WOMEN, MEN, AND THE “SECOND SHIFT” IN SOCIALIST YUGOSLAVIA

Abstract

The authors examine the “second shift” in the former socialist Yugoslavia through the analysis of 1989-90 data from a random sample of 7,790 adults in the paid labor force. Despite working outside the home, women are primarily responsible for housework. Neither education, occupation, urbanization, nor participation in the informal economy has a significant effect in reducing this; only the presence of an older female in the household measurably reduces an employed woman's participation in the second shift. Not only are men's attitudes important for women's performance of the second shift but also men's ability to act in terms of this value displays the significance of a gendered social structure in socialist societies.