3. Descriptive results of CEE countries and rural women

3.1 Some general features of CEE countries

3.2 Rural development and rural women: some general features of rural women's role and status in CEE counties

3. Descriptive results of CEE countries and rural women

3.1 Some general features of CEE countries

The main similarities among the CEE countries are geographical, historical and political. All the countries included are in Eastern or Central Europe. All have experienced great social and political changes since 1990, in the form of restoration of independence (Lithuania 1990, Estonia 1991 and Latvia 1991) or birth of a new independent country (Slovenia and Croatia 1991, the Czech Republic and Slovakia 1993). All the countries included are now parliamentary democracies with a multiparty political system. In most of the project countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria) processes of privatization and restitution of land property is on-going. Disputes among national majorities and minorities are problematic and acute in many countries; the national majority in Latvia is only 53.5 percent, in Estonia 64.2 percent, Lithuania 79.6 percent and Slovakia 85.7 percent. ⁴ The main religion in most of the project countries is Catholicism. Estonia and Latvia are the only countries in which the majority of people are members of the Lutheran church.

(⁴ Focal Informants.)

However, there are also differences among the countries and each of them have their own history. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are Baltic countries sharing certain similarities that distinguish them from the others. Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia are located in Central Europe although each has its own cultural and historical characteristics. Bulgaria is geographically the most southern country, but its political history has similarities with some Central European countries of the region.

Rural areas within the CEE countries also vary, and are sparsely populated or densely populated, mountainous or sub-mountainous, and near or far from urban centres. As a result, the economic activities and situation of rural women may also vary from area to area.

3.2 Rural development and rural women: some general features of rural women's role and status in CEE counties

All countries included are quite rural (Table 1). The rural proportion of the population varies from 49 percent in Slovenia to 25 percent in the Czech Republic. In the reference countries, the rural proportion is in the same range; in this sense there is no difference between the project countries and the reference countries. The most rural countries - taking the rural proportion of the population as the criterion - are Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary.

Agriculture has long been the mainstay of the economy in rural areas, but its role is decreasing in all European countries. The proportion of the labour force employed in agriculture is largest in Poland (28.9 percent) and smallest in the Czech Republic (8.1 percent), where the agricultural proportion is on the same level as in Austria and Finland. The importance of agriculture to the gross domestic product (GDP) is highest in the Baltic countries (Latvia 24.8 percent, Lithuania 26.7 percent, Estonia 17.1 percent) and Bulgaria (16 percent) (Table 1).

In all CEE countries about half of the rural population are women. The proportion of women is largest in Latvia (53 percent) and smallest in the reference countries, in Finland (48 percent) and in Ireland (48 percent). The proportion of women in the population that is economically active in agriculture is largest in Poland (51.6 percent), Bulgaria (52 percent) and Slovenia (50.4 percent) and smallest in Ireland, where only 8 percent of those economically active in agriculture are women. In Poland, 60 percent of all economically active rural women work in agriculture, while in the Czech Republic the figure is 14.5 percent. ⁵

(⁵ Ibid.)

The role of women in agriculture is constantly changing in many of the project countries (especially in the Baltic countries, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria) due to the process of privatization and the restoration of property rights. As a result, there are increasing numbers of private farms and farmers, while at the same time, the number of agricultural labourers is decreasing. Because the process is ongoing, it is very difficult to get up-to-date data on the sizes of different groups in agriculture in the project countries.

Table 1: General and economic statistics

Indicators	Country
	Estonia	Latvia	Lithuania	Poland	Czech Rep.	Slovakia	Hungary	Slovenia	Croatia	Bulgaria	Finland	Austria	Ireland
Territory a	45 227	64 610	65 301	312 683	78 864	49 036	93 033	20 256	56 538	110 994	338 145	83 859	70 285
Populations b		2.6	3.7	38.4	10.3	5.3	10.3	2.0	4.8	8.5	5.1	7.9	3.6
Rural pop. (thousands)	449	778	1 118	14 700	2 600	2 300	3 960	973	2 200	2 900	1 825	2 607	1 548
Rural pop. (percents)c	30.8	31.7	38.0	24.7	43.9	38.0	49.0	45.7	26.0	36.0	33.0	43.0
Density of pop./(people/km2) 1992,	34	41	57	123	131	108	111	99	85	81	15	94	50
Agricultural labour force, as % of all economically active	10.0	16.0	17.5	28.9	8.1	9.74	16.0	11.5	20.0	7.0	6.0	14.0
Agriculture as % of GDP c	17.1	24.8	26.7	6,5	5.6	5.6	7.1	4.9	16.0	3.0	2.0	11 0
Number of private farms (thousands)c	10	53	1.11	2 114	47	13d	120	157	533	108	269	170
Average farm size (ha)c	25.4	16.5	8.8	7.1	16.0	10.0	15.0	5.9 2.8		12.7		21 1	25 a
Industry as % of GDP c	52.0	62.6	52.0	62.2	54.3	29.5	32.7		42.5
GNP/per caput US$ 1993b	3 040	2 030	1 310	2 27()	2 730	1 900	3 400	6 310	2 665	1 160	18 970	23 120	12 580
Unemployment (%) 1993c	7.5	1.6	13.7	3.9	14.4	14.4		18.0	6.8a	18.04a
Women in labour force. As % of all economically active c	47.0	49 0	48.0	45.4	47.6	46.0	41.9	47.2	44.0	47.4	49.0	36 0
Women economically active in agriculture (percent)c	36.0	40.0	34.9	51.6	38.3	40. 0d	38.0	38.0	43.8	52.0	38.0	42.0	8.0
Women in rural areas (thousands)c	233	408	621	7 356	1 298	1 174	2 026	494	1	113 1 454	541	1 313	754
Women as % of rural pop. c	53	52	50	51	51	51	51		51	51	48	51	48

^a Statistical Yearbook of Finland 1994. Helsinki Statistics Finland.

^b World Bank News. Vol. 13, No. 36, 1994.

^c Focal Informants.

^d1994.

All the project countries now have private farms and farmers (data from Bulgaria is missing). The numbers of agricultural workers and shareholders of cooperative farms are still quite high, especially in the Central European countries. The two main groups of women in agriculture are agricultural workers and farmers on private farms. Household plots are typical of all these countries and the role of women in the work on the household plot is decisive.

Full-time paid employment is common among rural women in Estonia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and Bulgaria. The great social change and privatization of agriculture have in some countries led to agricultural and rural unemployment.

Table 2: Private farmers, agricultural workers, private landowners, shareholders of cooperative farms and household plot owners (thousands), 1990-91

Country	Private Farmers		Agricultural Workers		Cooperative Shareholder		Household Plot owners
	Total	% Women	Total	% Women	Total	% Women	Total	% Women
Estonia	10		2.5
Latvia	51						113
Lithuania	6		97		209		122
Poland	3 560	52	236	33	87	33	6
Czech Rep.	47		476	36	167		380
Slovakia a			173	40			4
Hungary b		467		1	143		1 400	-
Slovenia	575	50	19	1
Croatia	151	40	77	29	3	33
Finland	146	38	7	43
Austria	207	20	486	44
Ireland	118	5	399	27

Source: Focal Informants

^a1994.

^b1992.

A typical feature of rural areas in all the countries is migration from rural to urban areas, and the subsequent ageing of the rural population. Migration of young, educated, single women is a common trend in most countries, although young men are also eager to move out of rural areas. There is little internal migration in the Baltic countries. In Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia, migration from the cities to rural areas is more common than from villages to cities (Table 3), and men migrate from rural areas more often than women. In Lithuania and Croatia, migration from cities to rural areas is also higher than vice versa.

Table 3: Migration (thousands), 1991

Country
	Eston	Latv. a	Lith b	Pol. b.	Czech Rep.	Slovak.	Hung	Sloven	Croat.	Bulg. b	Fin	Austr c	Irel
Rural. to urban		16.3	200	175	50	11	95	22	25	110	45	84
Urban to rural		16.7	256	84	41	12	118	213	28	199	47	59

Source: Focal Informants

^a1994

^b 1992.

^c1976-1981

In all the project countries there are more women than men living in rural areas. One of the main reasons is that women have a longer life expectancy. The situation is similar in Austria, yet in Ireland and Finland, there are more men than women living in rural areas. In all CEE countries and in all the reference countries there are more elderly (over 65 years) women living in rural areas than men (Table 4).

Table 4: Age structure in rural areas by sex (percent), 1990

Country	Age structure in rural areas
		0- 14 years	15-64 years	65 + years
Estonia	M	26	65	9
	F	23	58	19
Latvia a	M	25	66	9
	F	22	60	18
Lithuania b	M	24	64	12
	F	21	59	20
Poland b	M	27	63	10
	F	26	60	14
Czech	M	22	61	17
Rep.	F	20	51	29
Slovakia	M	28	61	16
	F	22	51	27
Hungary	M	22	61	17
	F	20	57	23
Slovenia	M	21	70	9
	F	20	65	12
Croatia	M	20	69	10
Bulgaria	M	18	63	19
	F	17	60	23
Finland c	M	19	69	12
	F	19	60	21
Austria d	M	25	65	10
	F	22	62	16
Ireland	M	28	60	12
	F	28	58	14

Source: Focal Informants.

^a 1989.

^b 1992.

^C 1988.

^d1981.