Women in Russia and the Former USSR: Politics, Society and Culture

Abstract

Seven years after the fall of the Soviet Communist Party, which had the emancipation of women as one of its overt aims, it is time to take stock of the contemporary situation of women in post-communist Russia and the former USSR. This chapter will propose a theoretical and historical framework within which the experience of post-Soviet women can usefully be analysed, then provide an overview of some key issues affecting women in Russia and the Soviet successor states, focusing particularly on women’s role in politics and the economy, and the social position and cultural representation of women, notably the increase in pornography, prostitution and violence against women. Other important issues, such as nationalism and the women’s movement, will be referred to only briefly, since they have been extensively discussed elsewhere (Funk and Mueller, 1993; Bridger et al., 1996; Marsh, 1998b; Konstantinova, 1994, Kay, forthcoming). The discussion presented here makes no claim to be comprehensive, but simply to complement and update previous research (Buckley, 1992; Corrin, 1992; Posadskaya, 1994; Marsh, 1996; Rule and Noonan, 1996), and to stimulate debate on some vital questions.