4- Women Flashcards
(38 cards)
Lenin had written of the “bourgeois’ nature of marriage as
a form of slavery, tying the woman to the male-dominated institution of family. A woman’s role
as a housewife was perceived as suppression into a life of drudgery.
What meant that the position
of women within society did not always improve
The circumstances of war and industrialisation and where policies did attempt to bring positive
changes, attitudes were often resistant to change.
A return to more traditional attitudes to the family
after
1935 meant that the liberation of women that radicals had hoped for did not materialise. It
marked a move away from the ideals of Lenin.
Saying that is typical
of male attitudes to women at the start of the 20th century, gives
an indication of traditional views towards women in Russia.
There is an old Russian proverb that says The more you beat
your wife the better the soup will taste’. It was
against this ingrained sexism that feminists within the Bolshevik
Party tried to improve the status of women.
On seizing power in
1917, the Bolsheviks established a women’s branch of the Central
Committee, Zhenotdel, why
to promote the status of women within
socialist notions of equality.
INITIALLY Measures aimed at improving the position of women were
driven partly by
ideological considerations, communist ideas of
equality between the sexes. Radical communists argued that the
communal organisation of household chores and childcare would
liberate women from domestic drudgery.
On seizing power in
1917, the Bolsheviks rushed through a series of decrees that gave
women greater status and freedom within marriage:
divorce was
made easier and abortion was legalised. The laws that made a
woman obey her husband, live with him and take his name were
abolished. Women no longer needed their husband’s permission
to take a job or study in further education. Lenin addressed a
women’s congress in 1918, where he was cheered for suggesting
that baba, the derogatory term for a woman, be banned. The
principle of equal pay for men and women was passed into law in
December 1917 and maternity leave arrangements were granted.
When the Soviet constitution of 1918 declared that men and
women were equal, the legal status of women had been put on an
equal footing to that of men.
1917 But this should not be taken to mean that the status of women in society had automatically improved.
These attempts to change the role and status of women also
gave rise to some worrying features.
The rise in the divorce
rate did little to help women support children: few received
financial support from the father of their child. Feminists in
the Party had hoped that easier divorce would prevent women
becoming trapped in abusive relationships, but the reality was that
70 percent of divorces were initiated by men, often abandoning
women who had become pregnant. The laws giving women equal
rights in employment and equal pay were slow to have an impact.
Attitudes of the male population were slow to change.
The impact of the civil war summary
The increase in the number of women
in the workforce was driven less by ideological notions of equality
than the reality of needing industrial workers during the war. The
result was that, despite increasing employment opportunities,
women’s lives often changed for the worse.
Key features women’s life civil war
. Over 70,000 women fought in the Red Army during the war, but
few held high rank.
• Millions of women were recruited into factories, but social
provision for childcare was inadequate.
Despite the desire of the regime to provide crèches for all
young children, the government lacked the resources to implement this
the long-term impact of the civil war on women in the
workforce was to be limited. Why
Women generally were more likely to be unskilled and many lost
their jobs when soldiers returned to civilian life after the war was won
• Traditional attitudes that women were unsuitable for heavy
manual work persisted, as did the attitude that women were less
likely to stay in a post due to pregnancy and maternity leave.
The disruption of war and the subsequent famine of 1921-22
left many women homeless and destitute. A rise in prostitution
reflected the desperation of large numbers of urban women.
Particularly resistant to change were
the Muslim areas of Central Asia,
where the polygamous, male-dominated family was well entrenched.
In these areas women were shielded from public view, often veiled and
denied an education.
Islamic women- The Bolsheviks attempted to break down these
traditional attitudes by
using young female activists who encouraged
unveiling, while explaining basic contraception, personal hygiene and
childcare. The campaign against the veiling of women in 1927 met
with some success. Opportunities for Islamic women increased and
female brigade leaders and tractor drivers were celebrated through
films and posters.
Did the status of Islamic women improve?
Despite these changes, traditional Islamic attitudes
were slow to change and resistance was often violent. At Baku, a
Zhenotdel meeting was attacked by Muslim men with dogs and boiling
water. Women who refused to wear traditional dress were sometimes
killed by members of their own family in honour killings.
Approach towards Islamic women after 1930s
By the
1930s, the Soviet government took a softer, more gradual approach to
changing the Muslim population’s attitude to women.
In 1930, what did the Party do that shows it was half-hearted
In 1930, the Party closed down Zhenotdel, claiming that womens
issues had been solved. This was a reflection of the attitudes of the
male-dominated Party, which had always been half-hearted in its
support for women’s issues.
The policy of forced collectivisation in the countryside resulted in…
many men departing for the towns in search of better jobs.
Some sent money back to their wives; others deserted them
Collectivisation came to rely more and more on the labours
of women. Agricultural work offered low wages, and life in the
countryside meant fewer services; both were a reflection of the
lower status attached to agriculture over industry. The status of
women in rural areas reflected this general pattern. In addition, it
was in rural areas that traditional attitudes to women were more
entrenched and slower to change.
The impact of the Second World War
The impact of the Second World War accelerated these trends.
The most able-bodied men from the collectives were conscripted
into the armed forces and women provided the bulk of the
agricultural workforce. Conditions were made worse by the Red
Army’s requisitioning of machinery and draft animals.
The imbalance between the sexes in the countryside was even
more pronounced after the war.
Returning soldiers preferred to try
their luck by moving to the cities for work. Rural areas lacked able-
bodied men, adding to the shortage of males caused by losses
in the war. Even as late as 1950, it was possible to find villages
entirely populated by women and children. The shortage of
livestock added to the problem and women often had little choice
but to shackle themselves to ploughs in order to till the soil.
In the Khrushchev and Brezhnev years, the status of rural
women
In the Khrushchev and Brezhnev years, the status of rural
women improved slowly as social provision, such as health care
and maternity benefits, was extended to the countryside. The
extension of the internal passport system to collective workers
in 1974 provided the freedom for women to move to towns in
search of jobs that commanded greater status and pay.
Khrushchev and Brezhnev years reality
the reality was that the opportunity to move was more likely to be
taken by young males, exacerbating the trend of leaving low-status
agricultural work to females.
The impact of collectivisation and industrialisation on
women in the towns
The pressure for labour in industry under the Five-Year Plans
meant that women were given little choice but to work. Work
was no longer a symbol of female liberation, but a socialist duty.
The economic hardships of the 1930s forced many women to
work out of economic necessity.
The number of female workers
rose substantially in the 1930s,
from three million in 1928 to
over 13 million in 1940.
Positive of industrial women
Women dominated the workforce in
light industry, especially textiles, but were increasingly found in
occupations previously considered to be the preserve of male
workers. Women entered the construction industry and worked
in lumbering and engineering, Parts of the Moscow underground
were built by brigades of female workers
