These notes completely cover the 'role of women and the family in the USSR' section of chapter 4 (Social Changes) of the A-Level edexcel history course: From Lenin to Yeltsin (1E)
Revision Notes - Chapter Four, Social
Developments 1917-85
TO WHAT EXTENT DID THE ROLE OF WOMEN AND THE FAMILY
CHANGE BETWEEN 1917-85?
A goal of the Revolutionaries = the emancipation of women
Old Russian proverb that summed up the typical male attitude towards women = ‘the more you beat
your wife the better the soup will taste’.
On seizing power in 1917, the Bolsheviks established a women’s branch of the central committee called
Zhenotdel to promote the status of women within socialist notions of equality.
SOCIALIST AIMS (criteria?)
- Deconstruct traditional values
- Equality of opportunity for women in the workplace
- Legal equality for women
- Use the family as a vehicle for socialism
THE ROLE OF WOMEN AND THE FAMILY UNDER LENIN
Lenin wrote about the bourgeoise nature of marriage as a form of slavery, tying women to the male
dominated institution of family - more conservative party members did not always agree with the
reforms.
● The family code of 1918 allowed easy divorces and abortions - this was very radical for its time
(abortion legalised in UK 40 years later)
● Zhenotdel gave women more political opportunities - Lenin encouraged them to enter politics
● Women no longer needed their husband’s permission to take a job or study in further education
● Maternity leave arrangements were granted
● Principal of equal pay was passed into law in december 1917
HOWEVER
● Lots of women who had jobs in the civil war were pushed out of them afterwards by returning
soldiers
○ over 70,000 women fought in the Red Army, but very few held high rank
● Laws giving women equal rights in employment and pay were slow to have an impact.
● Many employed women had low paying, unskilled jobs
● The rise in divorce rate did not help women support their children as few received financial
support from the father of the child
○ 70% of divorces were initiated by men
● The disruption of war and famine left many women homeless and destitute. A rise in prostitution
reflected the desperation of large numbers of urban women.
, THE ROLE OF WOMEN AND THE FAMILY UNDER STALIN
● More opportunities for women to enter higher education
○ 20% of places reserved for women in 1929
● Women were encouraged to work
○ By 1940, 13 million women were in the workforce
● Childcare in the workplace improved, e.g. the number of creches doubled between 1928-30
● Women became more involved in medicine - lots of female doctors were trained (caregiving)
HOWEVER
● Despite women in the workforce, they were still expected to carry the dual burden of working and
housekeeping.
○ Drawing them into the workforce was necessary for the 5YP in the 1930s - maybe
wouldn't be otherwise?
○ Women were rarely promoted, and their jobs were still often low payed and low skilled,
e.g. many worked in textile factories
● Zhenotdel was shut down in 1930s as women’s problems were declared resolved - demonstrates
the Party’s half-hearted attitude towards women
● Under Stalin, there were no women in high ranking positions in politics, and they were
discouraged from getting involved in it.
● Great Retreat of 1936 backtracked on the Family Code - made divorces more expensive and out
lawed abortion. Reverted back to a more traditional family structure
○ Marriage was promoted - tax on single people
THE IMPACT OF INDUSTRIALISATION AND COLLECTIVISATION ON WOMEN IN THE
COUNTRYSIDE
Many men departed for the towns in search of better jobs, often deserting their wives. Agricultural work
therefore became more reliant on women - it provided low wages, with fewer services in the countryside.
Particularly in WWII - most able bodied men from the collectives were conscripted and so remaining
women had to provide the bulk of agricultural work & after the war returning men preferred to move to
the cities for work, adding to the shortage caused by losses in the war.
In the Khrushchev and Brezhnev years, the status of rural women improved slowly as social provision
was extended to the countryside. Although the extension of the internal passport system to collective
workers in 1974 resulted in young males moving, to add to the shortage.
THE IMPACT OF INDUSTRIALISATION AND COLLECTIVISATION ON WOMEN IN THE TOWNS
Work was no longer a symbol of female liberation, but a socialist duty forced by the hardships of the
1930s.
- The number of female workers rose substantially in the 1930s from 3 million in 1928 to over 13
million in 1940.
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