WOMEN IN RUSSIA PNT» UKRAINE Inthisbook,leadingwesternspecialistsandRussianandUkrainianfeminists examinehowgenderhasshapedRussianand Ukrainianhistoryfromthetwelfth centurytothepresent. Inparticular,theyanalysethe currentbacklashagainst women’semancipation. Usingnewarchivalmaterialsandtheinsightsoffeminist theory,thecontributorsexploretherelevance ofgenderequalityanddifference inRussianhistory. Theyfindthatwomenhavenotmerelysubmittedtothe patriarchalsystem,butinsteadhavefoundcreativewaysofresistingit, Chapters focusingoncontemporaryRussiadiscussabortion,pornography, sexual minorities,youngwomen’slifestyles,theimpactofeconomicreformonwomen andthedevelopmentofthewomen’smovement. Thisbookwillbe ofinterest tostudentsandspecialistsinRussian, Ukrainianandwomen’sstudies, aswell as tohistorians,politicalscientists,sociologistsandeconomists. BILLY W 89 Women in Russia and Ukraine Editedandtranslatedby ROSALIND MARSH Centrefor Women’sStudies UniversityofBath N A S A v d L CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITYPRESS PublishedbythePressSyndicateoftheUniversityofCambridge ThePittBuilding,TrumpingtonStreet,CambridgeCB2 1RP 40West20thStreet,NewYork,NY 10011-4211,USA 10StamfordRoad,Oakleigh,Melbourne3166,Australia ©CambridgeUniversityPress1996 Firstpublished 1996 PrintedinGreatBritainattheUniversityPress,Cambridge AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongresscataloguinginpublicationdata WomeninRussiaandUkraine/editedandtranslatedbyRosalindMarsh. cm. Includesindex. ISBN0521 495229 (hbk.).—ISBN0521 498724(pbk.) 1.Women~Russia(Federation)—History.2.Women—Ukraine~ History. 3. Feminism~Russia(Federation)—History.4.Feminism~ Ukraine~History. I.Marsh,RosalindJ. HQ1665.15.W663 1995 305.4'0947~de20. 95-7639 CIP ISBN0521 495229hardback ISBN0521 498724paperback Contents Listofillustrations page X Listoftables Notes on contributors Acknowledgements Vii Introduction: women’sstudiesandwomen’sissues in Russia, Ukraineand the post-Sovietstates RosalindMarsh PartI: Womeninhistory: fromthe seventeenth tothe twentieth century Peterthe Great's twoweddings: changingimages ofwomen. in a transitional age 31 LindseyHughes ‘Womenina warriorsociety: DonCossack women, 1860-1914 45 Shane O'Rourke Teacups andcoffins: the culture ofRussian merchantwomen, 1850-1917 55 Catriona Kelly Vera Fignerand revolutionary autobiographies: the influence ofgenderongenre 78 HildeHoogenboom Equality and differenceinwomen’shistory: where does Russiafitin? 94 Linda Edmondson Contents PartII: Womenin the USSRandpost-SovietRussia: sexuality, identity, healthand reproduction Managingthe female organism:doctors andthemedicalization ofwomen’spaidworkin Soviet Russiaduringthe 1920s 111 JanetHyer Innocenceandsexualityin Sovietmedical discourse 121 Susan GrossSolomon Abortionandwomen’s health in Russia andthe Soviet successorstates. Christopher Williams 131 Sexualminoritics: thestatus ofgaysand lesbiansin Russian-Soviet—Russian society 156 JamesRiordan 1t Youngwomenandsubcultural lifestyles: a case of‘irrational needs’? 173 Hilary Pilkington 12 ‘Full frontal’: perestroika andsexual policy 188 Elena Stishova PartIII: Women andwork Whybeashockworkerora Stakhanovite? 199 MaryBuckley Industrialworkingconditions andthepoliticaleconomyof female labourduringperestroika 214 DonaldFiltzer ‘Generalswithoutarmies, commanderswithouttroops’: Gorbachev’s‘protection’ offemaleworkers 228 MelanieTlic 16 Thereturn ofthe familyfarm:a futureforwomen? 241 SueBridger 17 Thepost-Sovietwoman inthe moveto themarket: a retum to domesticity anddependence? 255 LynneAttwood Contents ix PartIV: Feminism andpolitics inRussiaandUkraine The ‘womanquestion’ andproblems ofmaternityinpost- communistRussia 269 Elena Sargeant TheRussian women’smovement Anastasia Posadskaia, the Dubna Forum andthe independent women’s movementin Russia 286 RosalindMarsh Thefeminine dimensionofsocialreform:fromone Forum to the next (speech atthe Second IndependentWomen’s Forum, Dubna, November 1992) 298 Anastasia Posadskaia 20 Feminismin post-communist Ukrainiansociety 305 Solomea Pavlychko 21 Christianvirgin orpagan goddess: feminism versusthe eternally femininein Ukraine 315 MarianJ. Rubchak Index 331 Illustrations page 35 2.1 Frontispiece ofKniga liubviznak vchesten brak (K.Istomin,facsimile edn, Moscow, 1989) Aleksei Zubov, engravingofPeterthe Great’sweddingto 2.2 CatherineI 39 (M. A. Alekseeva, Graviurapetrovskogo vremeni, Leningrad, 1990) 3.1 Surikov, Kazachka: PortraitofL. Motrina 47 (V. S. Kemenov,Surikov (Leningrad, 1991), plate no. 53) 41 Boris Kustodiev, ‘The Merchant’s Wife DrinkingTea’, 1918 57 oilon canvas, 120.5 cm X 121.2 cm, Russian Museum, StPetersburg Pavel Fedotov, ‘TheMajor’sCourtship’, 1848 4.2 oil oncanvas, 58.3 cm X 75.4cm, Tret’iakovGallery,Moscow 4.3 VasiliiTropinin,‘PortraitofAnna FedorovnaMazurina’, 1844 70 oil on canvas, 100 cm X 80 cm,privatecollection, UK Tables Population growth in the ex-USSRbycountry andregion, 1959-1989 page 134 135 Totalfertility rates in the ex-USSRbycountry, 1959-1990 137 Abortions in the USSR in thepost-Stalinperiod 138-9 Numberofabortionsregisteredby MinistryofHealth establishments by country, 1971-1990 Motivesforabortion as shown in varioussurveys, selected timesandplaces(inpercentage oftotal) 140-1 Health statusandabortion:frequencyofvariousdiseases 96 {in percentageoftotal) arisingfromabortioninvarious regions ofthe formerSovictUnion, 1960-1983 14445 97 Typesofcontraceptiveused andattitudes towardthem duringthe Gorbachevera, 1985-1991 148 98 Side effects experiencedbywomenusingvarious types of contraceptives(inpercentage oftotal) in the formerSoviet Union,accordingtosurveys, 1960to early 1970s 149 Notes on contributors Lynne Attwoodis Lecturerin Russian Studies at the University ofManchester. She received her doctorate in Soviet Studies and Sociology from the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University ofBirmingham, and has taught Russian Studies and Sociology at the University ofTexas at Austin and at the University ofHumberside. She is the author ofThe New SovietMan and Woman: Sex-Role Socialization in the USSR (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1990; Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991);theeditorofRed WomenontheSilverScreen: Soviet Women and Cinemafrom the Beginning to the End ofthe Communist Era (London: Pandora, 1993); and has contributed to a numberofotherbooks on women and cinema in the SovietUnion andRussia. SueBridgeris SeniorLecturer in Russian Studies at the University ofBradford. She is the author of Women in the Soviet Countryside (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987) and numerousarticles on women in Russia. WithJames Riordan, she edited Dear Comrade Editor: Readers’ Letters to the Soviet Press under Perestroika (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1992). She is currentlyeditingacollection ofessayson ‘Womenin Post-CommunistRussia’ for Interface: Bradford Studies in Language, Culture and Society (University ofBradford), andwritingabook on the impactofmarket reformson Russianwomen. Mary Buckley is Readerin Politics at the University ofEdinburgh. Sheis the author of Women and Ideology in the Soviet Union (Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989;Ann Arbor: University ofMichiganPress, 1989) and Redefining RussianSocietyandPolity(Boulder, Colo.: WestviewPress, 1993);andtheeditorof Perestroika andSoviet Women (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). She haswrittennumerousarticlesonRussianwomenandiscurrentlyworkingonrural Stakhanovism. LindaEdmondsonisESRCResearch Fellowatthe Centre forRussian andEast European Studies, University ofBirmingham. Sheis the author ofFeminism in Russia, 1900-1917 (London: Stanford University Press, 1984) and the editor of Women and Society in Russia and the Soviet Union (Cambridge: Cambridge