4- Women Flashcards
Agree- how they were perceived by society
1917- expected to be homemakers while men prospered in career. Dramatically changed 1930s Stalin plans industrialisation. High targets pressure so female employment rose substantially from 3 mil 1928 to over 13 mil 1940. WW2 able-bodied men conscripted. State relied on women to fund war. Jobs they took often fields previously heavily male-dominated like engineering, parts of Moscow Underground built by brigades of female workers. Demonstrates how they broke traditional views and stereotypes, blurring the line between what was considered a male’s job and a female’s. Career opportunities came with a rise of status which sparked attitudes to adapt to the climate. Women in variety of jobs viewed as norm, no longer a sign of female liberation. Now had job prospects and change to be upwardly mobile in society and improve status. Attitudes that women were expected to work and could do so in a wide range of occupations was widespread.
Limitations of job prospects P1
The number of women in skilled jobs and management remained disproportionately low. Top levels still dominated by men e.g. education. Women still expected to play the key role in looking after the home and providing for their husbands so double burden. Women doing the same jobs as men were only paid around 60% of men’s wages.
P2- Improvements in employment and social provision helped raise the material well-being of women
The laws that made a woman obey her husband, live with him and take his name were abolished. Bolsheviks passed a law that said women no longer needed husband’s permission to take a job or study in further education. The principle of equal pay was passed into law Dec 1917 and maternity leave arrangements were granted. The Soviet constitution of 1918 declared that men and women were equal, so legal status of women had been put on an equal footing to men.
P2 Limits
Modest increase- 14% already occupied by women higher education. The rise in divorce rates did little to help women support children- few received financial support from the father of their child. Feminists hoped that easier divorce would prevent women becoming trapped in abusive relationships but reality, 70% divorces initiated by men, often abandoning pregnant women. The laws giving women equal rights in employment and equal pay were slow to have an impact.
P3- Disagree. Situation in the countryside
Collectivism meant men departed towns in search of better jobs, some deserting wives completely. Agricultural work offered low wages, and life in the countryside meant fewer services (a reflection of the lower status attached to agriculture over industry). Rural areas where traditional attitudes to women were more entrenched and slower to change. WW2 accelerated these trends as able bodied men from collectives conscripted so women provided bulk of agricultural workforce. Conditions made worse by the Red Army’s requisitioning of machinery and draft animals. Imbalance between sexes even more pronounced after war- returning soldiers preferred to try their luck by moving to the cities for work. 1950s still possible to.find villages entirely populated by women and children. Shortage of livestock so women often had to shackle themselves to ploughs to till the soil. Some improvement under Khrushchev and Brez but passport system often taken by young males
P4- disagree, Situation of Islamic women
Muslim areas of Central Asia resistant to change and polygamous, make-dominated family was well entrenched. Women were shielded from public view, often veiled and denied an education. Some changes w.g. Campaugn against ceiling of women but traditional Islamic attitudes were slow to change and resistance violence. 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. 1930s, govt took a softer, more gradual approach to changing the Muslim population’s attitude to women
Conclusion
1930, the Party closed down Zhenotdel, claiming that women’s issues had been solved, reflection of the attitudes of the male-dominated Party, which had always been half-hearted in its support. Women who played an active role in politics remained limited. In comm party women seriously underrepresented at all levels. 1932, only made up 16% of Party membership. Only 7 women were members of the CC before WW2. First woman to become a full candidate member of the top body within the Party was in 1957. Still expected to bring up children, queue for food and hold down a full-time job.
P2 part 2 expansion of higher education
Expansion of education- in 1929, the government reserved 20 percent of higher education places for women. By 1940, over 40% of engineering students were female. Gaining a higher-level education was often a passport to improving the status of an individual woman. Chances for promotion and to be upwardly mobile. Number of women in skilled jobs and management showed an increase throughout 1930s. Women started to make up a high percentage of jobs in health care and education.
Khrush and Brez improvements
Under the Khrushchev years, the strain placed on women was reduced through an increase in the provision of social benefits such as housing, maternity arrangements, healthcare and childcare. Additionally, Brezhnev showed continuity in these social policies. The government continued to help families, promoting them.
Khrushchev
Women featured heavily in Soviet Propaganda during the Second World War and the Cold War.
The poster, the motherland is calling, presented a woman as the symbol of the Russian Nation and celebrated the vital work of women during the war. Devushkivoiny (girl-warriors) and Frontovishki, women who served on the front line, were a feature of top level speeches, such as Khrushchev’s Secret Speech and of Soviet War films all through till the 1980’s.
