“Early Soviet Gender Policies (1917-30) created Chaos and Mi

It must be recognised that the Bolsheviks were by no means feminists, yet when they took power in power in 1917 they had ‘a radical commitment to improving the lives of women’ and one of their most successful gender policies was to recognise the importance of motherhood. Maternity had previously been seen as private responsibility and of no c

In the early years of the NEP communal dining came to be celebrated by party activists who shouted with pride over the governments ability to feed over 90% of the people in Moscow and Petrograd . This policy seemed to a brilliant stepping-stone on the way to emancipating women from labour of housewifery. However it did not last for long and by 1921 the food halls began to close forcing women back into the wretched house. Life was hectic for women in the towns of Soviet Russia for when she returned home from the factory she faced, on average, five more hours of housework, only two hours and twenty minutes relaxation time (compared to three and a half for her husband), and only six hours and 45 minutes sleep (while her husband would sleep for eight) . Clearly Soviet Gender policies did not manage to alleviate the chaotic and miserable life experienced by housewives.

One could respond to such an argument by pointing out that the courts came out overwhelmingly in support of both married, and unmarried women so that the problems of unemployment (which had increased six fold between 1921 and 1927 to 369,800 ) were irrelevant. In 99% of cases for child support women received an award to help with the costs of living. The courts supported women even if they were unmarried or sexually promiscuous. In one example a girl had shared a dormitory with three male seasonal labourers and slept with all three. She named one as the father who contested his responsibility so the judge ordered all three to pay her 3 rubles each a month until the child was 18 . Thus it seems that the 1918 Code had positive effects in many ways for women. They could leave for a better life and not lose out on what they were due. In turn however, there was chaos and misery for men and in Russia at large. Even when paternity was denied most men were still forced to pay child support. The majority of cases were based on such circumstantial evidence as seeing the two holding hands; this was enough to prove paternity and require a monthly payment to mother and child. For most men it was impossible to pay the court-ordered sums so they would simply disappear resulting in chaos in the country and courts. It was impossible to search for all the missing men and there was no way to force them to pay. Thus it was not all success stories for the women either; most relied entirely on the men taking responsibility for their families and when they could not collect their allowances they, and their children suffered.

Thus it can be seen that there were indeed some positive effects of the early Soviet gender policies. Women did become more aware of themselves and their surroun

Some topics in this essay:
Fedor Isakov, England Wales, Land Code, Civil War, Soviet Russia, Family Code, Social Welfare, Moscow Petrograd, Soviet Gender, Soviet Union, soviet gender, gender policies, soviet gender policies, chaos misery, child support, success stories women, marriage based, family home, positive effects, search life, women unmarried, effects soviet gender, success stories,