Abstract:
This research project examines the growing informal sector of Ukrainian economy and the way global economic changes affect women's lives. It has been noticed by many Western researchers that women have been among the hardest hit by economic restructuring in Eastern Europe. Marginalization from the official labor force led a great number of women into the new informal sector of the economy. In Ukraine the development of petty trade is one of the most remarkable among the resent economic trends in this country.
The research examines the connections between two levels of social life: global economic change in a society and economic behavior and decision-making process of its members, with cultural norms and values either conflicting with the new economic behavior or adapting to it. I examine how the global changing economic situation through its effect on local economies becomes both a push and pull factor causing individual lives to change.
Using the example of small scale urban traders in Ukraine, the study uncovers how globalization through economic changes on the level of nation-state economies affect the decision making, life course and career paths of women in a changing society. The focus of the project is the effects of economic change in Ukraine on women, and the role small scale urban trade plays in their struggle to survive through the ongoing process of economic restructuring in their countries. The study examines the reasons why women initially entered trade, and what personal consequences this occupational change had for them and their families.
