This collection of essays looks at the impact on women of the political changes which have taken place in East-Central Europe since the 1930s. It is unusual in combining a strong contemporary focus with re-evaluations of what the socialist experience has meant for women. It brings together specialists from both East and the West to offer insights into women's lives and responses to change in countries which have a shared legacy of state socialism yet are as culturally diverse as Russia and Germany, Poland and Estonia.