Let me start with the truism that gender is a political, cultural and epistemic category, as well as a historical one. The key feature of gender is concerned with relations, as R. Connell defines it as ‘the structure of social relations that centers on the reproductive arena’. In order to read the post-communist situation using the language of gender, we have to keep in mind all dimensions of this category. Let me also clarify at the beginning, that I will attempt to focus only on gender identity, keeping in mind that identities have multiple dimensions including ethnic, educational, generational, etc. Moreover, the concept of ‘identity’ can be defined as a twofold process: on the one hand, to identify oneself means to take up positions which are imposed on the subject, whose representations are constituted through ideological discourses; on the other hand, identification means expending energy and investment to perform these positions. The second key concept I am using, that of ‘social policy’, can be defined as a set of policies and measures directed toward implementation of the basic principles of the social system. These principles reflect complicated and dynamic relationships between men's and women's public and private roles, the state and broad social communities.

Taking into account this ambivalent approach to identification – considered both as artificially enforced and as achieved ‘selves’ – I would like to point out two main levels of gender identity-building in the post-communist period.