried out in Croatia are also 'on the track' of problems connected with the changing consciousness about ‘female’ jobs (Topolčić, 2001). They bring out a realistic picture of a double-burdened woman within a parallel process of the transformation of family roles, but we also notice the presence of the greater engagement amongst male partners in performing domestic chores – being the safest and most realistic way of unburdening women. That is exactly the context of this survey, in which we want to examine comparatively women's position between the worlds of work and the family/home on a viable sample of subjects from Croatia, Austria and Poland. Survey method Survey aim and problems For the purpose of the study, empirical research was carried out in Austria, Croatia and Poland during 1999. The aim was to learn similarities and differences between groups of subjects (in the cities where the research was carried out) in relation to certain family dimensions, among which is the position of women in the family and the world of labour. Accordingly, the aims of the survey were to establish: • how subjects see the role of women in society and family • whether there are any statistically relevant differences between generations of adults and young people in their opinions about the role of women in society. Sample and instrumentation The sample was random, consisting of a number of secondary school graduates and their parents from nine grammar schools (three in each country). In total, it included 505 subjects – 318 females and 187 males; 252 parents and 253 graduates. In Austria, 24

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The position of women between the worlds of labour and family

173 people were polled; in Croatia, 173; and in Poland, 159. The grammar school background of the subjects means that they did not come just from urban areas, but also from rural ones – those which gravitate towards the chosen schools. That is why the second largest city in each state was chosen for the sample, together with a nearby smaller town to which students from rural areas gravitate. The following cities were included in the survey: Croatia:1 Split (207 147 inhabitants) and Sinj (60 210); Austria:2 Graz (240 513) and Bruck an der Mur (66 077); Poland:3 Poznanj (582 300) and Boleslavec (44 104). In all three countries, grammar schools are attended by students aged between 15 and 19. Austria, Poland and Croatia were chosen for some characteristics they have in common: all three are catholic countries which, we may assume, has its influence on the family field. On the other hand, Poland and Croatia are postcommunist countries and Austria is a country with a long democratic system and is economically more developed, which may also provide us with information on the different social factors and their influences on the real state of the situation related to the family and the role of women in the worlds of labour and family. To gather relevant information, we used an opinion-based survey with structured questions on socio-demographic factors and the following variables: attitudes towards the mother being employed and her care for children; the father being employed and the mother being a housewife; the division of domestic chores between male and female; with whom lay the obligation for the family shopping; whose word in the family discussion is the last; and with whom lay the responsibility for raising children. To express opinions about mothers being employed and to evaluate what 'a good mother' means, estimating scales were used. The principles of freedom and anonymity were respected during the survey process. The data were processed by the application of SPSS. For the processing of the data, both simpler and more complex forms of statistical methods were used: percentages; arithmetic; standard deviations; X2-test; Pearson's correlation; and variance analysis. It has already been stated that the sample is random, which means that it is not representative and therefore the survey results should be analysed in the context of the structure and size of the survey. Obtaining more reliable conclusions on the given issue requires the conduct of research based on a sample with a higher level of reliability.

1 2 3

2/2005

Statistički ljetopis Republike Hrvatske (Statistical Annals of the Republic of Croatia), 1998. www.stmk.gv.at/verwaltung/lad-stat/stabis/stabis.stm (1999). www.poznan4u.com.pl (1994) www.um.boleslawiec.pl/ (1998).

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Zdravka Leutar and Ivan Leutar

Survey results Socio-demographic characteristics of subjects Age – sex structure of subjects and educational level of parents Chart 1 shows the average age of our subjects. We notice that the parents are, on average, 53 and that they are all of similar age. The same goes for the graduates; they are all mostly 18 years old. The age span of their parents is 36 - 63, so the subjects belong to two generations: the middle-aged and the young. The young generation has only small aberrations from the average age of 17 or 18 since it was mostly graduates of that age that were surveyed. Table 1 – Average age of subjects Austria

Croatia

Poland

Parents

Graduates

Parents

Graduates

Parents

Graduates

X

52.98

17.73

52.87

17.53

53.79

17.75

SD

5.79

0.44

5.22

0.50

4.29

0.43

min

36

17

37

17

40

17

max

63

18

62

18

61

18

In total, 318 females and 187 males participated in the survey. In Austria, the number of women was 97 and men 76; in Croatia, 107 women and 66 men participated; and in Poland, the number was 114 women and 43 men. In all three countries, there was a greater share of women than men, no matter the age of the subjects. Table 2 – Gender structure of subjects (%) Austria

Croatia

Poland

Parents

Graduates

Parents

Graduates

Parents

Graduates

Women

55

57

64

59

58

86

Men

45

43

36

41

42

14

Total

100

100

100

100

100

100

n=

83

90

95

78

74

85

Chart 3 shows that almost half of the mothers surveyed in Croatia have a secondary school level of education, 40% of them finished colleges or universities and 12% have a primary level of education or finished commercial schools. In Austria, we find that 38% of the mothers graduated from higher education colleges or from universities; followed next by completion of grammar school education (23%) and finally the share of those who finished primary school and commercial colleges was 19%. In Poland, the largest proportion of mothers finished grammar school (26%), 21% have a 26

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The position of women between the worlds of labour and family

higher education college or university education, while 30% finished only primary education or primary and commercial education. Fathers in Croatia are slightly more educated than the mothers: 43% of them have higher educartion college or university educations – the difference to mothers is 3% – and 42% finished vocational schools. In Austria, 62% of fathers are highly educated while 16% finished primary and commercial education. In Poland, 31% of fathers are highly educated while 21% finished primary and commercial education. The majority finished grammar school or some other type of secondary school (40%). We can conclude that fathers in Austria are the best educated; a bit less educated were fathers in Croatia and the least well-educated were the fathers in Poland, just like the mothers. It is also noticeable that fathers are better educated than mothers in all three countries. We can make a general conclusion that both the fathers and the mothers of children who attend grammar schools in these three countries are better educated than the general population on average. Table 3 – Level of education of mothers and fathers (%) Austria

Croatia

Poland

Mother

Father

Mother

Father

Mother

Father

Primary school

0

1

8

4

10

7

Primary school and commercial colleges

19

15

4

7

20

14

Secondary vocational school

16

8

45

42

19

15

Grammar school

23

11

3

2

26

25

Vocational college

10

13

14

16

7

11

University degree

28

49

26

27

15

20

Sum

96

97

100

98

97

92

No answer Total n=

4

3

0

2

3

8

100

100

100

100

100

100

83

95

74

Material status of subjects If we analyse material situation on the basis of housing, we can draw the conclusion that most of the subjects in the survey live in their own private flats or houses. Subtenant status is comparatively rare: the highest number of sub-tenants is in Poland (32%) while in both Croatia and Austria, the percentage is 21%. The general situation with housing in Austria and Croatia is almost the same. In Statistical Annals of Croatia for 1997 we find data which indicate that in Austria there are 383 flats per 1 000 inhabitants; in Croatia, the number is 336 per 1 000; and in Poland, 302. The housing problem is, therefore, of the greatest size in Poland. 2/2005

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Zdravka Leutar and Ivan Leutar

An analysis of data on monthly incomes show that one-half of Austrians see their incomes as medium, while 28% evaluate them as good and 22% as bad. Forty per cent of Croats evaluate their material incomes as bad, while 30% think of them as medium and 29% as good/very good. The families with better incomes are probably those whose members are working temporarily in western countries because in Sinj, for example, 14% of workers are working abroad (Statistical Annals of Croatia, 1997). For 39% of Poles, their incomes are bad, of which 17% claim that they are very bad, while 22% estimate their incomes to be good and 39% medium. Looking at the material situation of the sample according to both housing situation and estimation of monthly income, we can conclude that our sample shows the highest standard of living being maintained by families in Austria, followed by Croatia and then Poland. Employment and family Employment Social and family policy in ex-socialist countries is different from social policy in Austria. In the socialist system, women were drawn into the world of labour whereas in Austria, which has been a democratic country for a longer period, the transmission of women from household to the status of being employed has been of a slower pace. Based on that, we can analyse the following chart, which shows the percentage of working women in the survey sample, by comparing it with official data for each country. Trotha writes (Höllinger, 1991:753): The increase in employment of women is a noticeable socio-structural developmental tendency of the last century. The cause of that increase is a common complex component of economic, demographic and family structural changes which are connected with a new definition of society and the roles of the sexes in it.

Table 4 – Parents' level of employment (%) Austria

Croatia

Poland

Mother

Father

Mother

Father

Mother

Father

Full-time jobs

24

82

56

85

19

36

Part-time jobs

45

15

8

1

52

52

Unemployed

0

0

10

1

0

3

Pensioner

5

3

7

13

16

9

Housewives

26

0

19

0

13

0

Total

100

100

100

100

100

100

n=

58

74

84

Chart 4 shows the percentage of employed mothers: in Austria, it is 69%; in Croatia, 64%; and in Poland, 71%. It is important to note that, in Austria and Poland, 28

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The position of women between the worlds of labour and family

mothers more often work part-time, whereas in Croatia they are more likely to be fulltime. In Croatia, 10% of the mothers are unemployed. We find the greatest proportion of housewives in Austria, followed by Croatia and then Poland. There are more employed fathers than mothers. In Austria, mostly all the fathers are employed whereas in Croatia and Poland, a comparatively higher percentage of the fathers are pensioners or unemployed, which is a reflection of the general social situation recently in those countries. We can draw the general conclusion that the level of employment is higher within our sample than it is within the population on average. If we analyse data from Statistical Annals 2001 which take into consideration the whole population older than 15, and were collected by surveying working people according to MOR standards, the percentage of employed women is noticeable: in Austria, it is 42.8%; in Poland, 44.8%; and in Croatia, 46.2%. A higher rate of participation in the labour force of women in Croatia and Poland than in Austria can be explained by the fifty-year long socialist tradition. The employment of women in Austria is an emancipational process that is still going on. It ought to be noted that Austria, according to the percentage of working women, occupies a middle ranking in the international context of other members of the European Union4 (Eurostat labour force survey, 1999). When analysing the issue of working mothers, it is important to consider the issue of raising pre-school children. Childcare for pre-schoolers It has already been mentioned that socialism played an important role on different levels of family life; this was no less the case with the raising of children. In the former communist countries, a mother was torn between work and family, namely childcare (Puljiz and Zrinščak, 2002). An analysis made by UNICEF shows that a working week for central and east European women during the socialist period lasted seventy working hours on average (including paid and non-paid hours), which was fifteen hours more than women in west Europe had to spend at work (UNICEF, 1999:25). It took a long time for men to accept this aberration from their traditional role, to give a new kind of contribution to childcare and, finally, to accept that women do take part in breadwinning. That process is still going on. We have tried to analyse the situation relating to childcare at this level in terms of whose share was the most relevant, in accordance with a survey question which 4

2/2005

The employment of women in the EU differs from country to country. We find the smallest percentage of working women in the south – in Spain and Italy (37-38%) – and the highest in the north – in Denmark and Sweden (up to 72%). That difference is caused by many factors – from economic development to social and family policies in particular countries. Generally, the increase in the number of employed women in the EU is noticeable only during the last few years. Experts in the field (Garhammer, 1997) state that increased economic pressure is the main reason, coming ahead of intrinsic motivation. Economic pressure is expressed by instability and reducing male incomes, the rise in unemployment and generally by the fall in living standards in EU countries.

South-East Europe Review

29

Zdravka Leutar and Ivan Leutar

asked: 'Who mostly took care of your children when they were of pre-school age?' The results are presented in Chart 1. Chart 1 – Types of pre-school childcare (%)

Chart 1 shows that mothers have the leading role in bringing up pre-school children in all three countries. In Austria, the figure is 90% and, whereas in Poland and Croatia the percentage is lower, the mother in these countries remains a dominant figure in pre-school childcare. The lower percentage can be explained by the greater fulltime involvement of women in the world of work whereas in Austria we find a larger number of housewives or mothers who have part-time jobs. In Chart 1, we can see a role for grandfathers and grandmothers in providing preschool childcare services which can also be explained by a situation in which both parents of the child(ren) are working. In connection with that, we should mention that family structure has, in this survey, shown relevant differences between Austria on the one hand, and Croatia and Poland on the other, because the latter have a much higher percentage of three-generational families (Leutar, 2000:171). For that reason, it is logical that grandparent(s) will, since they live in the same household, provide help in looking after their own grandchildren. In all three countries, the father's share is smaller than the mother's. It is the biggest in Poland, then in Austria, and the smallest is in Croatia. The share of professional childcare services (e.g. kindergartens) is identical in all three countries, although in reality this is not the case, because statistics show a smaller number of childcare services in Croatia than in the other two countries: Croatia has the smallest percentage of children who go to kindergartens (33.8%), while in Austria the figure is 75% and in it is Poland 69% (Zrinščak, 2002). From these figures, we can see how much the state has helped women by developing a system of publicly-financed services: in Croatia, women are in much less favourable position in comparison with women from the other two countries. 30

South-East Europe Review

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The position of women between the worlds of labour and family

In further analysis of how much and who is involved in childcare, we also analysed the time that parents spend with their children, asking questions of both graduates and their parents. Table 5 – Time spent 'together' in a day (%) Austria

Croatia

Poland

Parent

Child

Parent

Child

Parent

Child

Less than one hour

22

40

9

21

22

41

2-3 hours

29

34

26

34

40

32

3-4 hours

22

15

21

19

13

10

4-5 hours

15

3

11

14

6

8

Father and children

More than 5 hours

12

8

33

12

19

9

Total

100

100

100

100

100

100

n=

81

90

92

77

71

81

Significancy: Parents:

Young:

Croatia and Poland P