Behind the curtain: How did women's work history vary across Central and Eastern Europe?

This paper investigates the differences in female work experience across Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs). We use retrospective SHARELIFE data to analyse women's history from 1950 1990. provide descriptive evidence that varied CEECs. Furthermore, we argue comparing former provinces of Russian Empire Lithuania Poland provides a natural experiment, allowing us disentangle effect differential implementation Soviet regime pre-existing differences. find during communism, Lithuanian women worked 2 years more by age 50 relative their Polish counterparts. is one-third found East–West Germany comparison. propose several potential mechanisms behind this finding: degree land collectivization, Church's influence sectoral composition. Accordingly, study's findings highlight importance country