Legal and constitutional developments in the field of gender equality in post-communist Romania : an analysis in the framework of the public/private divide

Abstract

Although over the last decades gender legal studies have proliferated in the Anglo-Saxon world, the legal situation of gender equality in Central and Eastern Europe is still widely underresearched. This thesis aims to address, at least in part, this gap in the literature by analyzing the development of gender equality under the law and constitution of post-communist Romania. The thesis frames its analysis around the feminist critique of the separate spheres tradition, according to which the root of gender inequality lies in the association of women with the private sphere and of men with the public sphere. Accordingly, the thesis tracks the legal and constitutional changes and debates taking place in four fields relevant to understanding the configuration of the public/private divide in post-1989 Romania. These fields are: women’s political representation, the division of care and breadwinning within couples, the protection of reproductive autonomy, and the definition of family and marriage in relation to gender. To contextualize the analysis, the thesis first discusses the application of the feminist critique of the public/private divide to Romania, describes the elements of the legal system and legal culture necessary to understand the logic of the research, and introduces the main changes in the legal regime of gender equality after 1989, as well as the factors and actors involved in these changes. The thesis then proceeds to examine the legal and constitutional status of gender equality in Romania after the fall of the old regime by looking at: gender quotas (Chapter I), social benefits like parental leave or differing pension ages for men and women (Chapter II), abortion and assisted reproduction (Chapter III) and the debates around homosexuality and same-sex families (Chapter IV). The thesis concludes that the fall of communism represented a mixed bag in terms of gains and losses for gender equality in Romania. Nonetheless, although many changes still need to take place to achieve gender equality, by looking strictly at the four analyzed fields and at the legal domain, the thesis argues that due to Romania’s peculiarity during communism, the gains that came with the period of transition outweigh the losses. This contradicts the widespread findings that in other countries in the region the fall of communism brought a serious deterioration to the status of women. The thesis thus signals that Romania is an outlier in the region and lays the groundwork for further comparative research on this issue.