Rural Women in the Soviet Union and Post-Soviet Russia

234 Pages·2010·7.117 MB·English

by  Liubov Denisova, Irina Mukhina

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Rural Women in the Soviet Union
and Post-Soviet Russia
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1 This is the first full-length history of Russian peasant women in the twentieth
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2 century in English; it fills a significant gap in the existing literature on rural
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8 and gender studies of twentieth-century Russia and is the first to take the story
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t into the twenty-first century. The book offers a comprehensive overview of
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] regulations concerning rural women: their employment patterns; marriages,
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m divorces and family life; and issues with health and raising children. Rural
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lives in the Soviet Union were often dramatically different from the common
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gr narrative of Soviet history. The lives of rural women were even more
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r demanding than those of other Soviet women, and even during the Khrushchev
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T ‘Thaw’ in the late 1950s and early 1960s, rural women were excluded from
S the reforms and liberating policies it promoted.
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L The author, Luibov Denisova, is a leading expert in the field of rural gender
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history in Russia. She includes material from previously unavailable or
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e unpublished collections and archives in Moscow, St Petersburg, Archangel,
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nt and Vologda, as well as interviews and sociological research conducted in
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C 30 different Russian villages, alongside oral traditions such as folk songs and
T chastooshkasamong peasant women in Russia. Overall, the book is a history
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N of all rural women, from ordinary farm girls to agrarian professionals to
B prostitutes; it paints a unique and complete picture of rural women’s life
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L in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia.
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[I Liubov Denisova is Professor of History at the Russian State University of
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b Oil and Gas, and is the leading expert in the field of rural and gender history
d in Russia. Her books include the bestselling Zhenshchiny russkikh selenii
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d (Women of Russian Villages) and Sud’ba russkoi krestianki (The Fate of
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o Russian Peasant Women).
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o Irina Mukhina is Assistant Professor of History at Assumption College,
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Massachusetts, USA. She is a bilingual expert on gender issues during and
after Stalinist ethnic deportations, and the author of The Germans of the Soviet
Union (also published by Routledge).
“The research presented here for the first time in English, is a pioneering work
on peasant women and the family. Brilliantly researched, this book will revise
our understanding of life in the Russian village in the 20th century.”
—Professor Lynne Viola,
University of Toronto, Canada
2 “This epic book about Russian village and the great role that rural women
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0 played in it will undoubtedly open a new era in the existing historiography
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t and will become a new voice in telling the history of Russia. It will resonate
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u in hearts and minds of readers inside and outside Russia.”
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u —Professor Nikolai Ivnitskii,
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5 Russian Academy of Sciences
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2 “This volume explores a topic rarely addressed by historians: the private lives
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8 of Soviet women in the countryside. This is an important book that will
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t stimulate debate on women’s position under both the Soviet and post-Soviet
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] regimes, and will underscore the need for contemporary Russian sociologists,
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m feminists, and policymakers to distinguish between urban and rural women
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in their discussions of women and women’s issues.”
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gr —Professor Roberta Manning, Department of History,
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r Boston College, USA
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Rural Women in the Soviet
Union and Post-Soviet Russia
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5 Liubov Denisova
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2 Edited and translated by
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t Irina Mukhina
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First published 2010
2 by Routledge
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0 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
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t Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
us by Routledge
g 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
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A Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
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1 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010.
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2 To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
8: collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
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t © 2010 Liubov Denisova; Irina Muhkina for translation,
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] compilation and editorial matter
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m All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
m reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
a mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
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g invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
o information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
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P writing from the publishers.
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S British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
I A catalogue record for this book is available
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N from the British Library
- Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
e Denisova, L. N.
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t Rural women in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia/
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e Liubov Denisova; edited and translated by Irina Mukhina.
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p. cm. — (Routledge studies in the history of Russia and
T Eastern Europe)
E “Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada”—T.p. verso.
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Includes bibliographical references and index.
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1. Rural women—Soviet Union—History. 2. Rural women—Russia
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L (Federation)—History. 3. Rural women—Soviet Union—Social
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conditions. 4. Rural women—Russia (Federation)—Social conditions.
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I 5. Women peasants—Soviet Union—History. 6. Women peasants—
y [ Russia (Federation)—History. 7. Women—Soviet Union—Social
b conditions. 8. Women—Russia (Federation)—Social conditions.
d 9. Soviet Union—Rural conditions. 10. Russia (Federation)—Rural
e conditions. I. Mukhina, Irina, 1979– I. Title.
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a HQ1662.D46 2010
o 305.40947′091734—dc22 2010021317
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ISBN 0-203-84684-2 Master e-book ISBN
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ISBN10: 0–415–55112–9 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–84684–2 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–55112–0 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–84684–1 (ebk)
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1 To my daughter Maria Denisova
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2 —L. Denisova
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e To my husband Denis and my son
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m —Andrey I. Mukhina
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Contents
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1 List of figures ix
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2 List of tables x
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0 Preface xi
at Acknowledgments xiv
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Introduction 1
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T PART I
S Employment patterns among rural women 5
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- 1 Women’s work: an overview 7
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3 Female mechanics and machine operators 24
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specialists 41
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o Private life 65
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8 The politics of private life: the evolution and
transformation of the Soviet Family Code 67
9 Marriages 84
viii Contents
10 Conflicts and divorces 93
11 Domostroi 103
12 Alcoholism in the countryside 111
13 The female face of the criminal world 123
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1 14 Women of the oldest profession 128
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st 15 Religion 132
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I Notes 186
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- Index 213
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Figures
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1 2.1 Women planting cabbage sprouts 15
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2 2.2 Slepysheva Brigade during hay harvesting 16
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8 2.3 Youths on their way to field work 19
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t 3.1 Pasha Angelina, tractor driver 26
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5.1 Preparing barley for sowing 43
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r 17.1 Burekhina family at home 152
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T 17.2 Burekhina family 152
S 17.3 Women at the water well 154
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L 18.1 Women farmers dancing 162
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