Women and the Family Under Lenin Flashcards
What is the oppression women face regarded as?
The product of the political, economic and social structures of capitalism
What are Marxist theories of gender fundamentally concerned with?
Analysing the relation between class exploitation and gender inequality
What was the most important type of inequality for Marx? Why?
Class inequality
Marx believed that destroying class inequality would lead to the destruction of all other kinds of inequality
Karl Marx quote on women
“The bourgeois sees in his wife a mere instrument of production”
“Social progress can be measured by the social position of the female sex”
Lenin had a slightly different view to Karl Marx on sexual equality. How?
Lenin argued that capitalism itself would lead to the destruction of sexual and racial inequalities
Lenin argued that the Communist Government had to complete all of the tasks that capitalism should have completed in the Soviet Union - this included the industrialisation of the economy and the destruction of sexual and racial inequality
What was the role of women in Tsarist Russia?
The roles of women did not vary much from:
- mother/nurturer
- worker (if you were a peasant)
- wives of dignitaries (if they were nobles)
Their social mobility did not progress further than them achieving motherhood or marriage into a prominent family
Was oppression of women widespread in Tsarist Russia?
Oppression of women was widespread in the culturally backward countryside where the church and tradition had a firm hold
When was the Family Code introduced?
1918
What did the Family Code of 1918 do?
- Gave women equal status to men
- Granted illegitimate children the same legal rights as legitimate ones
- Secularised marriage
- Allowed a couple to choose whose name to take once married (the wife used to automatically take the last name of her husband)
What did the Family Code of 1918 sweep away?
The family Code of 1918 swept away centuries of patriarchal and ecclesiastical power and established a new vision based on individual rights and gender equality
Who initiated most of the divorce under Lenin?
Men initiated 70 per cent of divorce
Lenin women quote
“The success of a revolution depends on the extent to which women take part in it”
When did Lenin say the women quote?
Speech at the first All-Russia Congress of Working Women
Who founded the Zhenotdel and when?
Alexandra Kollontai in 1919
Who is Alexandra Kollontai?
A Russian revolutionary, politician, diplomat and Marxist theoretician who served as the People’s Commissar for Welfare in Vladimir Lenin’s government
What did Alexandra Kollontai believe?
That the family was an oppressive social organisation
What did Alexandra Kollontai advocate for?
She advocated replacing the family with communal living and monogamous marriage with free love
What did Kollontai believe the family encouraged?
Selfishness and individualism
Alexandra Kollontai was the first woman in history to…
Become an official member of a governing cabinet
What was the Zhenotdel?
The section of the Russian Communist party devoted to the affairs of women in the 1920s
It gave women in the Russian Revolution new opportunities until it was dissolved in 1930
What did the Zhenotdel do?
Persuaded the Bolsheviks to legalise abortion in Russia (the first country to do so) in November 1920
What is the significance of the legalisation of abortion?
This was the first time in history that women had the right to free abortions in state hospitals
Who did the Zhenotdel work with to produce what?
The Zhenotdel worked with the Commissariat of Education to introduce co-education
Women under the NEP
Opportunities for women in factories were limited - leading to widespread unemployment
Female prostitution was also widespread - it was legal and one way of making money
What indicates that prostitution was a large market during the 1920s?
It is estimated that 39 per cent of urban men used prostitutes
