Russian Women and their Organizations

Grassroots Russian women's organizations faced multiple challenges in the early 1990s. Like their members, they were confronted with both potentially hostile attitudes and numerous practical difficulties. Post-Soviet ideologies of gender difference produced a gender climate which was particularly unsympathetic to female activism in support of other women. This book presents a detailed study of grassroots Russian women's organizations in 1991-96, against the background of a careful analysis of gender relations and attitudes to women's place in post-Soviet Russian society.

Autorentext

Rebecca Kay is Lecturer at the Center for Russian and East European Studies at the University of Birmingham.

Inhalt
Acknowledgements Introduction PART I: THE GENDER CLIMATE IN POST-SOVIET RUSSIA Soviet and Post-Soviet Gender Climates No Place for a Woman! Political Representation and Public Life Born to be Mothers? Motherhood as Every Woman's 'Natural Calling' Equals or Opposites? Women's Attitudes to Gender PART II: ORGANIZED RESPONSES AND WOMEN'S ACTIVISM Challenging Inequality: Legislative Approaches versus Women's Activism Grassroots Women's Organizations: Agents of Change or a Means of Survival? Public Faces: Recruitment Strategies, Public Actions and Use of the Media Sisterhood or Suspicion? Relations Between Russian Women's Organizations Pot of Gold or Poison Chalice? The Impact of Western Support Conclusions: Grassroots Women's Organizations and the Gender Climate Appendix A: The Organizations of the Sample Appendix B: The Women of the Sample Table B.1: Organization, Age, Marital Status, Children Table B.2: Education, Profession, Occupation Appendix C: Conferences, Seminars and Events Attended During Fieldwork Endnotes Bibliography Index