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WOMEN IN THE SOVIET UNION. WOMEN IN THE SOVIET UNION. THE PROBLEM OF EQUALITY. Women’s emancipation central to Marxism. gender inequality would be resolved by revolution. but issue subsumed into greater cause. Patriarchy & gender inequality persisted. WOMEN IN THE SOVIET UNION.
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WOMEN IN THE SOVIET UNION THE PROBLEM OF EQUALITY • Women’s emancipation central to Marxism • gender inequality would be resolved by revolution • but issue subsumed into greater cause • Patriarchy & gender inequality persisted
WOMEN IN THE SOVIET UNION THE PROBLEM OF EQUALITY • Significant changes to women’s roles & status • Entered workforce in huge numbers • Afforded new opportunities • But new restrictions & gender segregation created
WOMEN IN THE SOVIET UNION ORIGINS OF THE ISSUE • Women in the Revolutionary Movement • Participated widely • But gendered division of labor existed • Worker’s movement ambivalent about women • Paid lip service to women’s issues • But hostility toward women workers existed as well Sophia Perovskaia
WOMEN IN THE SOVIET UNION WOMEN IN REVOLUTION & CIVIL WAR • Many women participated in February Revolution • Rise of women’s movement under Provisional Government • Extension of rights including the vote • Women afforded new opportunities • Women also participated in October Revolution
WOMEN IN THE SOVIET UNION WOMEN IN REVOLUTION & CIVIL WAR • Many women joined Bolsheviks • 80,000 women served in Civil War • Became Bolshevik agitators & activists • Entered workforce in large numbers – esp. in male jobs • But when war ended, forced out of jobs by returning men
WOMEN IN THE SOVIET UNION WOMEN IN EARLY SOVIET SOCIETY • Bolsheviks proclaimed full legal, political, economic equality for women • Passed laws to make family relations more equitable • Gave women legal rights & protections • But Bolsheviks viewed many women as backward & conservative
WOMEN IN THE SOVIET UNION Kollontai WOMEN IN EARLY SOVIET SOCIETY • ZHENOTDEL (Women’s Dept.) • Head by Alexandra Kollontai & Inessa Armand • Goals = sexual equality & full participation of women in society Armand • Literacy & education = top priority • Creation of “New Soviet Woman”
WOMEN IN THE SOVIET UNION WOMEN IN EARLY SOVIET SOCIETY
WOMEN IN THE SOVIET UNION WOMEN & FAMILY IN EARLY SOVIET SOCIETY • Marx & Engels envisioned “withering away of the family” • Led some to promote communal family & “free love” • but much resistance to these ideas • Wanted to ease women’s domestic burdens • Granted right to easy divorce & legalized abortion