The question of representation is central to the scholarship of gender, the examination of political institutions, and the study of democratic theory. In this book, Yvonne Galligan, Sara Clavero, and Marina Calloni straddle all three areas of scholarship by addressing the issue of women's representation in former socialist countries, at least those that have been admitted to the European Union. There has been a steady stream of scholarship on gender and politics in postcommunist states in democratic transition, but this book combines serious empirical research with a normative consideration of gender equality. It is an impressive cross-national survey of postsocialist states, utilizing an array of qualitative and quantitative data to build a convincing argument about the complex interplay of culture, institutions, and agency effects upon gender politics, yet with the stated intent of giving voice to politically engaged women in these countries.

Galligan, Clavero, and Callioni contend that although communist state institutions were founded on the presumption of women's emancipation, women failed to move toward equality, women's employment was often restricted to lower-paid occupations, and there was a significant pay gap. The authors argue that the reason for this was the disempowerment of both men and women in the public sphere, which meant that the private sphere was the one place that offered protection from regulation by the state. The private sphere was thus a positive force for both men and women, but it reinforced traditional gender roles and stereotypes. After the democratic transition, when Western feminists assumed that women would rally to fight for equal rights, women's equality was impeded in postsocialist states because of several significant obstacles. As a result, women are more underrepresented in postsocialist legislatures than they are in other EU legislatures.

For those engaged in teaching, the book's most valuable contribution is the chapter on representation theory, which presents a lucid synopsis of Hannah Pitkin's work on representation. This chapter provides the foundational conceptual definitions for the entire research project, but it is well worth reading for itself. For students unfamiliar with Pitkin's work it provides an accessible but relatively comprehensive account of this important text.

The empirical foundation of the research is found in the chapters utilizing quantitative data collected from national surveys of public attitudes toward gender roles and women in politics. By comparing attitudes among individual postsocialist states, and between postsocialist states and older liberal democracies in the EU, and by examining how these attitudes have changed over the past 15 or so years, the authors uncover some important patterns. They find, for example, that postsocialist countries had far more traditional attitudes toward gender roles than did other EU countries, with the exception of Slovenia. Over the decade of the 1990s, however, attitudes toward gender roles underwent significant changes, so that there is gradually increasing support for women working outside the home and women as political leaders. Yet these changes have not been uniform; there is much greater movement toward support for gender equality in the Baltic countries.

The second quantitative chapter is a comparison of women's representation within political institutions in postsocialist and other EU legislatures. The authors identify two important factors that have impeded women's entry into political office in postsocialist states, including both supply barriers (those cultural and agency effects that discourage women from choosing to run) and demand barriers (the prejudice against women candidates by party gatekeepers or among voters). These are easily recognizable patterns for those familiar with the scholarship of women and elected office in advanced industrial democracies, and they provide a valuable framework for comparison and further scholarship.

In addition to these interesting quantitative chapters, the authors undertake an historical analysis of the pre- and posttransition periods, studying the development, or rather lack of development, of the women's movement and women's organizations within postsocialist states. Galligan, Clavero, and Callioni point out that the development of a women's movement in these countries was inhibited because many existing women's organizations were tainted by their association with the communist era. They further argue that the presence of international organizations impeded the development of an indigenous movement because of a resistance to Western notions of feminism. This argument is an intriguing counterpoint to the work of scholars such as Kathryn Sikkink, who has found that transnational coalitions and networks are beneficial for the formation of domestic movements. (See Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, “Transnational Advocacy Networks in International and Regional Politics,” International Social Science Journal 51 [March 1999]: 89).

Some stylistic inconsistency across chapters is perhaps the inevitable result of having three authors and using plural methodologies, yet these are the very things that add to the rigor of Gender, Politics and Democracy in Post-socialist Europe as a piece of scholarship. This is a compelling account of the history of the women's movement in postsocialist Europe, and a very useful contribution to the scholarship of gender equality in political institutions.