Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Accedie (talk | contribs) at 23:40, 17 June 2012 (ce(WG)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Part of a series on
Feminism
History Feminist history History of feminism Women's history American British Canadian German Waves First Second Third Fourth Timelines Women's suffrage Muslim countries US Other women's rights Women's suffrage by country Austria Australia Canada Colombia India Japan Kuwait Liechtenstein New Zealand Spain Second Republic Francoist Switzerland United Kingdom Cayman Islands Wales United States states
Intersectional variants Fat Lesbian Lesbian of color Radical lesbianism Separatist Sex-positive Transfeminism Postgenderism Vegetarian ecofeminism Socialist Anarchist Queer Jineology Marxist Critical theory Standpoint Materialist Ecofeminist Postcolonial Global Transnational Xenofeminism Multicultural Africana womanism Black Hip hop Lesbian Ratchet Chicana Lesbian Indigenous Native American Multiracial Romani Womanism
Other variants Anti-abortion Equity Femonationalism Maternal Postfeminism Reactionary State Carceral Imperial Embedded Gender-critical or trans-exclusionary Victim White
Religious variants Atheist Buddhist Christian Mormon New Womanist Asian Neopagan Dianic Wicca Reclaiming Ecofeminist Hindu Islamic Jewish Orthodox Sikh
Movements and ideologies 4B movement Analytical Anti-fascist Anti-pornography Cyberfeminism HCI Networked Difference Cultural Neo Ecofeminism Eugenic Individualist Lipstick Stiletto Liberal Equality Social Labor Libertarian Post-structural Postmodern Radical Political lesbianism Separatist Technofeminism Women's liberation
Concepts Antinaturalism Choice feminism Cognitive labor Complementarianism Literature Children's literature Diversity (politics) Diversity, equity, and inclusion Effects on society Equality Female education Female genital mutilation Femicide Femonationalism Feminism in culture Feminist movement African-American women's suffrage movement Art movement In hip hop Feminist stripper Formal equality Gender equality Gender quota Girl power Honor killing Ideal womanhood Invisible labor Internalized sexism International Girl's Day and Women's Day Language reform Feminist capitalism Gender-blind Likeability trap Male privilege Matriarchal religion Media Men in feminism Misogyny Trans Oedipus complex Opposition to feminism Pro-feminism Protofeminism Purplewashing Racism Reproductive justice Sex workers' rights Sexual harassment Sexual objectification Substantive equality Toxic masculinity Transmisogyny Triple oppression Violence against women War on women Women's empowerment Women-only space Women's health Women's rights Women in the workforce
Outlooks Bicycling and feminism Criticism of marriage Views on BDSM Views on pornography Views on prostitution Views on sexual orientation Views on sexuality Views on transgender topics SCUM Manifesto
Theory Feminist method Gender studies Gender mainstreaming Gynocentrism Kyriarchy Male gaze Matriarchy Women's studies Men's studies Patriarchy Écriture féminine Areas of study Anthropology Archaeology Architecture Art Art criticism Literary criticism Film theory Science fiction Biology Composition studies Criminology Pathways perspective Economics FDPA Geography International relations Constructivism Legal theory Pedagogy Philosophy Aesthetics Empiricism Epistemology Ethics Justice ethics Existentialism Metaphysics science Political ecology Political theory Pornography Psychology Therapy Revisionist mythology Sex wars Sexology Sociology Technoscience Theology womanist theology
By continent/country Africa Democratic Republic of the Congo Egypt Ethiopia Ghana Mali Nigeria Senegal South Africa Albania Australia Bangladesh Canada China Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Hong Kong India Indonesia Iran Iraq Republic of Ireland Israel Italy Japan Latin America Argentina Brazil Chile Haiti Honduras Mexico Paraguay Trinidad and Tobago Lebanon Malaysia Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Northern Cyprus Norway Pakistan Philippines Poland Russia Saudi Arabia South Korea Sweden Syria Taiwan Thailand Turkey Vietnam Ukraine United Kingdom United States History of women
Lists and categories Lists Articles Feminists by nationality Literature American feminist literature Feminist comic books Feminist songs Conservative feminisms Ecofeminist authors Feminist art critics Feminist economists Feminist philosophers Feminist poets Feminist rhetoricians Jewish feminists Muslim feminists Feminist parties Suffragists and suffragettes Women's rights activists Women's studies journals Women's suffrage organizations Categories Women's rights by country Feminists by nationality
Feminism portal
v t e

Feminism in Russia began in the 18th century, influenced by the Western European Enlightenment and mostly confined to the aristocracy. In the 20th century, Russian feminists, inspired by socialist doctrine, shifted their focus to organizing among peasants and factory workers. After the Bolshevik Revolution, women gained suffrage and nominal equality in education and the workplace, but they continued to experience discrimination in certain career paths, including politics. After the fall of the Soviet Union, feminist circles rose among the intelligentsia, though the term continues to carry negative connotations among contemporary Russians.

Origins

18th century

Russian feminism originated in the 18th century, influenced by the Western European Enlightenment and the prominent role of women as a symbol for democracy and freedom in the French Revolution. Notable Russian intellectual figures like Alexander Pushkin and Alexander Herzen wrote positively about the increased power and independence of women in their society and supported the growing concern for gender equality. In his influential novel What is to be Done?, the writer Nikolai Chernyshevski embodied the new feminist ideas in the novel's heroine, Vera Pavlovna, who dreams of a future utopian society with perfect equality among the sexes.

In aristocratic Russian society, the greater freedoms allowed to women led to the rise of the powerful, socially-connected woman, including such iconic figures as Catherine the Great, Maria Naryshkina, and Countess Maria Razumovskaya. Women also began to compete with men in the literary sphere, with Russian women authors, poets, and memoirists increasing in popularity.

19th century

The first Russian feminist organization of the 19th century is considered to be the "Decembrist women." These women were female relatives of the Decembrists, a group of aristocratic revolutionaries who in 1825 were convicted of plotting to overthrow Emperor Nicholas I, and many of whom were sentenced to serve in labor camps in Siberia. Though the wives, sisters, and mothers of the Decembrist men shared the same liberal democratic political views as their male relatives, they were not charged with treason because they were women; however, 11 of them, including Princess Natalia Dolgorukova and Princess Mariya Volkonskaya, still chose to accompany their husbands, brothers, and sons to the labor camps. Though they were portrayed as heroes in popular culture, they insisted that they were simply doing their duty to their family. While in Siberia, some of them cared not only for their relatives, but also for the other prisoners. They also set up important institutions like libraries and clinics, as well as arranging lectures and concerts.

In the historical writing of the time, the humble devotion of the Decembrist women was contrasted with the intrigues and hedonism of female aristocrats of the 18th century, like Catherine the Great, whose excesses were seen as the danger of too-sudden liberation for women. Although they did not explicitly espouse a feminist agenda, the Decembrist women were used as an example by later generations of Russian feminists, whose concern for gender equality was also tied to revolutionary political agendas.

In the late 19th century, other aristocratic women began to turn away from refined society life and focused on feminist reform. In the late 19th century, Anna Pavlovna Filosova, a woman from an aristocratic Moscow family married to a high-ranking bureaucrat, devoted her energy to various societies and projects to benefit the poor and underprivileged in Russian society, including women. Together with Maria Trubnikova and Nadezhda Stasova, she lobbied the Czar to create and fund higher education courses for women. She was also a founding member of the Russian Women's Mutual Philanthropic Society and responsible for helping to organize the All-Women's Congress of 1908.

The Revolution and Soviet era

Pre-Revolution

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the focus of Russian feminism shifted from the aristocracy to the peasants and working class. Imbued with socialist ideology, young women began to organize all-women unions among female factory workers, who tended to be ignored or marginalized by male socialists.

Between 1907 and 1917, the League for Women's Equal Rights was the most important feminist organization in Russia. Like the Russian Women's Mutual Philanthropic Society, it was focused on education and social welfare, but it also pushed for equal rights for women, including suffrage, equal inheritance, and an end to passport restrictions. The 1917 Revolution, catalyzed in part by women workers' demonstrations, generated a surge of membership in the organization, and in 1917, because of their continued lobbying, Russia became the first major world power to grant women the right to vote.

Feminism in Soviet society

After the October Revolution, Russian women saw mixed gains in their rights. Women's suffrage was granted by the Bolsheviks, though in practice voting meant little in the Soviet Communist society. However, many independent feminist organizations and journals were shut down because of the Bolshevik monopoly on the press.

By the 1970s, while women's liberation was a mainstream term in American public discourse, no comparable movement existed in the Soviet Union, despite the lack of women in many professions. Though the prevailing Soviet ideology stressed gender equality in labor and education, Soviet women did not participate in the core power structure of their society.

Feminism in post-Soviet Russia

In the 1980s and 1990s, during Glasnost and after the fall of the Soviet Union, feminist circles began to emerge among intelligentsia women in major cultural centers like Moscow and St. Petersburg. Some contemporary Russian feminists are hesitant to use the term "feminist" to describe themselves, because they believe it has had negative connotations throughout Russian history, and especially after the Revolution, when it was equated with the "proletariat" woman who only cares for her career, not her family. Women have started entering local governments, if only at low-level positions. In 2003, 43 percent of local administrators in St. Petersburg were women. The feminist punk rock band Pussy Riot have performed publicity stunts in order to empower women in Russia and have faced opposition from the Orthodox Christian Church and the Putin administration.

Notes

1. ^ Saurer, Lanzinger & Frysak 2006, p. 365.
2. Posadskaya 1994, pp. 154–156.
3. Pushkareva & Levin 1997, pp. 201–203.
4. Vowles 1999, p. 15.
5. Bisha 2002, pp. 300–301.
6. Noonan & Nechemias 2001, pp. 22–23.
7. Glickman 1984, p. 243.
8. Noonan & Nechemias 2001, pp. 38–40.
9. Ruthchild 2010, p. 235.
10. Atkinson, Dallin & Lapidus 1977, p. 366.
11. Chapman 1993, p. 5.
12. Noonan & Nechemias 2001, p. 251.
13. Salmenniemi 2008, pp. 112–113.
14. Tavernise, Sabrina (March 9, 2003). "Women Redefine Their Roles in New Russia". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
15. Elder, Miriam (2 February 2012). "Feminist punk band Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin". The Guardian.
16. Soldak, Katya (6/14/2012). "Pussy Riot, Putin, The Church, and Human Rights". Forbes. Retrieved 16 June 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

References

• Atkinson, Dorothy; Dallin, Alexander; Lapidus, Gail Warshofsky (1977). Women in Russia. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-0910-1. Retrieved 16 June 2012. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Bisha, Robin (2002). Russian Women, 1698-1917: Experience and Expression, an Anthology of Sources. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34084-9. Retrieved 17 June 2012. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Chapman, Jenny (1993). Politics, Feminism, and the Reformation of Gender. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-01698-8. Retrieved 16 June 2012. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Glickman, Rose L. (1 January 1984). Russian Factory Women: Workplace and Society, 1880–1914. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-05736-4. Retrieved 16 June 2012. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Noonan, Norma C.; Nechemias, Carol (2001). Encyclopedia of Russian Women's Movements. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-30438-5. Retrieved 16 June 2012. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Posadskaya, Anastasia (1994). Women in Russia: A New Era in Russian Feminism. Verso. ISBN 978-0-86091-657-4. Retrieved 16 June 2012. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Pushkareva, Natalia Lʹvovna; Levin, Eve (1997). Women in Russian History: From the Tenth to the Twentieth Century. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-1-56324-798-9. Retrieved 16 June 2012. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Ruthchild, Rochelle Goldberg (11 July 2010). Equality & Revolution: Women's Rights in the Russian Empire, 1905–1917. University of Pittsburgh Pre. ISBN 978-0-8229-6066-9. Retrieved 16 June 2012. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Salmenniemi, Suvi (14 July 2008). Democratization and Gender in Contemporary Russia. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-44112-4. Retrieved 16 June 2012. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Saurer, Margareth; Lanzinger; Frysak, Elisabeth (2006). Women's Movements: Networks and Debates in Post-communist Countries in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar. ISBN 978-3-412-32205-2. Retrieved 16 June 2012. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); More than one of |first1= and |first= specified (help)
• Vowles, Judith (11 March 1999). Russia Through Women's Eyes: Autobiographies from Tsarist Russia. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-06754-5. Retrieved 16 June 2012. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Feminism in Russia
• Russian society
• Feminism