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p The achieved levels of productive forces and production relations vary in each socialist country. The questions of women’s participation in the social labour force vary as well. But a common goal for all socialist countries is achieving the most auspicious balance between a woman’s family obligations and participation in the social production, creating a harmonious personality so that women could play an active role in the construction of a new society. Among the conditions assuring a productive role for women in the constructive process have been the realisation of their right to work and equal pay, the state’s concern for mothers, and the improvement in the standard of living.

p A common feature of all socialist countries is that the number of women participating in the 70 national economy has increased regularly at a dramatic rate. This increase has been accompanied by progressive changes in the professional structure of women’s labour and in the distribution of women among the branches of economy. Women have played an increasing part in leading branches of the national economy. A greater percentage of women are occupying positions that require high-level skills.

p In the Bulgarian People’s Republic, for example, an ever increasing number of women are helping to create material and spiritual values. In 1972, 68 per cent of all able-bodied women were employed, while 14 per cent were enrolled in educational and training institutions. In 1971, the number of women workers and office employees had reached 1,265,000; this was 3.3 times greater than the corresponding figure for 1956. In 1973, 45 per cent of the total number of the workers and office employees were women, while they accounted for about 49 per cent of those working in agricultural cooperatives.

p The greatest number of women are employed in industry. More than half this number are emnloyed in machine-building, metal-working, light industries, and in the food industry. The growth of the number of women employed in radioelectronics, in the elcctrotechnical industry and in the instrument-making industry is especially rapid.

p Women are employed in construction, transport and various other areas of material production. In the public servicing women workers predominate.

p There has been significant improvement in the educational level of women and in their professional level and skills. In 1972, women made up 71 65.7 per cent of all secondary school graduates, 48.2 ner cent of all graduates of technical schools, and 47.3 per cent of those who graduated from higher educational institutions.

p In 1973, women specialists constituted 38.7 per cent of all specialists with a higher education and 55.5 per cent of specialists with a secondary education. 30.4 per cent of all research workers are women.

p Today, Bulgarian women direct factories and institutions; they nlay an active nart in all facets of the country’s life. In 1972, 17 per cent of all directors and deputy directors of enterprises, institutions and organisations were women; women made up 17.4 per cent of the chief specialists and their assistants.

p Considering the requirements of social production and the needs of women themselves, the Politbnreau of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party passed a resolution on March 6, 1973 "On Increasing the Part Played by Women in Constructing an Advanced Socialist Society”. The resolution provides for a complex of measures designed to establish conditions which will ensure that women participate with maximal productivity in socialist construction; to ease their domestic chores, etc.

p The nature of women’s participation in social production has also changed in the Hungarian People’s Republic. At present, 66 per cent of all able-bodied women are employed, 8 per cent are in school, 18 ner cent are occupied with domestic responsibilities. The percentage of women workers has increased from 36 per cent in 1960 to 43 per cent in 1973. Participation of women in various spheres of activities has also changed, 30 per cent of all actively working 72 women are employed in industry, 12 per cent in trade, 22 per cent in public health, education and public servicing; and 22 per cent in agriculture.

p Due to scientific and technological progress and the social division of labour, women have been able to work in a growing number of fields, to go beyond the framework of traditional “female” occupations. Women’s professional qualifications have been raised; they are participating to an ever greater degree in positions requiring higher skills. Increasing numbers of women receive a higher education. Women now constitute 39 per cent of all graduates of higher educational institutions.

p Such fundamental transformations in the character of employment and qualifications of women were made possible in the Hungarian People’s Republic, as in other socialist countries, by a system of measures designed to raise the educational and professional qualifications of women. The state offers considerable benefits for women to improve their skills—preferred working time, training courses, consultation facilities, and many other advantages. The 10th Congress of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party (1970) envisaged measures for improving labour conditions and the living standard of women in connection with its directives for the 1971-1975 stale plan.

p In the German Democratic Republic 84 per cent of all women are either enrolled in school or are working. They make up 49 per cent of the labour force. Most are employed in industry. In light industry, 65.5 per cent of all workers are women, in electrotechnical industry, 46.3 per cent, and in the chemical industry, 42.8 per cent. 73 At the end of 1973, 52.5 per cent of all female workers and office employees had completed courses at professional training institutions. In 1973, women students constituted 45.3 per cent of all those studying in institutes of higher education.

p Striking successes have been achieved in the vocational training of women. These are the result of governmental measures instituted to train women workers.

p The system for training skilled women workers is constantly being improved. The decision of December 12, 1972, for instance, established additional benefits and guarantees designed to stimulate vocational training and to develop the skills of women who work full-time. Skilled female workers are trained at the enterprises on the basis of agreements between the women and the administration. Such agreements include mutual rights and obligations; they set the duration of the training period, allow women to be partially freed of work while earning the same average wage, and guaranteed completion of training in such instances as temporary inability to work, a sick child or pregnancy (in such cases the training is only temporarily halted). Directors of various enterprises and organisations are obliged to offer each woman who has completed a training course a position that corresponds to her training and skills. In the instruction period practical training is largely integrated with the work process. Should the woman’s earnings decrease due to underfulfilment of the assigned work in a newly acquired speciality, she will be awarded the difference in her wages.

p In the Polish People’s Republic the percentage of women workers has climbed from 31 per cent in 1946 to 46 per cent. Women constitute 38.6 74 per cent of all workers in industry, 43.6 per cent in science, 68 per cent in education, and 74 per cent in public health.

p It is characteristic of the contemporary development of production that women strive to work in new areas and professions, both in those which have developed as a result of scientific and technological progress and in those that were earlier relegated to men.

p Widespread training programme has enabled Polish women to hold an increasing number of jobs requiring advanced skills and to occupy positions of responsibility and leadership. Women constitute 38 per cent of all persons who have completed a higher education, and 53 per cent of those who have completed a specialised secondary education.

p Poland, like other socialist countries, provides free education for persons of either sex. The government makes every effort to encourage girls to seek professional training. In recent years many such benefits have been provided, with particular emphasis on training specialised technicians.

p In the Socialist Republic of Rumania women have been quickly absorbed into the labour force. Almost 82 per cent of all able-bodied women in Rumania work. In 1973, women made 44.7 per cent of the total employed population. At the same time they constituted almost one-third of all workers and office employees, as compared to 13 per cent in 1938. Women comprised 32.4 per cent of industrial workers, about 60 per cent of agricultural workers, 71.6 per cent of workers in the public health and social public services, and 62 per cent of all workers in the educational and cultural sphere.

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p In addition to traditional areas such as the clothing, textile and food industries, a growing number of women, particularly young women, are being trained and employed in such areas as electrical engineering and electronics, machinetool construction, the chemical industry, the optic industry, as well as many other fields.

p Systematic measures aimed at raising the educational level of the entire population, including women, have substantially altered the professional status of female personnel. Now 44.5 per cent of all students are women, including 65.8 per cent of those in medicine, 64.2 per cent in pedagogy, 48.5 per cent in economics, and 27.7 per cent in the technical sciences.

p In the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic women account for a significant percentage of the increase in the working population; they comprise 48.5 per cent of all employed persons, i.e., almost half of the country’s actively employed population. The overwhelming majority of women are employed in industry. Almost one million women are employed in various kinds of work not concerned with production.

p Significant progress has been achieved in women’s education. Girls comprise 64 per cent of all students in secondary schools and 58 per cent of those enrolled in specialised training schools, as well as 40.6 per cent of all students in higher educational institutions. In 1973, 22 per cent of all specialists with a higher education, 55 per cent of all specialists with a full specialised secondary education and 24 per cent of those with a specialised secondary education were women. There are entire industries where women specialists considerably outnumber male 76 specialists. The number of women doctors, lawyers, teachers and representatives of various areas of science and culture has noticeably increased.

p The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, like other socialist countries, has put the principles of women’s equality into practice by actively including women in the process of building socialism.

p In the postwar period, the number of working women in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia increased. Today women make up 35 per cent of the labour force. However, the figure varies for the different republics, from 18.8 per cent in the Kosovo region to 43 per cent in the Republic of Slovenia.

p Many progressive reforms have been adopted in the area of education. The training of highly skilled female personnel is a matter of great concern. The number and proportion of women with a secondary and higher education continues (o grow. Yugoslavia, like other socialist countries has instituted a uniform programme of co-education on all levels.

p In the Democratic Republic of Vietnam women are involved in various spheres of activity. More than 60 per cent of workers involved in agricultural production are women. In the state sector of the economy, the percentage of women workers has climbed from 5 per cent in 1955 to 43 per cent in 1973. Women comprise 54 per cent of all those employed in the field of education; 58.2 per cent of those employed in public health; 58.9 per cent of those employed in the field of commerce; from 25 to 38 per cent of workers in various branches of heavy industry, transport, construction, and communications; and 65.7 per 77 cent of workers in light industry and 60 per cent in food industry.

p The number of female employees in scientific and technical positions, many of them trained in the USSR and in other socialist countries, has also grown. While only a few individual women worked in science and technology in the mid1950s, today almost 100,000 women have completed a special secondary or higher education. The number of women who have completed a higher education and earned a higher degree has risen 10 limes since 19(51. This figure includes women who 15 years ago worked at positions requiring minimal skills. Today women make up one-third of all skilled workers. Such facts demonstrate the progress made by the republic in involving women in the social labour. Remarkable results have been achieved despite wartime conditions.

p In the Mongolian People’s Republic women make up over 46 per cent of all workers in industry and 51 per cent of all able-bodied members of agricultural cooperatives. From 70 to 90 per cent of those employed in industrial and dairy combines, clothing and textile factories, and many other industrial concerns are women.

p Fundamental changes in the culture and education of Mongolian women occurred during socialist construction. Women now total 44.4 per cent of all persons with a general education, 24.5 per cent of all specialists with a higher education, and 37.6 per cent of persons with a secondary specialised education. 46 per cent of all teachers are women, as well as over 40 per cent of those employed by cultural and artistic institutions. 25 per cent of agricultural specialists who have earned a higher scientific or scholar degree are women.

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p As in all socialist countries, women receive free education in various schools, vocational schools, secondary specialised and higher educational institutions.

p Women are likewise actively participating in social labour in the Korean People’s Democratic Republic. Today some two million women have jobs, making up 50 per cent of the industrial labour force and 60 per cent of all agricultural workers.

p As women reach higher cultural level and master more advanced technical skills, they have begun to take a greater part in various branches of industry, particularly in mechanical engineering and chemistry, where automation has reached a more advanced level compared with other industries.

p Over 130,000 women engineers and technicians are employed in various sectors of the economy. Many of them work as directors of various enterprises, as chairmen of agricultural cooperatives and in other positions of leadership.

p In the Korean People’s Democratic Republic, a secondary education is now obligatory. Both women and men are given a general and technical education. The development of adult education programmes and supplementary courses offered to acquaint workers with the latest developments in science and technology have led to a significant improvement in women’s cultural level and technological skills.

p Cuba’s revolution, just as the revolutions in other socialist countries, created conditions facilitating the total emancipation of women; for it eradicated the old exploitational order and cleared the way for the development of new attitudes. Each year the sphere of occupations open 79 to women expands and women acquire new skills and responsibilities. State planners aim to attract 100,000 women annually to the spheres of production and consumer services.

p Women’s education is a matter of great concern. 38 per cent of those enrolled in technical schools are women; they make up 48 per cent in secondary medical institutions, 45 per cent in secondary agricultural institutions, 27 per cent in economic schools, and 63 per cent at the central teacher training school. Half of all students at higher educational institutions are women.

p All socialist countries continue to actively integrate women in the social labour, to encourage and expand the quantitative and qualitative growth of female labour, to provide new opportunities for women through improved training programmes and new scientific and technological developments.

p The fullest participation of women in industry and culture has been achieved through numerous economic and social measures initiated both by the states and by Communist and Workers’ Parties in accordance with each country’s specific conditions. The successful resolution of the women’s question is based on the planned socialist economy, on the socio-economic policy of the government, which guarantees equal labour and educational rights for all citizens, regardless of sex; and strives to provide the maximal satisfaction of the material and spiritual needs of all citizens.

p Today, the women of socialist countries work in branches of the economy previously closed to them, in newly opened fields and professions. Their gifts and skills are employed in every 80 possible area. They arc able lo oblain virtually unlimited education. One might say that a new woman has appeared—the active builder of a socialist society. It would, however, be unrealistic to think that all the problems have been solved, that there are no difuculties to overcome, that new problems will never arise.

The solution to the question of women’s status is a process in which new problems are constantly being met and resolved. Future successes are guaranteed by the progressive socialist economic system, by the activities of the parties governing socialist countries, and by the striving of women themselves to take part in constructive labour aimed at ensuring peace and prosperity in socialist countries, where women have been given equal rights and where conditions encourage them to combine socially beneficial labour with their family obligations.