The national woman: Constructing gender roles in Estonia

Abstract

The article analyzes the way in which nationalism generates specific gender roles through which national culture is experienced. The textual construction of gender roles for women in Estonia serves as a case study for how roles are created and reproduced. Recent social, political, and economic changes have forced women to confront several gendered roles at once: the “return” of the traditional role within the family, the legacy of Soviet ideological equality, the sexualized role emblematic of Estonia's incorporation into the global economy, and the return of ideological equality via the influence of the European Union.