THEME 4 - Women and Family

Question 1

When was Zhenotdel established?

Answer 1

1917

Question 2

What was Zhenotdel?

Answer 2

Set up by Lenin after the Russian Revolution. The Organisation worked to improve the conditions of women’s lives through literacy, education, marriage and work. Led by Alexandra Kollontai.

Question 3

How were women impacted during the civil war?

Answer 3

Women were put to work in factories due to labour shortages.

Question 4

How were women impacted during the NEP?

Answer 4

Unemployment rose due to to créches getting shut down. Many women working in factories were sacked to provide jobs for men. Many women resorted to prositution?ha

Question 5

What percentage of men used prostitutes in 1920s?

Answer 5

39%

Question 6

When was the family code introduced?

Answer 6

1918

Question 7

What was the family code in 1918?

Answer 7

Pushed for better equality and less reliance on gender stereotypes in marraige.
- Divorce made easier
- Abortion legalised
- Women no longer needed husband’s permission to get a job
- men and women declared equal
- derogatory terms for women banned by LEnin

Question 8

What problems did the family code of 1918 create?

Answer 8

• Women received less benefits and support for raising children.
• Although divorce was made easier as a way to get women out of abusive relationships, in reality 70% of divorce were made by men to abandon their pregnant partner.
• Equality was not actually achieved. In reality, it was a long and slow process.

Question 9

What was a “Postcard divorce”?

Answer 9

A marriage could end purely by sending a letter. Marriage was viewed as simply a contract.
This marriage was allowed in 1926.

Question 10

How were women perceived on propaganda in civil war?

Answer 10

Women were often pictured on civil war propaganda as helping with factory work to seem like a more equal society.

Question 11

When were registered and unregistered marraiges given equal status?

Answer 11

1927

Question 12

How were women perceived in the party?

Answer 12

Women were largely under-represented in the higher levels of the party. Women often got government roles that reflected stereotypes; so women got welfare, health or education whilst men got military and economy.
In 1918, only 5% of delegates in party congress were women.

Question 13

How were women perceived in the countryside?

Answer 13

1920-40 had many women in agriculture providing labour for farms. They were often responsible for more household jobs and chores. Female tractor drivers made up only 0.5% of rural female population. Most women in agriculture were low paid and rape was common.

Question 14

How were women perceived in the workplace?

Answer 14

Women often used in work campaigns and propaganda. Lenin thought they had played an important role against capitalism.
Under stalin, women did varied types of work but often were paid less due to less skillfull work.

Question 15

When did Zhenotdel close down?

Answer 15

1930s

Question 16

When was Stalin’s Great Retreat?

Answer 16

1936

Question 17

What were the effects of Stalin’s great retreat?

Answer 17

Stalin returned to traditional ways as he changed his aims to focus on birth rates and cutting divorce.
- abortion was criminalised
- male homosexuality illegal
- divorce was expensive
- women expected to do labour on collectives as well as raising families
- fathers were fined 60% of salary for leaving 3 or more children.

Question 18

What impact did WW2 have on women and family?

Answer 18

Women were conscribed into factories, however, they were refused to enlist. Female fighters fighters joined 3 female flying regiments.
Heroes such as Lydia Litvyak shot down 12 German planes.

Question 19

What were Khrushchev’s reforms?

Answer 19

Khrushchev wanted to liberate women. Many of his policies in coming years against traditional assumptions.
- legalised abortion
- maternity increased to 112 days
- expanded the creche system
- aimed to make fridges widespread to avoid daily grocery shop visists.

Question 20

How did Khrushchev’s virgin lands scheme impact women?

Answer 20

Khrushchev targeted women for the campagin to help start families in the virgin lands. They were given jobs such as gardeners and milkmaids that were low grade with low paid.
Very few stayed in the virgin lands due to high sexual abuse. Little machinery to help with skilled work. Prioritised men.

Question 21

When did women get involved in the virgin lands scheme?

Answer 21

1954

Question 22

When was abortion legalised again?

Answer 22

1955

Question 23

When was paid maternity leave expanded to 112 days?

Answer 23

1956

Question 24

When was the 6th 5YP and how did it impact women?

Answer 24

1956
Expanded creche system and helped improve conditions for women.
Aimed to eliminate the “double shift” by bringing convenienve and mass-produced clothing for women.

Question 25

When was the 7th 5YP and how did it impact women?

Answer 25

1959
Focused on bringing refrigerators to more households to prevent need to daily food shops.
Survey showed that women still spent more time doing household chores.

Question 26

What were the new opportunities for women?

Answer 26

Units of military were mobilised in WW2 and cold war. The Duvushkivoiny and Frontovishki were heroic symbols of sexual equality.
Clerical and Administrative positions opened up to women. in Towns, 50% of working women were in clerical positions.

Question 27

What percentage of women made up the total percentage of workforce by 1960?

Answer 27

49%

Question 28

When did the first woman land go into space?

Answer 28

Valentina Tereshkova in 1963
She was the first female cosmonaut. She was painted as a hero similar to Yuri Gagarin.

Question 29

What were the signs that birth rate was decreasing?

Answer 29

In the 1970s, average family had 2.4 children compared to 2.9 in 1959.

Question 30

When was the new family code introduced?

Answer 30

1968

Question 31

What did the renewed family code say?

Answer 31

Reinforced traditional values
- workers had to take better care of the old and sick
- lack of housing put strain on families
- “Birth incentives” given to increase birthrate
- Divorce rates were increasingly high ; often due to alcoholism.
- little focus on sexual inequality in workplace
- lowered pension age for women to 55

Question 32

How did alcoholism impact women?

Answer 32

Due to high alcoholism rates, there was increased domestic abuse cases. This made divorce rates higher.

Question 33

How was education for female workers in 1960s?

Answer 33

Education was freely available in cities.
1/2 of graduates were women and they often dominated Universities.

Question 34

What was the BAM?

Answer 34

The Baikal-Amur Mainline was a railway system being built. Brezhnev pushed for women to accompany men on working on it.

Question 35

What problems did Brezhnev have on women?

Answer 35

• Due to his focus on birthrate, the more traditional values were restored. Women were seen as being kind and nurturing.
• Brezhnev often blamed working women for delinquency, high crime-rates, divorce and alcoholism; a view that continued into the 1980s.

Question 36

Why was the difference between rural and urban a problem?

Answer 36

There was a strong contrast between rural and urban areas. Women stayed in low status jobs in the countryside and rape was common due to older and more traditional attitudes.

Question 37

What is the summary of changes of influence of women under Lenin?

Answer 37

Zhenotdel and Gov. viewed women as pieces to help with revolution. Gave more freedom whilst also holding some Ideological outlooks over lack of family structure. New ideas were difficult to accept.

Question 38

What is the summary of changes of influence of women under Stalin?

Answer 38

Shut down Zhenotdel. Used women to help with labour force, as shown in propaganda. Turn in 1936 became more traditional.

Question 39

What is the summary of changes of influence of women under Khrushchev?

Answer 39

Attempts to give women more freedom were made but were often failed as the rural areas believed differently to cities. Khrushchev missed the crucial parts of raising families whilst providing more freedom.

Question 40

What is the summary of changes of influence of women under Brezhenv (Andropov and Chernenko)?

Answer 40

New family code meant that much of the push to improve population was centred on traditional values. Hardened even further due to alcoholism. Continued by A + C.