4.2 Women and the family

Question 1

What impact did collectivisation and industrialisation have on women in the towns?

Answer 1

• Women dominated the workforce in light industry.
• 800,000 women served in the armed forces during WW2.
• By the 1950s, the attitude that women could work was widespread, but they were still expected to play a key role in looking after the home, their husband and children

Question 2

What impact did collectivisation and industrialisation have on women in the countryside?

Answer 2

Collectivisation relied on the labour of women as men moved to towns in order to find better jobs. Under Khrushchev, the status of rural women improved as social provision like healthcare and maternity benefits extended to the countryside

Question 3

Explain the changing status of Islamic Women

Answer 3

Opportunities for Islamic women increased. However, traditional attitudes were slow to change and resistance was often violent

Question 4

What was the impact that the Civil War had on the lives of women?

Answer 4

1) Women were recruited to work in factories, but childcare was inadequate
2) Women lost their jobs when the soldiers returned
3) After the war, many women were left homeless

Question 5

When was the Family Code and what did it do?

Answer 5

1918 - gave women greater rights within marriage

Question 6

When was the first soviet constitution and what was its effect on women?

Answer 6

1918 - Gave men and women equality under the law

Question 7

How did the civil war effect women?

Answer 7

• Millions of women conscripted into the workplace
• Over 70,000 women fought in the red army (few had high rank)
• Not enough resources for sufficient childcare/creches
• Disruption caused by war and famine - 1921 to 1922 left many women homeless and lead to a ruse in prostitution

Question 8

What were ‘postcard divorces’ and when were they made legal?

Answer 8

They were quick and cheap divorces designed to help women escape abusive husbands made legal in 1926

Question 9

Why did making divorces easier for women backfire?

Answer 9

Men often used divorces to leave their wives who had fallen pregnant. 70% of all divorces were initiated by men

Question 10

Describe the campaign for the unveiling of women

Answer 10

• 1927
• Lead by radical young Communist women who encouraged Muslim women to unveil themselves and be empowered
• Lead to honour killings - by the 1930s the government took a softer approach

Question 11

What was the Great Retreat and when?

Answer 11

• 1936
• Traditional values restored - e.g. abortion made illegal again (except where the mother’s life was in danger)
• Implemented by Stalin

Question 12

What were the effects of WW2 on women?

Answer 12

• Women were conscripted into factories

Question 13

When was the tax on single people established?

Answer 13

• 1944
• Put in place to further traditionalise family values

Question 14

When was abortion legalised (after the great retreat)?

Answer 14

1955

Question 15

When did the family code place restriction on divorce?

Answer 15

1968

Question 16

What was the old Russian proverb that illustrates the sexist mentality of the time?

Answer 16

‘“The more you beat your wife the better the soup will taste”

Question 17

Why were the Bolsheviks insistent on gender equality?

Answer 17

Marxism stated that all should be equal regardless of gender

Question 18

What were some of the early Bolshevik decrees that helped women?

Answer 18

• Abortion legalised
• Divorce was made simple
• Laws that forced a woman to obey her husband were abolished
• Women no longer needed their husband’s permission to take a job or enter higher education

Question 19

What were the effects of collectivisation on women?

Answer 19

• Many men left the countryside to find work in the cities (some sent money to their wives, others abandoned)
• Agricultural work left to women - low status, low pay
• Made worse by WW2 since most able bodied men were conscripted - imbalance of the sexes

Question 20

What were the effects of the Khrushchev and Brezhnev years on women in the countryside?

Answer 20

• Improved
• Health and maternity care was extended to the countryside
• Status of agriculture raised
• Internal passport system extended to countryside in 1974 allowed women to move into the towns in search of better paid work (however this opportunity was normally taken by young men)

Question 21

What were the impacts of industrialisation on women in towns?

Answer 21

• Pressure for labour in industry (Five Year Plans) gave women little choice but to work
• Work was no longer a symbol of female liberation but of socialist duty
• Economic struggles of the 1930s forced many women into work
• Women dominated light industry (especially textiles)

Question 22

Number of female industrial workers 1928 vs 1940

Answer 22

1928: 3 million
1940: 13 million

Question 23

Describe the expansion of education of women

Answer 23

• 1929: government reserves 20% of higher education places for women (rose from 14% to 20%)
• 1940: 40% of those studying engineering were women

Question 24

What was the Socially Active Woman?

Answer 24

This was a magazine that targeted the female social elite (1930s onwards). The magazine was a subtle way of enforcing social divisions among women.

Question 25

How did the role of the wives of important communist figures differ?

Answer 25

Those married to industrial managers or party officials did not have to work and were instead encouraged to do ‘social work’, for example hanging up curtains in workers dorm or holding cooking classes

Question 26

How many Soviet women served in the armed forces during WW2?

Answer 26

• 80,000
• Most in medical but some as pilots, machine guns and tank crews

Question 27

When did women get the vote?

Answer 27

1917

Question 28

What were the statistics of women in the party?

Answer 28

1932: women only made up 16% of party membership
1939: female delegates only just exceed 10%

Question 28

Evidence that women did not really have equality in the work place

Answer 28

70% of all dismissals were women

Question 29

Who and when was the first woman in space?

Answer 29

Valentina Tereshkova, 1963

Question 30

What year was the new marriage law, and what did it do?

Answer 30

• 1927
• Weakened traditional marriage by giving equal status under the law of registered and unregistered marriages

Question 31

What was the divorce rates after postcard divorces came in?

Answer 31

1926 - 50% of marriages end in divorce

Question 32

What were the 1926 abortion rates?

Answer 32

• For every four pregnancies, 3 were aborted
• Due to the poor quality of soviet condoms (‘Condoms have more rubber in than the tyres’), now-legal abortion became used as contraception

Question 33

Describe the main changes of the great retreat of 1936

Answer 33

• Divorce made more expensive (4 roubles to 50 roubles)
• Free marriages lost their legal status
• Male homosexuality made illegal
• Abortion outlawed (except where the mothers life was at risk)
• Pregnant women allowed more maternity leave (16 weeks), given job security and given lighter work when pregnant (to encourage working women to have kids)
• Gold wedding rings started to reappear (previously viewed as a bourgeoise commodity)
• More money put towards creches
• 2yr prison sentence for men who did not pay towards the upkeep of their family (often low priority for local authorities)

Question 34

How did childcare expand from 1928?

Answer 34

The number of nursery places doubled 1928 to 1930, and continued to grow under the Second Five Year Plan

Question 35

How were traditional family values further strengthened after the Great Retreat?

Answer 35

• 1944
• Government introduced awards to ‘mother heroines’ who had 10 or more children
• Tax on single people to encourage marriage
• Divorce made more complicated and couples could be forced to visit a District Court to attempt reconciliation

Question 36

How did Khrushchev’s focus on traditional family values effect working women?

Answer 36

• 1936: 49% of workforce were women
• Khrushchev stressed that women should be the main source of childcare (double burden)

Question 37

Give some statistic in 1985 for fields were females dominated

Answer 37

-70% of medical doctors were women
- 75% of university employees were women
- 65% of art and culture employees were women
- Pay in female dominated fields was lower

Question 38

What were women targeted to do in the Virgin Lands Scheme?

Answer 38

Milkmaids. Gardeners, and start families

Question 39

Give some statistics to show the low status of women in agriculture in 1970s/1980s

Answer 39

• 1970: 72% of the soviet union’s lowest paid farmers were women
• 1980: only 2% of farm managers were women