Women And Ethnic Minorities Flashcards
How many women were working in 1928 compared to 1940?
1928: 3 million women working
1940: 13 million women working
Did women hold leadership positions in this period?
No, men still held almost all important jobs
Women were mostly concentrated in low-paid, traditionally female roles
What were the Bolshevik reforms for women after the revolution?
Simple divorce laws
Legal abortion and contraception
Equal pay for equal work
Equal education rights
What was the goal of these early reforms?
To break traditional marriage and gender roles
To allow women to become equal to men in all aspects of life
Why did Stalin reverse many of the earlier reforms?
Birth rates were falling
Stalin wanted a growing population for industry
He disliked the social instability caused by easy divorce
What visible problems were blamed on divorce and absent fathers?
Groups of unsupervised children in the streets
What did Party leaders still believe about women in the 1930s?
Many still thought women were not equal to men
What was Zhenotdel?
The women’s section of the Communist Party, set up to promote women’s rights and equality
When and why was Zhenotdel abolished?
Closed in 1930
Official reason: “women’s issues had been solved under socialism”
Reality: the Party believed feminist demands were a threat to male-dominated communism
What had Zhenotdel achieved before closure?
Convinced the Party to legalise abortion in 1920
Organised women’s groups and raised awareness of women’s issues
What happened to abortion and contraception under Stalin?
Abortion banned in 1936
Sterilisation banned
Access to contraception restricted
What incentives were introduced for having large families?
Mothers with six or more children received 2,000 roubles a year for five years
What new restrictions were placed on divorce in 1936?
Higher divorce fees (50 roubles for the first divorce, 150 for the second)
Increased child support obligations (starting at 25% of the father’s wages for one child)
What proportion of industrial workers were women by 1937?
40% of all industrial workers were women — much higher than in 1928.
Did women earn as much as men?
No, women earned less than men
Few held managerial roles
What kinds of jobs did women mostly do?
Worked in traditionally female industries like textiles
What symbolic change happened in 1935?
The introduction of a limited number of all-female train crews
How ethnically diverse was the Soviet Union?
It included 15 republics and hundreds of different ethnic groups
Russians were the largest group (about 55% of the population)
What did early socialist theory say about national identity?
Being a worker was more important than being Russian, Georgian, or Ukrainian
Socialism was internationalist, not nationalist
What was the early Bolshevik policy toward minorities?
Ethnic minorities were given rights and limited self-government
But always remained under Party control
What did Stalin encourage in the early 1920s as Commissar for Nationalities?
He encouraged national cultures, including native languages and traditions
How did policy change by the late 1920s?
Nationalism was seen as a problem
Stalin pushed a new Soviet nationalism where all people were proud Soviet citizens
What cultural identities did Stalin become suspicious of?
Non-Russian nationalities with strong identities like Ukrainians were treated as potential ‘enemies of the people’
Why did Stalin persecute certain nationalities?
Resistance to collectivisation was strongest where national identities were strongest (e.g., Ukraine)
The 1932–33 famine was blamed on Ukrainian nationalism
Stalin saw national minorities as disloyal
