Transformations of women’s representation in media of transitional Post-Soviet society (study of women’s magazines Rabotnitsa and Krestyanka, 1971-2010)

Abstract

This article examines transformations of females' representation in women's magazines of Soviet and Post-Soviet times. The paper is based on case study of two domestic publications Rabotnitsa and Krestyanka of two decades before Soviet Union's collapse (1971-1990) and two decades after it (1991-2010). Using the method of content analysis, texts, visuals and advertising are analyzed in terms of portraying women as of their gender and social roles, occupational images, beauty types, body languages, and job representations. Range of topics of the women's magazines of two periods under research are compared. Major inference of the study is that Soviet propaganda and communist values are replaced by a western-style image of a woman in Post-Soviet women's magazines, yet still influenced by traditional Slavic views of womanhood.