Woman in the Soviet Union were treated differently depending on who was in charge at that time as the roles of women changed dramatically over the course of history in Soviet Russia under different economic and physical conditions.

Pre-revolution Russia was a very backwards country that was far behind in industrialization. Most other European countries were experimenting with constitutions and democracy yet Russia still had a strong nobility.

The industrial class finally came about most prominently during World War I after Lenin took power and created Soviet communism. This liberated women and gave them opportunities to pursue careers as doctors and engineers along with many other professions. Along with new career opportunities came new laws.

In 1918 legislature was created to try to weaken marriage and the family to create a unified society focused on the country not the family. The ability to perform marriages was taken away from the church and given solely to the state. With this set of laws also came the right for either the man or woman in a married couple to pursue divorce and win. To feminist Alexandra Kollontai, this was great as she saw no future in family structure in Soviet Russia. Although this legislature brought equality to marriage in principle it didn’t in practice. Women were still expected to perform most domestic duties and have a job as men saw it as below them to do housework or go grocery shopping. The role of soviet women in society and in other areas was varied and depended on how conditions were in many aspects.

Here is an excerpt from Stalinist Values The Cultural Norms of Soviet Modernity by David Hoffman which depicts the roles women played under Stalin:

Women in Stalinist Russia were treated slightly differently than those under a different leader. Women were given lower level jobs in some cases to encourage them to stay home and have more children.

This book goes in-depth about family values and how they affected the woman in the household. It also shows the class restructuring that occurred within the workplace and the gender differences in how they were perceived socially. Give it a read if you wanna learn more about it!