Introduction

Part VI shows how postcommunist states have a central but deeply contentious engagement with gender and a conflicted relationship to gender equality. In the past 30 years, Central-Eastern European and Eurasian (CEE&E) governments have reinterpreted sexual roles and rights, turning to an instrumentalist essentialism as part of ascendant nationalism and nostalgia for stability, without the veneer of Soviet promises of emancipation. Building upon Part V, which lays claim to the analytical lens of ambiguity for evaluating the impact of the transitions on the intersectional experience of women, Part VI uses the lens of policy to map the location-specific mix of change and continuity as they relate to gender. This Part also shows that, in the adjustment away from communist-era practices, the interpretation of gender and the implementation of welfare have become important signals of whether the state is aligning with varieties of democracy or authoritarianism.