Effects of Transition on Gender Equality and Female Employment in Bulgaria

This paper presents a short review of the effects of transition to a market economy on the pattern of male and female employment in Bulgaria during the period 1990-2009. It outlines that the gender differences in labour distribution among economic sectors, branches and activities has been observed far before the transition period when female employment dominated in some branches. This employment pattern did not change significantly during the period 1990-2009. However, there is a new feature and it is that women predominate in unemployment.