History A-level Edexcel - Russia 1917-91: from Lenin to Yeltsin - Theme 4:4b

Traditional attitudes to women

- 'the more you beat your wife the better the soup will taste'

Women in government propaganda (1917-40)

- played a supporting role in soviet art

- posters often showed male industrial work and female peasant e.g. worker and kolkhoz women statue

- women less visible in propaganda then men (Civil war and FYPs)

- women often show to be mothers/children

- some propaganda ridiculed women e.g. October (1928) film

Women in government propaganda (1941-64)

- women featured heavily in WW2 and Cold War

- during war, still presented women as vulnerable and reliant on male protection

- during war, propaganda linked defending motherland with defending soviet women

- after war, heroic women presented as symbols of sexual equality

- 1963 - Valentina Tereshkova first women in space

- campaign against women who adopted western fashion

Women in government propaganda (1964-85)

- projected more traditional view of women

- emphasised women should be exemplary worker and caring wife+mother

- falling birth rates led to pronatalist campaign encouraging women to have children

- by 1970s, criticism of women who 'neglected' children by going to work

- propaganda presented women as responsible for delinquency, crime, drugs and alcoholism

Bolsheviks initial acts to women's rights (1917-18)

- zhenotdel, women's branch of Central Committee set up

- 1917 decrees: divorce made easier, abortion legalised, women didn't have to live with husband or take his name, women didn't need husband's permission to take a job or study

- Dec 1917 - equal pay, maternity leave

- 1918 - 'baba' (derogatory term) banned

- Soviet constitution (1918) declared men and women were equal

Problems with Bolshevik's initial acts for womens' rights

- divorce rate high - mainly initiated by men, women abandoned with little financial help

- laws giving equal rights and pay slow to have impact

- male attitudes slow to change

Bolshevik reasons behind improving status of women

- ideological considerations of equality

- more productive as industrial labour

Impact of Civil War on womens' rights

- women join workforce, driven by need for industrial workers (not necessarily ideological)

HOWEVER:

- few held high rank in red army

- inadequate childcare provisions

- government lacked resources to provide creches

- many lost jobs when soldiers returned

- traditional attitudes persisted

- famine (1921-22) left many women homeless

Changes to status of Islamic women

- muslim areas of central Asia held polygamous, male-dominated family views - women shielded from public, veiled, no education

- young female activists encouraged unveiling, explaining contraception, hygiene & childcare.

- 1927 campaign against veiling: opportunities increased, female workers celebrated BUT traditional Islamic attitudes slow & violent resistance

- Zhenotdel meeting attacked by Muslim men with boiling water

- some women refused to wear traditional dresses and killed in 'honour killings' by family

- 1930s- softer approach to changing attitudes

Impact of collectivisation and industrialisation on women in countryside

- Zhenotdel closed in 1930 claiming women's issues had been solved (reflection of male-dominated party)

- collectivisation meant men departing for towns so women did agricultural work - low wages

- some women achieved high social status on collective farms but not most

- WW2 - men were conscripted leaving women to do agricultural work

- returning soldiers tried to find work in cities --> shortage of men in countryside

- under Khrushchev and Brezhnev, status of rural women improved slowly

- internal passport system extended to collective workers in 1974 --> women greater freedom

- women recruited for Virgin Lands Scheme as milkmaids, manual labour, gardeners and to start families not to work with machinery - specifically younger women to entice men to move to Virgin lands, women often subject to sexual abuse

- mechanisation still scarce in 1960s so failed to help women

- women continued to work in low status/pay jobs in farming 1970s and 80s

Impact of WW2 on women

- by 1945, attitudes to women fighting changed and increased women in army

- gained respect of male colleagues

- many demobilised and denied entry to soviet military academics after war

Impact of collectivisation and industrialisation on women in the towns

- women had to work in FYP as socialist duty

- women dominated workforce in light industry, entered construction industry

- some gained higher-education

- women in skilled jobs and management disproportionately low but rose in 1930s

- significant pay differentials and verbal+physical abuse

- wives of soviet elite didn't have to enter workforce and encouraged to do 'social work'

- WW2 increased demand for women labour and some joined red army and armed forces - often limited to low skilled work

- during 1960s, clerical work opened to women

Impact of collectivisation and industrialisation on women in the towns - BAM recruitment campaign (1974)

- 1974, Brezhnev initiated construction of Baikal-Amur Mainline

- recruitment campaign for women to join construction

- emphasised soviet attitude that women were expected to be independent and equal but in a way that served men's interest

Women in politics

- women given vote in 1917

- women's role in politics limited, particularly at higher levels

- in 1920s, women tended to work in role that reflected stereotype e.g. commissariat of education/health

- in 1930s, married female party members expected to give up job and join the 'movement of wife activists'

- from 1953, women played slightly larger role but still expected to work in traditional role sectors as in 1920s

- first female presidium member appointed in 1957

- Alexandra Kollontai

- Ekaterina Furtseva - first women to become full candidate member of top party body

Women role models

- propaganda presenting ideal socialist woman playing part in development of socialism

- famous ballerina e.g. Natalia Bessmertnova

- actress Ludmila Savelyeva

- women's sport: figure skating, gymnastics e.g. Irina Rodnina

- Valentina Tereshkova first women in space in 1963

Bolsheviks view on family

- radical Bolsheviks believe family outdated

- youth groups encouraged to attack 'capitalist tyranny of parents'

- wives encouraged to refused obedience to husbands

- Alexandra Kollontai called on greater sexual freedom for women and believed family was oppressive social organisation - Lenin and older Bolsheviks attempted to impose more restrained attitude

- encouraged communal spaces in housing blocks

Bolsheviks (Zhenotdel's) initial family reforms

- worked with Commissariat of Education to introduce co-education

- established education scheme

- worked with Commissariat of Justice to enshrine women's legal rights - from 1919, women give right to equal pay and voting rights

- first country to legalise abortion on demand

- contraception legal during 1920s

- from 1926, 'postcard divorces' legal

- lesbianism not criminalised

- prostitution legalised

Drawbacks to initial family reforms

- legal+political equality meaningless and democracy suspended in 1918 and abolished in 1921

- legal rights difficult to uphold as soviet law courts had little authority

- men often divorced women as soon as they became pregnant

- 1926 Marriage Code demonstrated official belief in traditional family

- zhenotdel unwilling to help women victims of sexual harassment

- under NEP, creches not funded

Family Code (1918)

- Kollontai believed 'family ceases to be necessary' under socialism, state could raise children an provide social services

- aims: get more women into work, attack traditional oppression of women in family, reduce hold of Russian Orthodox Chuch on family life

- women given new rights

- made divorce easier - just needed request from either party without grounds

- abortion legalised and creches encouraged

Effects of Family Code (1918)

- Russia had highest divorce rate in Europe

- 'postcard divorces'

- abortion became commonplace in cities (contraception in short supply)

- increase orphans

marriage law (1927)

equal status to register and unregister marriage

The 'Great Retreat' (1936-53) - aims

- conservative measures introduced to raise status of marriage

- restore traditional family

- increase birth rates

- cut divorce rates

The 'Great Retreat' (1936-53) - events

- divorce made more expensive

- free marriage lost legal status

- abortion criminalised, except when mother's life at risk

- contraception banned

- male homosexuality criminalised

- lesbianism treated as disease

- sex outside marriage stigmatised

- pregnant women guaranteed job security

- maternity leave extended to 16 weeks

- gold wedding rings reappeared

- more resources to build creches and day-care

- 2 year prison sentences for fathers who did not pay children's' upkeep (authorities viewed this as low priority)

- pronatalist policy of offering financial incentives to have children

Further strengthening of family in July 1944

- awards introduced for 'mother-heroines' who had 10+ children

- tax on single people

- divorce made more complicated

Changes under Khrushchev

- Khrushchev wanted women to perform traditional roles as wives and mothers but to make these roles easier

- government promotion of family as social unit

- women encouraged to care for family, look after household and undertake employment

- domestic duties sometimes taken by other family members e.g. grandmothers

- increased provision of social benefits so family better supported but still inadequate

- abortion legalised in 1955 to reduce financial strain on family

- 1956 state paid maternity leave increased

- contraception hard to acquire

- creches opened late and closed early so women still unable to work full day

- women still had to do 'double shift;

- WW2 had left many single mothers

Changes under Brezhnev (developed socialism)

- family promoted and social problems weakening family addressed

- new Family Code (1968) - couples had to give 1 month notice before weddings, illegal to divorce pregnant women/given birth within the year

- gov banned information about women's campaigns in west to suppress debates about women's roles

- pension age of women lowered from 60 to 55

- traditional roles remained

- declining population growth and low birth rate concerned gov

- housing shortage --> sustained provision so single-family occupancy of housing, still overcrowding

- alcoholism --> domestic abuse, divorce, deaths (from disease, road accidents, suicides) - health campaigns

- divorce rates still high - lack of father figure due to WW2

- pro-natalist campaign aimed to increase birth-rates and decrease abortion

How significant were the Soviet regime's attempts to improve the status of women in the years 1917-85? - 2022 paper

Significant:

- from outset committed to improving - decrees on marriage, divorce, abortion, equality

- from 1930s, increased no. women working

- expansion of higher education for women

- female role models

Not significant:

- men initiated divorce leaving women with no financial support

- even though women working, still in unskilled and low-paid jobs

- 'double-burden' e.g. pro-natalist campaign

- little women in the party

How accurate is it to say that the status of women in Stalinist society was essentially similar to that of women in the Khrushchev and Brezhnev eras? - 2020 paper

Similar:

- women had greater employment opportunities but worked low-skilled/payed jobs across all leaders

- 'double-burden' across all leaders

- throughout, underrepresented in communist party

- wives of elite treated similarly throughout

Not-similar:

- under Khrushchev+Brezhnev more social provision for women (maternity, childcare)

- abortion access in 1955, Stalin made abortion illegal in 1936

- Brezhnev's family code (1968) gave women greater protection

- more female role models under Khrushchev and Brezhnev

To what extent did government attitudes towards the family as a social unit change in the years 1917-85? - 2019 paper

Changed:

- 1918 Family code attempted to break family unity by making divorce easier/offering abortions, 1927 unregistered marriages acknowledged

- Great Retreat (1936) restored importance of traditional family and status of marriage

- Khrushchev improved conditions for families (increased housing, childcare, healthcare)

- under Brezhnev social problem weakening family tackled e.g. 1968 Family code

Unchanged:

- Great Retreat onwards more traditional family view adopted and maintained

- in practise, still double-burden on women

- Brezhnev still followed pro-family social policies of Khrushchev