Soviet Women - Everyday Lives

Based on an extensive reading of a broad range of women's accounts of their lives in the Soviet Union, this book focuses on many hidden aspects of Soviet women's everyday lives, thereby revealing a great deal about how the Soviet Union operated on a day-to-day basis and about the place of the individual within it.

Including testimony from both celebrated literary and cultural figures

and from many ordinary people, and from both enthusiastic supporters of the

regime and dissidents, the book considers women's daily routines, attitudes and

behaviours. It highlights some of the hidden inequalities of an ostensibly egalitarian

society, and considers many wider questions, including how extensive was

the 'reach' of the Soviet regime; how 'modern' was it; how far were there continuities

after 1917 between the new Bolshevik regime and Russia's imperial

past; and how homogenous and how mobile was Soviet society?

List of contents

1. Introduction

2. Born in the USSR: Soviet Identities

3. A Happy Childhood

4. Looking for Love

5. Emancipation and Equality

6. Health and Welfare

7. Reproductive Health and Maternity

8. Consumption, Soviet Style

9. Custom, Ritual and Superstition

10. Go West

About the author

Melanie Ilic is a Professor of Soviet History in the School of Education and Humanities at the University of Gloucestershire, and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies, the University of Birmingham.

Summary

Including testimony from both celebrated literary and cultural figures and from many ordinary people, and from both enthusiastic supports of the regime and dissidents, the book considers women’s daily routines, attitudes and behaviours.

Product details

• Authors: Melanie Ilic, Ilic Melanie
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.10.2021
• EAN: 9781032174570
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3217457-0
• No. of pages: 220
• Series: Routledge Studies in the History of Russia and Eastern Europe
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > Geography; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; SOCIAL SCIENCE / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Women's Studies, HISTORY / Europe / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Regional Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Research, Gender studies: women, Gender studies: women and girls, Former Soviet Union, USSR (Europe), USSR, Soviet Union