The political participation of women is an important aspect of the democratization process. However, in the Balkans there has been a sharp drop in the level of the political representation of women during the transition to democracy. Balkan women have been deeply affected by the social, economic, and political changes in the post-communist era. The political underrepresentation of women was accompanied by increasing unemployment among women and the rise of a neo-conservatism stressing women's maternal and domestic roles (Bracewell 1996).

Although there were tremendous diffe…