TO WHAT EXTENT DID THE ROLE OF WOMEN AND THE FAMILY CHANGE BETWEEN 1917 AND 1985

1. TO WHAT EXTENT DID THE ROLE OF WOMEN AND THE FAMILY CHANGE BETWEEN 1917 AND 1985

2. THE CHANGING STATUS OF DIFFERENT GROUPS OF WOMEN IN TOWNS AND COUNTRYSIDE

3. BACKGROUND • Traditional (TsaristRegime) views - Ingrainedsexism - “The more you beat yourwife, thebettersoupwill taste” • In 1917, Bolsheviksestablished a woman’sbranch in the Central Comitee to promote status of women in socialism • The Soviet Constitution of 1918 declaredthatmen and women are equal (however, women’s status didn’timproveinmediately) • Changegaverise to worrying • Ie: divorcerates rose = littlefinancialsupportforchildrenfromfathers  abandonedfamilies  mostdivorces (70%) begunbymenwholeftwhenwomenbecamepregnant

5. Alexandra Kollontai (1872-1952) • LeadingBolshevik figure • Firstwoman to be a member of govt. in wholeEurope. • Feminist and believer in free love (love and sex shouldnot be confinedwithinmarriage) • As a member of the Central Comitee, shecouldinfluence and favourpoliciesregardingwomen, thefamily and health. • Shewasmade head of theBolshevikParty’swomendepartment in 1920 • Herinfluencewanedafter 1921 - Shebecametherepresentative of Soviet govt. in Norway in 1923. - Stalin hatedherprogressive ideas hermeasureswerereversedduringthe 1930s • Herprivatelife and loverswereoftenthe cause of scandal • Her ideas and writingscontinued to influencethedevelopment of feminismduringthe 20th century. "The worker-mother must learn not to differentiate between yours and mine; she must remember that there are only our children, the children of Russia’s communist workers."

7. POINT I: THE IMPACT OF THE CIVIL WAR • Changed role in workplace - From1918-21 - Notbecause of will of equality, butforneed. • Eventhoughitwas more jobopportunities (heavy industries + militaryproduction), theirliveswerenegativelyimpactedbythis. - 70,000 womenfought Red Army butfewhadhigh rankings - Social provisionwasinadequate govt. wanted to provideday-careinstitutions (crèches) - BUT COULDN’T AFFORD IT • Impact of civil waronwomenwaslimited: - Womenunskilled  lostjobswhenmenreturned - Traditionalviewthatwomenwereunable to handle heavy manual workpersisted - Theprejudice of womenbeinglesslikely to stay in job ( due to pregnancies and maternityleaves) persistedtoo . - Thewar and famine of 1921-2 leftmanywomen homeless =rise in prostitution

8. POINT II: CHANGES TO THE STATUS OF ISLAMIC WOMEN PROBLEMS: In CommunistMuslimareas of Asia … - Womenhad to hideunderveil - Resistanceto change violent - Male-dominatedfamilies  polygamousmarriages - Womenshieldedfrompublicview - Deniededucation

9. POINT II: CHANGES TO THE STATUS OF ISLAMIC WOMEN HOW BOLSHEVIKS ACTED: Bolsheviksusedyoung, femaleactivists. • Encouragedunveiling • Explained: basiccontraception, personal hygene, childcare… Alsoused visual propaganda

12. A SUCCESS? Theunveilingcampaing of 1927 wassuccessful • Opportunitiesforislamicwomenincreased • Femalebrigadeleaders + tractor drivers werecelebratedthrough films and posters. Womenworkers, take up your rifles!

13. A SUCCESS? However, resistancewasviolent • At Bakhu, a meeting of thewoman’scomitee in PartywasattackedbyMuslimmenwithdogs and boilingwater. • Womenwhorefused to weartraditionaldresswerekilled bu theirownfamilies ‘honourkillings’. By 1930s, thegovt. took a softer, more gradual approach to women.

14. POINT III: THE IMPACT OF COLLECTIVISATION AND INDUSTRIALISATION ON WOMEN IN THE COUNTRYSIDE • In 1930, thePartyclosedthewomen’scomitee in Central comitee due to male-dominatedParty – nevergave full support to women • Forcedcollectivisationresulted in menleavingtowns to findbetterjobs • Somesentmoney to wives + children • Mostdesertedthem • Hence, collectivisationheavilyreliedonwomen’slabour • Womenforced to workharderthanever • Gainedlowwages • In countryside, hadfewerservices Therefore, womengainedlower status thanbefore.

15. POINT III: THE IMPACT OF COLLECTIVISATION AND INDUSTRIALISATION ON WOMEN IN THE COUNTRYSIDE • Impact of WWII accelleratedthesetrends - Themostable-bodiedmenfromcollectiveswereconscripted in army - Requisitioningmadethingsworse machinery+ animals • Whenreturningfromwar, menpreferred to try luck in bigcities - Shortageof able-bodiedmen in countryside (+ WWII casualties) - Evenas late as 1950, youcouldfindvillagesentirelypopulatedbywomen and children. • In 1974, therewasaninternationalsystemintroduced - To allowwomen to travel to towns - In search of betterjobs + opportunities however, jobswere more likely to be takenbymen.

16. POINT IV: THE IMPACT OF COLLECTIVISATION AND INDUSTRIALISATION ON WOMEN IN THE TOWNS • The pressure for labour in industry under the Five-Year Plans gave women the opportunity to work • The number of female workers rose y in the 1930s from 3 million in 1928 to over 13 million in 1940  Women dominated the workforce in light industry previously considered to be the preserve of male workers  Women entered the construction industry and worked in lumbering and engineering  In 1929, the government reserved 20% of higher education places for women which was an positive change on the 14% already occupied by women (1940 – 40% of engineering students were female) • Women were used as role models such as the tractor driver Praskovia Angelina, to encourage the female workforce • After all, women started to make up a high percentage of jobs in the expanding areas of health care and education even though neither sector offered high wages and the top levels of these sectors were still dominated by men

17. POINT IV: THE IMPACT OF COLLECTIVISATION AND INDUSTRIALISATION ON WOMEN IN THE TOWNS SECOND WORLD WAR • The importance of women in industry increased with women taking over jobs previously held by men who had conscripted into the Red Army • Women could improve their status by joining the Red Army themselves 800,000 women served in the armed forces during the Second World War, most in medical units but also as pilots, machine-gunners and tank crews 89 women received the Soviet Union´s highest military award, Hero of the Soviet Union By the 1950s, the attitude that women were expected to work and could do so in a wide range of occupations was widespread

18. POINT V: WOMEN IN POLITICS • The Provisional Government of 1917 gave women the vote for the first time • Female delegates at Party congresses did not exceed ten percent before 1939 • In 1932, women made up 16 percent of Party membership Women at higher levels of the Party organisation: • Alexandra Kollontai  First woman to become a people´s commissar, serving as Commissar for Public Welfare from 1917 to 1918  Member of the Central Committee before the Second World War • Nadezhda Krupskaya (Lenin´s wife) • Ekaterina Fursteva (Was a favourite of Khrushchev)  First woman to become a full candidate member of the top body within the Party  Became a member of the Presidium (Politburo) in 1957 • Alexandra Biryukova  Made it into the Party´s top body on September 1988 After all, only seven women were members of the Central Committee before the Second World War

20. POINT VI: ROLE MODELS Propaganda material presented images of the ideal socialist woman playing her part in the development of socialism in order to encourage women to play an active part in the Soviet State such as:  A long line of famous ballerinas, including Natalia Bessmertnova, at the Bolshoi Ballet company  The actress LudmilaSavelyeva became famous for her role in the Soviet film War and Peace (1967)  Valentina Tereshkova who in 1963 became the first woman in space

21. CHANGINGGOVERNMENTATTITUDESTOWARDS THE FAMILY SOCIAL UNIT

22. POINT VII: THE FAMILY CODE OF 1918 Alexandra Kollantai • inovlementin communistparty, able to administernew policies in support of the liberation of women, family and the wrokers • herideas of equality, whichincluded a women’sright to care for herself and her family • shebecame the first associatedwithfeminism • during her politicalcareerKollantaiwaslisted the most well known and influential social revolutionaries • Kollantaiopinionwas that undersocialism ‘the familyceases to be necessary‘  believed the state couldtake over the role of bringing up children and providing social services • Women weregiven a range of new rights and freedom, includingrightswithinmarriage • The Bolsheviksfamilycode of 1918 madedivorceeaisier a marriagecould be dissolved at the request of either the husband or the wifewithout the need to givereasons, such as adultery or cruelty

23. Abortionwasmade legal and crècheswereencouraged althoughthesereflrmsweredrivenpartly by a need to get more womenintoworkduring the civil war, theywerealso an attack on the traditionaloppression and maltreatment of womenthrough the institution of the family. • The traditionalinstitution of marriagewasweakenedfurther in 1927 when a new marriagelawgaveequal status under the law to registered and unregisteredmarriage  urbanpopulationmade use of thesemeasures • By the mid-1920s Russia’s divorceratewas the highest in Europe • In 1926 the Family Codewasrevised to make divorceeaisier and led to ‘postcarddivorce’  a partnercouldsimplynotiftheirwife or husband of divorce by sendingthem a postcard • By 1926, 50% of all marriages in Moscow ended in divorce • Abortionbecame a common place in the cities, reflecting the fact that methods of contraceptionwere in very short supply • In Moscow abortionsoutnumbered live births by 3:1 and the birthrateremainedlow

24. Overall the Family Code of 1918 gavewomen the right  to freelydivorcetheirhusbandwithoutconsent (but with no division of property),  to have an abortionwithout the consent of the father  to conduct personal lifewithout the protection of church/family THE FAMILY CODE OF 1918 WAS THE MOST PROGRESSIVE FAMILY LAW IN THE WORLD

25. Young Soviet girl tractor-drivers of Kirghizia, efficiently replacing their friends, brothers and fathers who went to the front. A girl tractor driver of the sowing sugar beet, on Aug. 26, 1942. Farmers’ wives from the rural districts of the Soviet Union in a class where they are taught to read and write in Russia around March 1931.

26. POINT VIII: THE ‘GREAT RETREAT’ OF 1936 • Stalin used a series of more conservativelaws that wentsome way to restoring the importance of the traditionalfamil MAIN CHANGES • Divorcemade more expensive; from 4 roubles to 50 roubles • Free marriageslosttheir legal status and the governmentstated that familyresponsibilitieswere to be takenseriously • Malehomosexualitywasdeclaredillegal • Abortionwasoutlawedexcept in cases where the life of the mother was at risk • Pregnantwomenweregrantedjobsecurity and the right to be givenlighterwork , maternityleave extended to 16 weeks

27. Gold wedding rings whichhadbeendiscouraged as being ‘bourgeois’, started to reappear in shops • Two-yearprisionsentenceswerebrought in for fathers who did not paytowards the upkeep of theirchildren During this ‘GREAT RETREAT’ on social policy the idea of the family as an unecessary ‘bourgeois’ conceptwasreplaced by the view that the familywas a necessarysocialistsocietythereforetraditionalvalueswerereasserte and furtherstrengthening of the familytook place in July 1944 • Government introducedawards for ‘mother-heroines’ who had ten/+ children • Tax on single peoplewasintroduced to encouragemarriage • Divorcewasmade more complicated and couplescould be forced to go to a DistinctCourt to attemptreconcillation

28. POINT IX: CHANGES UNDER KHRUSHCHEV • Women wereencourged to care for the family and look after the household, as well as undertakepaidunemployment double burden • By 1960, womenhadreached 49% of the workforce • With wives in full-time employment, domesticdutiesweretaken up by otherfamilymembersmostly the elderly  Grandmotherreferred as babushkitooksomeburden of housework, childcare or queuing for food • Soviet societyhadgreatrespect for the elderly  manymulti-generationalfamily units helped reduce the cost of the government supporting the old and sick • TheKhrushchevyearshadlessenedthetension placed onthefamilybytheincreasingprovision of social benefits, such as housing, maternityarrangements, healthcare and childcare • Familywasmuchbettersupportedthanduringthe Stalin years • Abortionwas once againlegalised in 1955 in anattempt to reduce financialstrainonthefamily – continued to be used as a form of contraception

29. POINT X: CHANGES UNDER DEVELOPED SOCIALISM:THE BREZHNEV YEARS • The governmentcontinued to promotefamily • Whatwas different was the government‘sgrowingawarness of social problems that weakend the family and subsequentattempts to addressthem • Resultwas a reinforcemnt of traditionalvalues, especiallyconcerningdivorce, with a new familycode in 1968 By 1970s threats to the stability of the familyweretakenseriously by the government

30. 1) Decliningrate of populationgrowthput extra pressureon economicallyproductivemembers of thefamily to spport theold and sick By 1970s threats to thestability of thefamilyweretakenseriouslybythegovernment • By1982, therate of growthhad fallen to just 0.8% • Families in citieswereusuallysmall in aize: 1970 averagefamilyhad 2.4 children, a dropfrom 2.9 in 1959 • In Russia and the western republics of the USSR familysizeshad fallen to 1.9 children • Thebirthrate in Central Asia (wheretheinfluence of Islam wasstrong) wasmuchhigher • In theearly 1980s therewerecalls to use differentiatedfamilyallowances to emphasizebiggerfamilies in the Western Republics  Partyleadershipdiscussedthe use of ‘birth incentives’ forinclusion in the 1981 PartyProgramme. A proposal to givewomenseveralyears off workafterhaving a childwasdiscussedbutnotimplemented

31. 2) A shortage of adequatehousingcontinued to put a tensiononfamilyrelationships. Continuedprogress in theprovision of housingimprovedthesituation and the 1970s observed a trendtowards single-familyoccupancy of apartments and flats. However, overcrowdingwithinflatsremainedanissue 3) Alcoholismwas a important factor in underminingthefamily, playinganimportant role in highlevels of domestic abuse and divorce • By 1982, theaverage Soviet adultwasconsuming 18 litres of spirits per year, nearlydoublethe figure for 1970. • Alcohol wasresponsibleforcausing a range of deaths , fromcirrhosis of theliver and pancreatitis to being a major factor in heartdisease, roaddeaths and suicide. • Nemtsov (a historian) has concludedthattheeffects of alcohol played a role in over a quater of alldeaths in theearly 1980s • Governmentseemedunableand unwilling to dealwiththis social problem • Healthcampaginswarnedthepopulation of thedangers of abusing alcohol.

32. 4)Divorceratesremainedhigh over a third of allmarriagesending in divorce, itwasoften a consequence of alcoholism, and much of thetension placed onfamilieswasthroughthelack of a father figure withinthehousehold • WWII hadbeenresponsibleformanyyoungmengrowing up fatherless in the 1950s  thisgenerationlacked role modelswhenitwastheirturn to set up a family, sociologistsseethis as a key factor in explainingthecontinuinghighrate of divorce, alcoholism and sucide in the Soviet Union • In aneffort to combatmarriagesarranged in a hurrytheFamilyCode of 1968 equiredcouples to give prior 1 monthnoticebefore a weddingcouldtake place  theperiod of noticecould be extended iftheregistersuspectedthemarrigewasarranged to secure a residencypermit • Restrictionswere placed ondivorce, makingitillegal to divorce a womanwhowaspregnantorwithintheyear of thebirth of a child Attempts by the Soviet Government to replace the traditional family unit with a collective approach to the provision of social support failed