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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3

Sample size –1144, aged 18 or older

Research method

Individual face-to-face standardized interview by living place of residence

Standard error

A comparatively small part of both men and women are satisfied with the changes in the economy, their quality of life and political situation in the country. Those who are discontented are considerably more.

Most massive is discontent in regard of quality of life. Nearly two thirds of the people are dissatisfied with their standard of living. Survey registers that 63% of both men and women now live worse than before the beginning of transformations. Every forth man and every third woman assess their living standard as lower than the standard of their mothers when they were their age.

However, in reference of gender equality in the country, positive attitudes dominate over negative. Current “level of equality” is more favourable for men than for women.

Data show a great gap between people’s priorities and the agenda of political elite. There are strong differences in ranging “real” and “desired” political orientations.

Most both men and women point out Euro-integration and NATO accession as leading in the current political orientation.But they are rather in the rear on expectation scale. One of the reasons is the so called “language gap” between governors and governed. Other reason is highly polarized society into “THEM” and “US”, i.e. “politicians” and “ordinary people”.

Improving of the living standard, economic stabilization, struggle with crime and corruption, employment are the priorities which according to public should lead the governmental policy.

Priorities	Real priorities			Desirable priorities
	Rang total	%		Rang male	Rang female	%
		Male	Female			Male	Female
Euro-integration	1	42,2	34,2	9	10	10,7	7,4
Membership in NATO	2	42,3	32,9	13	14	4,3	0,9
Economy	3	39,3	32,6	2	2	57,6	54,9
Corruption	4	27,6	24,5	4	6	26,5	20,1
Criminality	5	21,8	20,0	5	4	25,8	29,1
Living standard	6	22,5	15,4	1	1	61,3	57,7
Financial stabilization	7	19,3	18,1	6	7	17,8	15,0
Employment	8	12,1	10,0	3	3	36,8	31,9
National interests	9	11,3	10,5	8	11	11,7	7,0
Health care	10	8,2	11,1	7	5	17,0	21,6
Education	11	3.2	3.0	12	12	5,9	7,0
Children and youths	12	1.8	4.4	10	8	8,2	11,2
Adults	13	1.5	3.4	11	9	7,0	11,0
Sport	14	1.1	0.6	15	15	0,3	0,0
Culture	15	0.2	0.3	14	13	1,8	2,4
Can not estimate		11,6	23,3			1,1	6,0

*The interviewed has given to three answers on account of which the total per cent exceeds 100.

The evaluations of advantages and disadvantages of globalization are contradictory and are based on myths rather than real arguments. Positive judgements prevail “in principle”: that multinational companies are good for the economy (64.1% men and 44.2% women), that Bulgaria will win from Euro-integration (64.1% men and 52.1% women). Membership in NATO will raise the national security consider 47.3% from men and 35.6% from women. It is also appraised the greater political freedom as a result from the democrartic changes in the country.

Negative attitudes toward crime and globalization prevail, the reserves to the movement of work force to our country are relatively high.

Data discover strong attitudes toward potential immigration.

Poverty is one of the strongest negative effects of globalization. In 2001, the structure of Bulgarian society is with insignificant elite at the top, relatively small middle class (22%) and the great mass of people from the middle to the bottom of the social pyramid. Grasped in poverty trap feel 29 per cent of Bulgarian citizens who “live bad” and “hardly meet both ends”. They are mostly pensioners, unemployed, but also 15 per cent of the employee’s. Women are 58 per cent of those who identify themselves as “poor”.

The type of society was different before the beginning of transformations – not many at the top and at the bottom and dominant majority in the middle of the social pyramid.

Respondents’ expectations are that their children will live in a society with many people near the top and only few near the bottom. However, every third of the poor expects his children also to be poor.

Poverty indexes are computed as weighted mean from self-estimations of the surveyed people of their position on 10-point scale “Rich - Poor”.

Poverty indexes vary from 1 to 5. The nearer to 5 is the index value the more negative are the assessments of poverty in the country.

Indexes which gravitate to 1 show maximum closeness to the ideal of “welfare society”.

The tendency for keeping high index levels is a symptom for developing a “culture of poverty”. This culture of poverty is a “design for living” which is transmitted from one generation to the next. If this tendency continues there is a real risk of “second poor generation”, what will be a new phenomenon for Bulgaria.

This index shows the judgements of the surveyed individuals of that to what extent, as things are going in Bulgaria, people like them and their families have an opportunity to improve their standard of living.

Optimism indexes assume values from 1 to 3. The nearer to 3 is the value, the more pessimistic public attitudes are.

This index also has similar high values as poverty indexes. The fluctuations in 1997 and 2001 toward greater optimism are based on hopes for better life which people lay on the new governments because of the general elections in those years.

Generally, the indexes for women have insignificantly but higher values as compared with those for men, except for 2000 – this year is characterized with great dissatisfaction with government and the processes in the country, strongly expressed by men.

Activity index registers citizens’ individual strategies for coping with the crisis and assumes values from 1 to 3. Values near 1 indicate for active actions and values near 3 – for helplessness and waiting for “help outside”, mostly from the government.

The active strategies include seeking for additional sources of income, mainly in the sphere of alternative “gray” economy. Passive strategies are linked with “fastening the belts” and shrinking the consumption. They prevail in the years of transformations in the country.

Women are comparatively more passive than men are when choosing a strategy for improving their living standard. They rely on their own potential less than men.

A considerable portion of both men and women estimates that women in the country are under different discriminatory pressure in the labour market. It is displayed mostly regarding employment, payment, promotion. Differences in evaluations by sex are insignificant.

Things are different in relation to women and dismissals. Under the same risk, men apprehend women rather as sharing the same fate than as victims. However, more women identify themselves as abused again.

Survey showed that women’s declared payment is lower than that of men. Employed women receive 67% of men’s remuneration. The more interesting thing is that women are more unpretending. That which they consider for a real material equivalent of their work constitutes 54% of that considered as deserved by men.

In comparison with men, women are more inclined to re-qualify and pay for their new qualification, to study during whole their working life, to compromise with household work and taking care of children, to do without free time. As contrasted with women, men more difficult accept any job, although both sexes would do it when pressed to support their family in terms of unemployment.

	Male	Female	Difference	% of male income
Declared average monthly salary	264lv.	176lv.	88lv.	67
Judgements of deserved salary	710lv.	382lv.	328lv.	54
Differences between declared and considered as deserved salaries	- 446lv.	- 206lv.	240lv.
% differences between declared and considered as deserved salaries	37	46

Data discovered that comparatively most massive are the preferences for working for the government or public service. They are largely linked with the high culture of dependency of people in Bulgaria. According to 73.7% of men and 79.1% of women it should be the government’s responsibility to provide a job for everyone who wants one. 84.2% of men and 85.7% of women think that it is a state’s responsibility to provide for everyone in Bulgaria a minimum guaranteed income.

The other reason is in the “syndrome of subscription” which continues existing in public consciousness. Work for the government is a synonym for “subscription to salary”. It is also linked with greater job security. Good payment and job security are among the main working values.

More men than women are interested in establishing their own business. The “comfort of subordinates” is comparatively much more preferred by women than by men.

Government firm Bulgarian private firm or joint ventures Foreign private firm Own business

Survey registers a strong superiority of women over men in the sphere of “unpaid household work”. On average, women spend over 8 hours more than men on household tasks a week. Most significant are the differences in the category of unemployed where men’s share of household tasks is with 12 hours less than women’s share.

Women continue taking nearly all the responsibility of domestic task – laundry, cooking, shopping, cleaning. The burden of this work has fallen down, on average, over more than other 25% of women only for the last 6 years (in compare to 1995). Men make only small repairs around the house and “help” with the shopping.

Both sexes apprehend this distribution of household work as unfair. Nearly half of women in Bulgaria (48%) belief that at home they do much more than their fair share is. Because of the same reason, every third man has remorses.

A great number of men in Bulgaria, mainly from older generations, still consider home and family to be the supreme value for women. However, fewer women think in this way.

Breaking in the traditional believes of division of gender roles is observed. The untraditional in women is more strongly exprssed.

The judgements that both men and women should contribute to household income are massive. The reasons are in women’s employment which has turned into public norm, as well as in the hardship circumstances in which Bulgarian families are nowadays.

The contribution of men to the unpaid household work is insufficient. Predominant are the attitudes that men should not be entirely devoted to their job but to do a larger share of domestic task and of childcare.