The stereotypical image of East European women during the Cold War was captured in a notorious 1980s Wendy's commercial depicting a mock Communist-run fashion show. Under the command of an East European–accented announcer, a plain, heavyset woman came out on the catwalk to show off her daywear, eveningwear, and swimwear, each time wearing the same kerchief and shapeless blue dress. The message of the Wendy's commercial was the clear advantage conferred by having freedom of choice, a freedom sadly unavailable in the Communist world. This edited volume by Joanna Regulska and Bonnie Smith shows, by contrast, that women in Europe—West and East—exercised their agency both during and after the Cold War, if under sometimes radically constrained choices.
The topic of the book—gender in Eastern and Western Europe during and after the Cold War—is vast. This vastness is simultaneously an advantage and a disadvantage. Chapters cover aspects of the social, economic,...