Workers under Construction: Gender, Identity, and Women’s Experiences of Work in State Socialist Romania

Although many scholars , policymakers, and ordinary people have repudiated state socialism as a political and socioeconomic system, as the above quote illustrates, socialism, as a way of life, decisively shaped and continues to shape how individuals think about their government, society, and themselves. Some might write such reflections off as nostalgia; however, it must be remembered that state socialism offered women opportunities for constructing their identities outside of the home and family. This was the case for Maria, the woman quoted above, who lost her job as an electrician in the early 1990s as a result of economic restructuring. While her family was still able to get by on her husband’s income, when I interviewed her in 2003, it was clear that work continued to be a strong source of self-identity for her. Moreover, work strongly influenced how she thought about her role as a woman, mother, and citizen and about the socialist past more generally. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.