Bulgarian and Polish Women in the Public Sphere

The aim of this article is to describe and compare the situation of women in two countries from Central and Eastern Europe. Its focus is to account for the participation of women in the public sphere. The justification for choosing Bulgaria and Poland lies in the argument that although a more or less uniform regime of state socialism provides the background of a shared past, many other factors affect the assessment of women's current situation. First the historical and cultural contexts are described. Then the current situation of women is compared to that of men, yet paying attention to the differences that exist within the groups of women. Next the analyses of participation of women in formal politics on both the national and local levels as well as in women's NGOs are presented. The outcomes of public opinion polls concerning the "women's problem' in Bulgaria and Poland are compared. I argue that despite the generally more advantageous situation in Poland women in both countries experience comparable problems, though for dissimilar structural reasons.