Women and the Family - Stalin's Successes and Failures

Question 1

1. What % of the workforce were women in 1955?
2. Between 1932 and 37, what % of new employees were women?
3. How many months of maternity leave were women allowed?

Answer 1

1. 50%.
2. 80%.
3. 4 months.

Question 2

1. In 1940, the number of women in the labour force increased by ___%.
2. What was provided to working mothers for free?
3. How many women saw active military service?
   - Women were also celebrated in __________

Answer 2

1. 300%.
2. Creches and nurseries.
3. 800,000.
   - Propaganda: Soviet ‘Iron Women’ working the ‘double shift.’

Question 3

1. Give an example of a change that the 1936 Family Code led to.
2. What was recriminalized in 1934?
3. Under the 1944 Family Code, what was there no legal recognition of?
   - What was promoted and expected of women?

Answer 3

1. Abortion criminalized, contraception banned, homosexuality punishable by 5 years in labour camp, lesbianism treated as disease, divorce made expensive and difficult.
2. Homosexuality and prostitution.
3. Common law marriages.
   - ‘The New Soviet Woman.’

Question 4

1. What % of lowest paid/skilled workers were women?
2. There were only ever _ women in the Politburo.
3. What % of the urban labour force were women during WW2?
   - However, what % of a man’s wages were they paid?
4. Birth rates failed to recover to __-____ levels.

Answer 4

1. 70%.
2. 2 women.
3. 75%.
   - 60-65%.
4. Pre-1917.