Merike Kaunissaare

In the context of the visual turn, we have witnessed an increase in the information conveyed visually and its independent news value, also in traditional print media. The media seem to function as a cultural indicator that characterizes social conditions similarly to other socio-economic indicators. Photo selections of a newspaper as significant media content also reflect general values. 

e selection of newspaper photos in the article is derived from the selection and coding principles of the ESF grant no. 5854, Structure, actors and values in Estonian, Russian and Finnish dailies 1901‒2009 (M. Lõhmus, R. Kõuts). The analysis is based on the photo material published in the Edasi/Postimees in the coded months of 1985‒2010. The detailed analysis focuses on the weeks with the most diverse pictorial material. The focus is on the social context conveyed in the newspaper photos, especially on the gendered changes in the representational field. The empirical data yields clear conclusions on the quantitative and qualitative structural changes. The attention to social roles and statuses varies in different periods. The choice of what is being represented and how is determined by the field of life and social position as well as gender. Political liberation has been accompanied by a great structural change in the representation of men and women. 

Brigitta Davidjants

The present article looks at the image of the female body in the Armenian cultural space, more specifically the images of female bodies created in popular culture and their position in the social power system. Similarly to many contemporary societies, Armenia sees itself as a borderland. The border can be defined in different ways: geographically, politically, linguistically, culturally, etc. A widespread narrative in Armenia places it in the East geographically and in the West culturally, because of Christianity. Such divided identity creation can be seen in different spheres, from daily media to history writing. Armenians are characterized by the desire to distance themselves from their Islamic neighbors and to place themselves culturally in the West. However, they have adopted only some visual attributes of Westernness and in their mentality Armenians still belong to the Middle-Eastern cultural space, which associates women with the private sphere, primarily with the reproduction of the nation and the preservation of traditions. The present article illustrates the problem with an analysis of the representation of women in Armenian Eurovision song contest videos. Eurovision is considered an event of national importance since it gives an opportunity to present a desired image to Europe while reaffirming national identity and the related gender roles. The analysis confirms the hypothesis that the Armenian woman is in the service of the nation, simultaneously representing maternity and Armenianness on the one hand and femininity and Europeanness on the other. 

Eve Annuk

The article analyses the representation of the gender question in late-19th-century Estonian journalism, comparing it to the gendered beliefs articulated in the texts of Lilli Suburg (1841‒1923), Estonia’s first feminist, writer, journalist and educator. The question of women’s emancipation had become topical in Estonia in the second half of the 19th century. It was covered in Estonian-language journalism with emphasis on women’s education. The related discussion highlighted different attitudes towards women’s role and position in society and the domestic sphere. In general the discussion stayed within the framework of the gender ideology of the period, relying on the belief in the different natural roles of women and men that are reflected in social arrangements: the woman was seen in the context of the private sphere, man in the context of the public sphere. As a result, it was believed that women’s education was to prepare her for taking care of the household and children, but to give only limited skills that would have enabled her to work outside of the home. This attitude was also shared by the leaders of Estonian national movement like Carl Robert Jakobson and Jakob Hurt. 

Lilli Suburg offered a different approach to the gender question. In her texts she attempted to break the dominant gender ideology by opposing its basis, biological determinism. Suburg’s “new woman” was a free individual equal to man, who could determine her own needs and aspirations. Women’s liberation meant both giving women better educational opportunities and recognizing women’s right to self-determination. Suburg also called for a change in the masculine gender role, so that the man would be an understanding husband and participant in the raising of children. Built on Enlightenment thought, Suburg’s approach to emancipation included moral questions, liberation from limiting (gendered) prejudices and national liberation – the right to be an Estonian without any sense of inferiority. Suburg’s ideas were based on rational arguments and logic, confuting the era’s patterns of belief and stereotypes. 

Suburg’s ideas were ahead of her time as the general level of development of Estonian society was behind that of Western Europe and there was not enough of an educated readership who would have been able to understand Suburg’s ideas. The question of emancipation found a more responsive audience at the beginning of the 20th c., in the context of the revolutionary movements of 1905 when, in addition to women’s education, attention also shifted to women’s civil rights. 

Andu Rämmer 

The article analyses factors shaping work values in Estonian women’s lives. Earlier studies of the transition period in Estonia have shown gendered shifts at endorsement of self-improvement options and valuing the opportunities to use one’s abilities at work. Women have been shown to value the two criteria more than men in selecting their occupations after societal change. Earlier studies did not determine the factors shaping value judgments and the present paper seeks to fill that gap. 

The article is based on a position common among value researchers: that circumstances of life shape values. The analyses are based on the results of a longitudinal study of high school graduates from 1983, in which the same people were surveyed during the radical changes in Estonian society in the following twenty years. To predict changes in value judgments multinomial regression analysis was utilized. The influence of four groups of possible factors was tested: (1) characteristics of the developmental circumstances of the surveyed, (2) indicators related to their education, (3) characteristics of their professional lives and (4) value judgments and norms. 

The analysis showed that the likelihood of greater valuing of continuous self-development in the workplace was increased by graduating from a high school in the capital of Estonia, greater orientation to vocational self-improvement already in high school and not considering norms dominating in the family at the beginning of the transition period. The likelihood of greater valuing of continuous self-improvement was decreased by below-average study results and not pursuing education beyond high school. 

The likelihood of greater valuing of the opportunities to use one’s abilities in the work- place increased among those who had graduated from a regular high school and worked in the industrial and service sector (rather than the feminized sphere of education). The likelihood of a decrease in this value was reduced by being from a Russian-speaking family, having higher than average study results and non-participation in in-service training courses at the beginning of transition. 

The analyses show that the shifts that appeared in both value preferences in the period of social change can be considered as long-term gradual adaptations to the changing social environment that reflect people’s reactions to the changing social circumstances. 

Ave Roots 

Childcare is one of the most important factors that allows mothers to cope with the challenges of work-family balance. Frequently, formal childcare is not sufficient and informal childcare is important in situations where formal childcare is unavailable. Since minority ethnicities living in Estonia have been shown to be more collectivist than Estonians, it is assumed that they might rely on informal childcare more and that this may improve their position in the labour market. 

Minority mothers indeed rely more on informal childcare and this benefits them in the labour market. Although the labour force participation of Estonian mothers is still higher than that of minority mothers, informal childcare helps to reduce the gap. 

The use of different childcare options also differs by occupation. Those employed in the service sector who work when formal childcare institutions are closed are most likely to rely on informal childcare or some combinations of formal and informal childcare. Workers are also more likely to use informal childcare when formal childcare institutions are closed. Managers are statistically more likely to use informal childcare than unskilled workers. 

Estonian formal childcare system is equally available regardless of ethnicity, income or place of residence. The use of formal childcare, however, varies on the basis of education. More educated people are more informed about coping strategies and are more successful in the use of different systems (including the childcare system). Also, more educated people are likely to have wider networks that are likely to include people who work in different social systems. Differences in the employment of mothers with different educations derive from differing access to formal childcare. 

Lee Maripuu 

The article focuses on families in which migration was initiated by women whose husbands followed them as co-migrants. In the families studied women became the primary breadwinners of the families after their move to the foreign country and the primary role of the husbands in the target country was taking care of the children and home.  The results demonstrated that migration may result in the reversal of the traditional role division within the family that would be inconceivable in the country of origin.  Thus migration changed not just the geo- graphical location but also the milieu of social and gender relations.  The article seeks to find out when and how such social territories are created in the time and space of migration that legitimate untraditional gender relations. While from the perspective of timing men’s dedication to family was made possible and legitimated by downturns on the Estonian labour market, departure from Estonia created a social and physical space where they could safely practice the role of the primary parent and dependent partner.  e existence of a network of similar families in the target country provided men with a sense of security that the status of a househusband was not anomalous but typical. Physical separation from the Estonian social environment created a certain convenience zone – although women and men had to justify the husband’s staying at home to their Estonian friends and relatives, migration created distance between families and the networks that evaluate them, allowing some protection from challenges. Thus the distinct migration and family practices of such families can be viewed as social laboratories where one can safely experiment with lifestyles that are problematized in the country of origin and its construction of hegemonic masculinity. Estonian culture of success and construction of men’s masculine identities through paid work does not support the practicing of caring father- hood, but in an environment where there are many similar men, masculinity that differs from the norm is accepted with greater tolerance. 

Laur Lilleoja 

The present article analyses the influence of basic values on work, family and the perception of work-family conflict by ethnicity and gender. The data are derived from the 2004 and 2010 European Social Survey and the analysis covers only 25-55-year-old residents of Estonia. 

The results were overall in harmony with the results of previous studies. Orientation to work was influenced the most by the achievementand power value types, orientation to family by valuing benevolence. In ethnic comparison, minorities have perceived work-family conflict more frequently, Estonians family-work conflict. While among Estonians work-family conflict is experienced more frequently by men, among minorities it is more frequently experienced by women.

Thee role of basic values in the perception of work-family conflict depends on which sphere the individual prioritizes and the realization of the conflict depends on objective aspects. e value types that most directly influence the perception of work-family conflict are achievementand benevolence. The first increases the likelihood of the perception of conflict, the second reduces it. In the case of family-work conflict the impact of basic values did not prove to be statistically significant. While valuing caring for one’s family reduced the likelihood of perceiving conflict in the case of both men and women, the likelihood of perceiving conflict was increased by valuing wealthamong men and success among women. 

Basic values played a more important role in the perception of work-family conflict in the case of minorities than Estonians. 

Karin Jõers-Türn, Kairi Kasearu 

Despite the promotion of gender equality in Estonian society, differences between men and women are still prevalent in the labour market and domestic sphere. Gender-typed socialization can be seen in boys’ and girls’ upbringing and expectations about their roles and duties. 

In the present article, we investigate boys’ and girls’ participation in household chores and their own reasoning for that extent of participation. Teenagers’ contribution to chores can be seen as preparation for adult roles, as an expression of solidarity or the result of the family’s lack of resources. e data from the 2009 “Value of children and intergenerational relations” survey is used and the main focus is on the respondents’ self-evaluations of their participation in household chores. As expected from previous surveys and literature, overall girls spent more time on chores and their participation shifted towards greater similarity to their mothers’. In other words, teenagers’ household chores more or less reflected the division of household chores between men and women. e data revealed that, for example, in doing dishes and setting the table girls’ participation was appreciably greater, while boys’ contribution to food preparation and doing the laundry was imperceptible. 

Determining other factors that might influence the division of household chores proved to be di cult and results were not straightforward. Mothers’ employment, education, income, marital status, number of siblings and the teenagers’ age were all insignificant whenever teenagers’ gender was included in the model. Nevertheless, some interesting findings did emerge when analysing the explanations and reasons given to participation in domestic chores. We defined five clusters of reasons: “lazy”, “others do”, “according to need”, “reciprocal”, “pleasantness”. For boys the most popular reasons were “no need” or “reciprocal” and for girls “reciprocal” and “helping parents”. Although particular reasons were associated with greater and smaller participation in chores (e.g. pleasantness with extensive participation), we found that for both boys and girls “laziness” was associated with small participation and that both boys and girls appeared to say they were lazy. 

The findings of this article confirm stereotypical gendered participation in the observed household chores. The number of chores done and the explanations given by the teenagers suggested internalized gender stereotypes and expectations. us it can be concluded that teenagers are socialized into stereotypical roles and they themselves take over the behavioural patterns, as is reflected in their interpretations. 

Kairi Kasearu 

Work-family balance is a topical subject for social scientists and policy-makers that shapes people’s daily practices and subjective well-being. In the context of work-family balance the basic premise is that there are two distinct spheres: home and workplace in which people fulfil different roles. The balancing of the two spheres can be interpreted as creating conflicts since being active in one sphere reduces one’s ability to contribute to the other sphere. This premise is based on the limitations of time as a resource. A newer approach suggests that the roles that we assume in the family and workplace complement and enrich each other and that being active in two spheres increases individual wellbeing. However, because of the nature of the data the present article proceeds from the work-family conflict paradigm and aims to determine to what extent the character of work, family structure and individual factors influence the perception of a conflict deriving from a lack of time and work-related tension.  The article is based on the data of the European Social Survey from 2004 and 2010. On the basis of the empirical data the article comes to the following conclusions. Irregular working hours, overtime, and working in a leadership position increase the likelihood of experiencing the conflict deriving from work-related tension and lack of time. Indirectly the occupation and character of work can be determined on the basis of people’s education.  The study showed that people with higher education experience the conflict deriving from work-related tension and lack of time more frequently.  The influence of family structure was analysed on the basis of whether the family had children and whether the partner worked.  The results were gendered: having children makes balancing work and family more di cult for women, but not for men. Although it could be assumed that families with two wage-earners would find it more di cult to balance work and family, this is not confirmed in our results.

Kerly Espenberg, Tarmo Puolokainen 

The article analyses the ethnic and gender wage gap in Estonia. The ethnic wage gap is larger among women than men (23% for women, 12% for men.), with the wage gap between Estonians and non-Estonians being larger in Tallinn than elsewhere in Estonia. Gender wage gap is also larger among minority ethnicities (27%) than among Estonians (16%), with the gender wage gap being the smallest in Tallinn than elsewhere in Estonia. The wage gap cannot be explained by differences in socio-demographic, occupation-related or familial characteristics as on the basis of the abovementioned indicators women’s wages would be higher than those of men. us the differences may be the result of differences in the schools that people have graduated from or the professional qualifications acquired, the level of skills but also discrimination in the labor market.