Women's Role In Pre Revolutionary Russia

729 Words2 Pages

The role of a women in Pre Revolutionary Russia was one of servitude, especially for the women of the middle to lower class. This servitude usually consisted of spinning and weaving clothes, making candles, preparing food, cleaning the house, childbirth, child rearing, etc. etc. The women of the upper classes were free from most of these duties, except childbirth and once that was done, they were free to pursue their own pleasures. The Revolution “freed” women of these bonds, or it was supposed to. However, women have been in the work place for centuries, nn 1719, 21, and 71, Peter the Great, made it law that a woman found guilty of crimes would be sent to linen mills and industrial factories (Buckley, 1981:81-82). The early 20th Century saw an increase in women in the work force, going from three million to thirteen million …show more content…

What did the Revolution and the Soviet Experiment do for the Russian woman? Can a Communist state provide for all this when its history is so ingrained in a patriarchy? Can women and men be equals in all things? That is the purpose of this paper, to decide just what did the Soviet Experiment do for the New Soviet Woman? Did it free them of household chores, childrearing, a wife-beating, drunk husband, or being able to get an abortion when they wanted it? How can this be you might be asking yourself? The Revolution freed women from the bonds of servitude that had held them for centuries, it allowed them to get abortions, divorces, and jobs without all the difficulties that they had before the Revolution.
Alexandra Kollontai was a leading author of the early 20th century in espousing the role of the New Soviet Woman. She had many ideas about what Communism would provide for this new type of woman.

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