Educational Media Reviews Online

Ten years after the downfall of the Ceausescu regime in Romania, Olivia Carrescia visits a number of urban and rural areas to ask women how their lives have changed. The post-communist portrait that is revealed provides a balanced view of the various levels of economic and social rebuilding affecting women from all walks of life: professionals, students, factory workers and farm workers.

Academic interpretation of current Romanian attitudes is attributed to the difficulty in becoming democratic in a post-autocratic state. Ten years after gaining freedom, it is still difficult for individuals to do something for a common cause. The Ceausescu regime sought to sever relationships between people: to keep them isolated; without desire for community ties; and suspicious of their neighbors by depriving them of basic living conditions like heating or electricity, and having them continuously queue up in long food lines. This approach disciplined people into political submission as the sheer aspect of simple survival was exhausting for them.

For a top level museum administrator, the Ceausescu regime (1965-1989) represents the darkest period of Romanian history. She recalls that the only freedom accorded during this period was to think, however, the expression of thought was not permitted. Communism imposed a false sense of value and art invariably became only a positive representation and glorification of workers. Now, she laments, people have freedom but don't know what to do with it.

Romania is shown as a patriarchal society, deeply entrenched in peasant culture and orthodox traditions. While communism proclaimed equality for women, those in government had very little power. Little has changed in the last 10 years with respect to women in politics or to women laborers.

In certain rural areas some women claim to have had a good life under communism: their area was not collectivized and they had sheep and were able to make cheese and eat meat. Or they worked in a factory and made ends meet. Now, they say, jobs and housing are scarce. Yet, in Central Romania, a retired schoolteacher recalls being dispossessed of her father's land. She and her husband must continue working to supplement their meager pensions as they never regained possession of the land that was taken away from them. She recalls being forced to make her pupils sing about the greatness of Nicola and Elena Ceausescu on a daily basis. Their image of mother and father of the country was continuously inflicted on children and adults. Giving birth, then, became a patriotic duty and women who had 10 or more children were given medals. Abortion was forbidden and there are few statistics about the number of deaths attributed to provoked miscarriages. One woman interviewed confessed to having one or two a year and recounted how she kept beating the system and avoiding being arrested and sent to jail. By 1989 however, Romania had the highest infant mortality rate and the lowest life expectancy rate in Europe. The number of abandoned children left in orphanages was staggering.

It is clear to those attempting to rebuild Romania that the post-communist transition must take into account the vast gulf in technology and education between the urban and rural areas. Women's organizations are springing up to contact women in remote areas and provide them with health information. Students are more hopeful for the future. One young woman quotes Arthur Miller as she reflects on the current state of Romanian society, "It's dark here but full of diamonds." Highly recommended for Women's Studies, Eastern European Studies, Sociology, and Political Science.