RUSSIA Social Developments PART 1 Flashcards
What did the Bolsheviks do as soon as they had seized power to improve the lives of women?
Established a women’s branch of the Central Committee in 1917, Zhenotdel, to promote the status of women within socialist notions of equality
What were the series of decrees introduced as soon as the Bolsheviks were in power to give women greater status and freedom in marriage? (4)
Divorce was made easier; laws that made a woman obey her husband repealed, live with him and take his name were abolished; women no longer needed their husband’s permission to take a job/study in further education
What did the 1920 decree on Womens health do to provide abortions?
Made it free in hospitals
What did the 1920 decree on womens health do to discourage backstreet abortions?
Any doctors/nurses found carrying it out oustide hospital immediately suspended
When did Lenin address a women’s congress and suggest the derogatory term ‘baba’ should be banned?
1918
When was the principle of equal pay for men and women passed into law and maternity leave arrangements granted?
December 1917
What declared that were men and women were equal?
Soviet constitution of 1918
How many divorces were still initiated by men?
70%- often abandoning women who had become pregnant
What was the main problem with Lenin’s early decrees?
The male population were very resistant
How many women fought in the Red Army during the civil war?
Over 70,000- but few held high rank
How many women and children worked in factories in the Civil War? (very vague just get order of magnitude)
Millions
WHat happened to many women who worked in the Civil War after?
They were generally unskilled or thought unsuitable for labour so lost their jobs
When was the famine that followed the civil war?
1921-22
Alexandra Kollontai
Leading Bolshevik figure in early years of the regime and first woman to be a member of a government in Europe; feminist and believer in free love; member of the Central Committee
When was Kollontai made head of Zhenotdel?
1920
When did Kollontai’s influence wane?
After 1921
Which areas were particularly resistant to change?
Muslim areas of Central Asia
When was the campaign against the veiling of women?
1927
What sometimes happened to Muslim women who refused to wear traditional dress?
Killed by members of their own family in ‘honour’ killings
Where was a Zhenotdel meeting attacked by Muslim men with dogs and boiling water?
Baku
When did the Party close down Zhenotdel, claiming that women’s issues had been solved?
1930
When did the status of rural women improve slowly?
Khrushchev and Brezhnev years- social provision, such as health care and maternity benefits, was extended to the countryside
When was the internal passport system extended to collective workers?
1974
How did the number of female industrial workers rise during the 1930s?
From 3 million in 1928 to over 13 million in 1940
