Originally published as Women in Management Review Volume 20 Number 5, 2005
ISBN: 1 84544 444 2
Guest edited by: Beverly Dawn Metcalfe & Marianne Afanassieva, Hull University, UK.
There is limited scholarship that has considered gender, management and organizational analysis in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries.
The restructuring of state socialism which began in the 1980s with perestroika marked the start of industrial re-organisation across post-socialist states with large scale privatisation, worker layoffs and the development of managerial strategies away from centralised planning systems. These political and economic developments combined with globalisation, the internationalisation of work practices, increased foreign investment and business development in Eastern Europe have stimulated much academic debate about national business systems and managerial restructuring during transition stages however, these debates have tended to ignore or underplay the importance of gender relations and transition processes, especially within the public sphere.
This collection of articles brings together leading academics who share an interest in gender, management and organization issues in transition contexts. The Special Issue includes papers from researchers who are currently working in CEE states or have been involved in research projects in these regions. The accounts reflect the growing interest in gender by female scholars in these regions and suggest that gender and management is now a serious topic of study.
Contents:
The Czech women in the labour market: a European comparison
The aim of the paper is to analyse the position of the Czech women in the labour market in a comparison to the EU-15 countries. The paper critically reviews three domains of female labour market participation: general characteristics of the female employment, work-life balance indicators, and disadvantages of the female labour force related to motherhood.
East German women in management
This article address the research gap on East German women managers and to examine some of the experiences of post-socialist East German women who entered management positions during 1990s. The discussion focuses on the nature of women's commitment to career and organisation.
Gendered management in Hungary: perceptions and explanations
There have been minimal investigations on gender issues at companies in Hungary. These results display not only companies' official opinion but also the employees' perceptions on gender inequality. The paper contributes to the neglected area of gender and management research within the Hungarian and Eastern European contexts.
Gendered dilemmas of the work-life balance in Hungary
The aim of this paper is to examine the gendered nature of work-life policies in and the work-life conflicts of managers in a multinational corporation in Hungary. The research is based on 30 qualitative interviews with male and female managers at junior, middle and senior management levels located in Unilever's Eastern European headquarters in Budapest.
About Women in Management Review
Although women are entering the paid labour force in ever-increasing numbers, their progression to the ranks of senior management is still often blocked by an invisible, rarely penetrable barrier – the "glass ceiling".
Women in Management Review examines this and other problems facing women managers, and discusses ways in which appropriate strategies for the advancement of women professionals can be developed.
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