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Gender and Regional Models of Power
Dr Valentina Zlatanova[2], Dr Rumiana Stoilova2 Institute of Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
An accent on the regional characteristics of gender is connected with the pursuit of paying attention to one of the “most silent” groups of women – that of women living in the countryside. When comparing, countrywomen are not on equal basis on the one hand with their men and on the other hand with women living in towns. They are often isolated and passive, they need special help in order to fulfill their dreams. Countrywomen can be described as women with the highest average age and the lowest education status. However, these characteristics are connected mainly with the most significant differences between countrywomen and women living in towns when speaking of one of the most fundamental aspects of social status – the aspect of power in its two directions: power in society and power in the family. The structure of the contemporary Bulgarian village is strongly perverted. The combination of high average age and low formal education later becomes one of the basic reasons for the existence of traditional attitudes and models of behavior between the sexes in the countryside. This is true to even a highest degree when considering life in towns. Power in the family The traditional model of a family determines a rigid sex hierarchy of the roles of the partners. According to the patriarchal idea of a Woman, she is considered to be a housekeeper, a wife and a mother. She is the one that takes the responsibility for the emotional needs of the family. The Man – the head of the family – above all ensures the instrumental needs. To question this type of division of the family roles is the first step towards obviating the traditional gender order. In this respect the agreement on the social (not on the natural) inequality is the first step towards its new defining. The problem of using one and the same criterion for two different things and thus reproducing relationships that are not equal and hence unfair is of vital importance. This means that by attributing to women the taking care of children and the housework on the one hand and on the other hand estimating her abilities in the sphere of paid work on an equal basis with men we determine the ground for the gender inequality. The stereotyped patriarchal believes, however, repeatedly put silent and often obvious external bars to the restructuring of the existing gender order, especially in the family. The nonexistent stories about women that are told from generation to generation are the reason for the stability of those bars: “There is no Biblical verse about mothers’ deeds although, most probably, they are more important than those of the fathers” (Fredricson 1999) Female socialization emphasizes making compromises and not opposing, being to a greater extend devoted even to the interference and realization of others than to her own realization. The family and children are the highest value even for modern Bulgarians. Most women[3] consider their roles of wives, housekeepers and mothers to be the most important even if they work outside the house. This is the reason why they are strongly motivated to succeed in their roles. Thus the existing models for success are different for each of the two sexes. For women they remain mainly connected with the household. The idea that “housekeeping is a woman’s work” and that women should give it priority in order to realize themselves is dominating. The highest consensus among women is that very element of the traditional point of view about the sex relationships in the family. The agreement on the fact that the man’s word in a family is stronger than that of the woman is not so binding. Among women the lowest is the degree of accepting the view that a man should be allowed to use violence when imposing order in the family. Considering the idea that housework belongs to women, there are not observed statistical differences of importance between the partners living in the country: there the majority (about 2/3rds) of the respondents believes in the idea that “women’s power is at home”. In comparison with the country the percentage of both men and women living in towns who do not agree with restricting of women’s role only in the sphere of housework has considerably increased. Nearly half of the interviewed stated such an opinion. What is more, there is an increase in the number of people who believe in the equality of sexes in the unpaid domestic labor (figure 1) Figure 1: Housekeeping is a woman’s work
Attributing mainly to women the house affairs is linked with the willingness to restrict their realization outside the home where is the traditionally accepted sphere of men. The general feeling among men (both from the country and from the town) is that “women should not work unless there is a financial need”. There are observed statistically significant differences among the respondents sharing such an opinion. The differences are according to sex, place of residence and age: nearly 2/3rds of countrymen and half of the interviewed men from the towns stated that “women should stay at home”. At the same time, probably as a result of the relatively high female employment in Bulgaria for the last 50 years the share of women who will not refuse to work even if they are well provided for is considerable. Such an attitude is in strong contrast with men’s point of view (especially in the country). There the differences on this matter in the opinion of the respondents reach 20-25% (as for the differences in towns, they are 10-15%). The patriarchal tradition is most stable among women over the age of 50. If the traditional point of view about the discussed attitude towards housework is shared approximately by 70% of women over 50 regardless of their place of residence, then the difference between town and village for women as a whole is 20 points more for countrywomen. These results outline the situation of the young countrywoman as highly problematic. She is part of the minority of physical presence, of opportunity to form and stand her ground, as well as of perspective on finding assistance outside her own family. This puts special acuteness on the problem concerning the development of a net of organizations and initiatives for interaction among groups of women with different chances for personal and social realization. The answer of the question “are the different ways of life to women’s advantage or drawback” greatly depends on whether the personality is open to new opportunities and initiatives, to development and change or not. The results show that women, especially women in the country, are too inactive to bring changes in the aspect of work. [4] The attributing of housework and upbringing of children is one of the reasons for the later actual inequality between the sexes. This regularity appears correspondingly in towns and in villages. In the course of research we tested the hypothesis that similar tendencies in the town and the village exist. This hypothesis, however, was not confirmed and it showed that the attitude of young countrywomen is closer to that of older countrywomen than to that of women of their age who live in the town. The stability of the patriarchal tradition, which ascribes a subordinate role for the woman in the family, can be above all seen when dealing with people of old ages. The subject of analysis when considering young people is the degree of active, competitive attitude rather than the passive women’s role in the patriarchal tradition. Less than 1/3rd of the inquired that are between 18 and 30 and live in the country agree with the statement that they are “good enough to achieve the goals that they have set for themselves” (figure 2). Less than half the women living in towns and 2/3rds of the inhabitants of the capital agreed on the statement.
Figure 2: Agreement with the statement “I am good enough to achieve the goals that I have set for myself” among women between 18 and 30:
The high percentage of women’s participation in the sphere of paid work is preserved in Bulgaria (it is 47% of manpower) although there is a relatively high and prolonged unemployment rate of which women comprise 62%. At present 82% of all Bulgarian women work outside the house. In spite of this the structure of the family income continues to be characterized by the domination of incomes earned by men. It is only in 1/5th of the interviewed families that the partners bring equal income to the family while in 2/3rds of the households men earn the bigger part of the maintenance of their families. Women bring more money in the family only in 1/10th of the households. The male economic domination appears to be a prerequisite for their domination in making decisions in the family. Even when women are the main or the only earners it is still traditionally believed that “the man is the head of the family” and that is why “his word carries weight” (figure 3).
Figure 3:The man’s word carries weight
The major part of people from the country (4/5thsof men and more than half women) assumes that very attitude towards the dominating male role. When comparing with the percentage of agreement in towns the male respondents are more than a half (54.6%) and the female respondents are less in number (1/3rd of the inquired). More than a half of women in towns do not agree with the statement (as against approximately 1/3rd of the male respondents and 1/3rd of the countrywomen).
Women and power
An object of present interest among women is to increase their share in taking part in all levels of public life and government. The main purpose of this increase is connected with correction of the existing balance between the sexes in the highest levels of business management, of legislative and executive powers. It is also connected with the extending of women’s opportunities to vote and to take part in any decision-making, and it thus makes the essential female problems a part of the social agenda. The chief aim is acquiring new publicity in which not only their votes but also their experience appear. We can’t disagree with Julia Krasteva who says: “Maybe it is high time that we brought forward the great number of female faces and interests. It is important that the fundamental gender difference should be sharply outlined in the cross-point of this variety. The feminism made this difference painful, i.e. it turned it into a way of amazement and symbolic life in a civilization where outside the market and wars there is nothing except boredom.”(Krasteva 1997:21) All this can be included in a program concerning the elite of Bulgarian women that is organized in female committees. In order for this purpose to become reality in the first place it should be understood and acquired by the groups it concerns. However, the results of the empirical study show that women as a whole are still not ready to meet the challenges that require their consolidation as a group with specific demands: - First, women do not see their sex as an obstacle for their access to power (Zlatanova 2000:87) - Second, women themselves prefer to be headed by men; - Third, the share of the potential aid for women is even lesser than the actual female participation in power nowadays; - Fourth, there are significant differences in helping a woman who runs for office between the willingness of countrywomen and women living in towns. Women from Sofia most strongly agree on the statement that there is no difference on whether they vote for male or for female deputy (figure 4).
Figure 4: Women’s attitudes and voting behavior within the constituencies
The difference between countrywomen and women living in cities concerning the idea that sex plays an unimportant role when voting is above 20 points. This again confirms the belief that women are a rather heterogeneous class. A class which in order to strike the needed balance between the sexes (the balance that corresponds to their real presence in society) has to reach a consensus on several aspects, especially aspects such as their participation in the managing of the country. This includes both their physical appearances in government and their fight for definite priorities which women willing to stand their ground outside their roles of mothers and wives need. Countrywomen rather than women from towns would vote for a deputy-woman as well as for a woman who is to be their immediate superior. There is no denying the fact that a certain hierarchy of governmental places exists in the mind of the inquired women. The readiness to vote a woman into higher ruling positions (those of deputies) fades away. Countrywomen prefer a female immediate superior than a deputy-woman. Approximately half of the inquired women believe that deputies should be men. 26.1% of the inhabitants of the city of Sofia and 34.8% of people from other towns prefer a male deputy. These attitudes show the reason why nowadays when speaking of quotas for female participation in politics and government there is a negative reaction not only by men but also by women themselves. In conclusion, in order for the potential voting opportunities to become more available to women in the course of the social changes it is necessary that the sense for women’s problems should be developed and women should be moved away from the private sphere. Their varied examining conformed to the concrete live situation imposes further careful consideration of countrywomen. They should be offered aid through special programs that are directed to female farmers regardless of their recent small number; to women who are ready to travel every day in order to practice their professions, which give them bigger chances for self-expression and progress; to young mothers trying to raise their children in the spirit of their time and generation. Still, in order for this to come true we should agree that the countrywoman needs a helping hand as well as we should regard her difficulties as a part of the public discussions that are the source for the legitimate future changes.
Literature: Zlatanova, V. 2000. Gender Inequalities and Social Policy in the Women Justice Today. (Ed.) G. Fotev and R. Stoilova pp. 77-99 (in English) Krasteva, J. 1997. Women’s Time. Damianova and others.(in Bulgarian) Fredricson,M. 1999. Hanna’s Daughters.“Obsidian” publishing house. (in Bulgarian)
[2] V. Zlatanova is senior research associate and Deputy Director of the Institute of Sociology and Head of Department “Sociology of the Deviant Behavior”, part-time professor on Sociology at the Southwest University in Blagoevgrad; e-mail: valia@sociology.bas.bg; R. Stoilova is senior research associate at the Institute of Sociology, a lecturer on “Social Communities and Social Inequalities” at the Southwest University of Blagoevgrad; e-mail: RStoilova@yahoo.com
[3] The empirical ground for this analysis is the sociological study “Bulgarian Women in the Period of Transition:Inequalities, Risks, Social Cost”, which was done in 1999 by: Prof. Dr. G. Fotev, Senior Research Associate Dr.V.Zlatanova, Senior Research Associate Dr. N.Tilkidziev and co-ordinator – Dr. R.Stoilova. The research is financed by the SOCO Program of the Institute of Humanitarian Studies in Vienna and by the Program for Development of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as by Ford Foundation. 4 For example, according to the data of the mentioned sociological study the men who would look for a new job in another settlement are 15 percent more than women. |
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