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The “gender problem” emerging today in CA as it relates to and involves education actually has long history, and was a target of serious social and political reform during Soviet times. We are interested in describing the problematic emergence; subsequent decline; and current difficulties, policies and practices connected to gender equality CA – with a particular focus on education and higher education. There are important historical writings on this topic, as well as contemporary statistical description of the issues. We undertake to illustrate briefly and describe work in both areas to begin this writing. Yet, this chapter is as much interested in the experiences and understandings of gender, education and lived culture as it is in what the history books say and how the statistics read. Our historical and conceptual discussions and generalizations are thus used primarily as scene setters for our later ethnographic accounts.

This study increases understanding of the influence of Russian culture and society on travel practices during Soviet times and now, through the subjective experiences of Russian women. Based on the life-history narratives concerning travel of Russian women who lived in the USSR and worked for the government, the study explores features of traveling during Soviet and Russian times: norms and rules, gender aspects, Russianness and habitus. Both culture and governmental restrictions and societal rules affected how women traveled in Soviet times. This study demonstrates how historical and social contexts and habitus were significant for women in the past and continue to be so in the present, as well as how they have affected these women’s travel practices. By drawing on social reality, gender literature, Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, and sociohistoric patterning of consumption from the research domain of consumer culture theory, this study seeks to fill the gap in understanding the significance of these aspects for travel practices.

Discusses the conditions experienced by women in the former USSR who are aspiring to or are currently occupying managerial positions. Soviet women feel the pressure of two societal forces: they are expected to work as well as to be the primary person responsible for home and family. Many complain: “We have too much equality”. Previews the statistics on women in the labour force in the former USSR, and examines seven factors affecting Soviet women′s access to managerial positions: (1) the perception of management as a masculine domain, (2) cultural constraints on women′s roles, (3) women′s roles in family life, (4) the stage of the country′s economic development, (5) social policy, (6) access to higher education and (7) organizational context. Concludes with an assessment of the prospects for Soviet women in managerial positions.

This paper aims to review female entrepreneurship in a (post) transition context, analysing its almost three-decade development in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Little research has focussed to date on female entrepreneurship in the Baltic countries. Using an institutional perspective, this paper aims to explain the unique interplay of formal and informal contexts that have shaped the development of female entrepreneurship in (post-) transition contexts.

This paper is based on an institutional reading and analysis of secondary data: statistical data, international reports and previous studies on female entrepreneurs.

There are more than 130,000 female entrepreneurs in the Baltic countries who share many common features and challenges. While the formal entrepreneurship environment is considered to be very developed in the Baltic countries, women are under-represented among the population of entrepreneurs, and there is gender-based sectoral segregation of female entrepreneurs in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This indicates a need to recognise the diversity of patterns in entrepreneurial development, reflecting different inheritances from the Soviet past and the inertial character of some informal institutions, not to mention the differences in the pace of change during the transition period following the Soviet era.

This research can be used for academics, professionals, researchers and policymakers working in the fields of small business and entrepreneurship. Its data can furthermore be used to develop evidence-based policy and actions that would foster the participation of women in entrepreneurship in Baltic countries.

So far, little research has focussed on female entrepreneurship in the Baltic countries. The paper attempts to investigate that Baltic countries with their history of emphasis on gender equality on one hand and the award-winning business and entrepreneurship system on the other hand demonstrate relatively low levels of women’s entrepreneurship. This paper aims to contribute to the field of entrepreneurship, illustrating how entrepreneurship is linked to its social context.

The aim of this paper will be to examine the social and economic changes that have shaped women's work identity in the USSR and Russian Federation. Based on interview research with 30 female professionals in St Petersburg, Russia, we unravel the complexities of the “woman question” in soviet discourse and explore the individual subjectivities of managing gender and managing transition.

The paper adopts a life‐history qualitative research approach. We examine how transition from a Marxist system to a free market economy has impacted employment experiences of women.

It is shown that women have traditionally progressed in managerial and professional fields in Soviet society but that this advancement is being reversed during transition stages. Emphasising the socio‐political legacies of the Soviet gender order, we highlight how dominant gender roles are being reinforced along essentialist lines. The results highlight how women's work identity is being reconstructed along stereotypically feminine lines. This feminisation of work identity however, focuses on the aesthetic qualities of being a professional woman rather than on personal managerial qualities. We argue that the construction and reconstruction of a feminine professional self is an important aspect of managing gender and transition. The results also highlight an increase in discriminatory practices in HR systems and that women face both cultural and organisational barriers to their career advancement.

The paper argues that socialist ideology did not solve the woman question, but rather produced different forms of gendered inequalities. It suggests that equal opportunities will only be achieved when organisations comply with employment legislation. The research provides important insights into the gendered management processes within transitional contexts, which have previously remained uncharted.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that fashion played in the Cold War competition between the USA and the Soviet Union during the period from 1945 to 1959.

This paper begins by situating fashion within the larger American efforts of cultural diplomacy. It then examines the American and Soviet approaches to fashion. Finally, it focuses on the fashion show at the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow. This paper utilizes primary sources, including archival sources and period newspapers and magazines.

Both American and Soviet leaders tried to use fashion to embody the ideological values of each political and economic system. Both also acknowledged a “fashion gap”, whereby Americans enjoyed clear superiority thanks to a well-developed mass production system of ready-made, stylish clothing, that some termed the American Look. Americans hoped the fashion gap would demonstrate that only capitalism could provide women with an abundance of the necessary – but also desirable – consumer goods that enhanced their feminine beauty. Thus, fashion played an important part in the Cold War cultural struggle, in which American and Soviet women were key participants.

Much has been written about the Cold War cultural diplomacy, especially the Moscow exhibition, but fashion is often left out of the analyses. Meanwhile, both the American Look and Soviet efforts to create socialist fashion have been examined, but no work has been done to look at the two together to understand fashion’s larger implications for the Cold War.

The chapter explores the image of the Soviet female spy in a variety of Bond films. Representations of Soviet women in these films are as intense as they are stereotypical. Tatiana Romanova (From Russia With Love, 1963), Anya ­Amasova (The Spy Who Loved Me, 1977), Pola Ivanova (A View to a Kill, 1985), the murderous dominatrix Xenia Onatopp (GoldenEye, 1995) and ­Natalya ­Simonova (GoldenEye) embody a combination of contradictory qualities. They are tough, strong, intellectual, successful and dangerous yet also feminine, ­sexual, beautiful and exotic. The presence of the dangerous communist seductress in Bond films petered out after the end of the Soviet Union.

This chapter also examines the origins of each of the stereotypes which seem to be a curious mixture of fantasy and reality of the fear and desire of the Western male gaze yet combined with elements of the Soviet ideology (for instance, the war on gender stereotypes in the Soviet Union and the heavy ideological emphasis on gender equality).

This paper studies female entrepreneurship in two post‐Soviet countries – Russia and Ukraine. Employing institutional theory, the research aims to investigate the entrepreneurial environment, particularly government support programmes and the availability of financial resources, with a focus on women entrepreneurs.

This research is a qualitative investigation that comprises 60 interviews with Russian and Ukrainian entrepreneurs, bank officers and representatives of government organisations supporting the development of entrepreneurship.

The investigation provides evidence that these countries have overcome the transition from a command to a market economy and local people are gradually adjusting to the new environment. Concentrating on macro/meso and money elements from the 5M model suggested by Brush et al., the authors suggest an additional construct – “motherland” – to embed a context in a new model.

Only two factors of Brush et al.'s 5M model were considered – i.e. macro/meso environment and money (availability of financial resources). Discussion of management, marketing and motherhood is beyond the scope of the present paper.

The study reveals a broad range of managerial information and empirical data on the development of female entrepreneurship in contemporary Russia and Ukraine. The findings are helpful for policymakers engaged with these two countries.

The study is an attempt to capture the context dependency of research on female entrepreneurs, and suggests a new dimension for inclusion in Brush et al.’s 5M model – “motherland”.