3-GORBACHEV+Owens,+Sydney

Gorbachev's Reforms & the Effect on Soviet Women  by Sydney Owens Mikhail Gorbachev was the last General Secretary of the USSR. He brought massive reforms that helped to end the Cold War. Those four reforms include Glasnost (openness), Perestroika (restructuring), Uskoreniye (economic acceleration), and Democratizatsiya (democratization). While some reforms succeeded, others did not. However, all members of Soviet society were heavily affected, especially through the domestic reforms. The focus of this assignment, however, is placed on Soviet women.

Glasnost, meaning “openness” was a collection of social and political reforms under Gorbachev that was implemented in the mid 1908s. It called for transparency, and sought to give more rights and freedom to the people through freedom of expression. For example, writers and journalists were allowed to expose government corruption and the destitute conditions of the Soviet people. In addition, the Media was allowed to criticize government officials. These reforms were unlike anything that the Soviet people had heard before. Prior to this period, if anyone was to even whisper a criticism of the government, they could be turned into the KGB. However, these reforms were difficult to implement because the citizens weren’t accustomed to the lack of government regulation and command. As a result, the people began to panic when they were bombarded with information of crime and information on government corruption and social protests became widespread. There was much social unrest among the people, including the Media, intellectuals, teenagers, and university students, to name a few.

Women were a major topic of debate as many of the reforms under Glasnost heavily affected them. At a Party Conference in June of 1988, Gorbachev called for the status of women in Soviet society a matter of “state importance” and also stated that “Women are not duly represented in government bodies”. This was unprecedented; prior to this time, the book was largely closed on the topic of women in Soviet society and their rights.

While Glasnost looked to promote the equality of men and women, especially in the workplace, this actually hurt women in that they became overextended. As a result of Glasnost, women were not being held to the standard of working AND taking care of the home and their children. This was a standard that men were not being held to, and a result, men, on average, had 3 hours more leisure time each day than women did. Women were then expected to balance work, the home, and their children, and there was an decrease in maternal involvement. This “lack of maternal involvement” was used to blame women for the increasing juvenile delinquency that Russia saw. Gorbachev reflected on the policy and its flaws by stating that, “Indeed, we proclaimed equal rights for women and men, gave women equal access to nearly all trades and professions, fixed equal pay for equal work, and guaranteed other rights for women. This is all very well. But it turned out that, apart from the undeniable gains, there are still daily cares largely preventing women from enjoying their rights fully”.

Female sexuality also suffered as a result. Glasnost led led to women revealing their bodies as part of the “openness”. As a result, pornography, a “timid revolution” began taking place in Russia as a result of the openness. Women became objectified, especially through the press, who were also enjoying their new freedoms under the policy. Female sexuality became a popular subject in the press, and the old taboo of prostitution was destroyed. As a result, the female body was degraded, and served for an allegory of Russia’s degradation

Perestroika, another reform under Gorbachev, looked to introduce democratic practices to allow citizens to have a slight say in the government, which was historically oppressive. One example of this was the elections that were introduced. From an economic standpoint, perestroika looked to de-monopolize, which ended the government’s long-standing price controls. In this, many semi-private businesses were allowed to function. In this, the government looked to create a semi-free market system through successful capitalist practices. However, this would prove to be difficult as an economy like this would take a long time to transition into a semi-free market system, and many people struggled to “make it”. This actually led to strikes and civil unrest because of the economic deterioration, and Russia began to experience rampant shortages, a worsening housing crisis, an economy on the verge of collapse, and no real economic growth. Making matters worse, the Soviet people felt as if they had “little room to maneuver”.

What did this mean for women? Prior to Perestroika, equality for women was granted as early as 1918. There were organizations looked to integrate women into public life, and women were allowed to teach, work, and arrange orphan homes. However, many of these integrations were never really acted upon. The situation improved when the Soviet Women’s Committee was established in September of 1941. This committee played a large role in making advancements toward the women’s rights. During WWII, Soviet women did have the opportunity to work jobs that were held by males, including jobs in factory production and even medicine. However, they were still paid wages that were lower than what men received. Before Perestroika and Glasnost were implemented, women didn’t really take professions of economic or political power. In short, women were considered “hopelessly inadequate”.

In a book that Gorbachev wrote, he described one of Perestroika’s aims, and stated that the goal was to “return women to their womanly mission” as “keepers of the family”. This seemed contradictory to his forward thinking, which included giving the Soviet people more freedoms from the oppressive government. Perestroika looked to give mothers with young children (who were considered to be the most oppressed group of women) more time. Under Perestroika, maternity was extended from 1 to 2 years, job security was increased to 3 years, and mothers with children younger than 8 years of age could have their jobs reduced to part time. In addition, women’s councils were granted independence, women were allowed to voice their concerns over gender inequality, and state-sponsored day-care for children was implemented, along with health care, and assured jobs.

As a result of Perestroika, women actually began to lose ground in the changing system. For example, the extended maternity caused women to lose ground in professions. The major problem with Perestroika was that gender roles of the family were redefined and reinforced. While men were the breadwinners, women were the homemakers. This was contradictory to the goal, which was to make the status of women in Soviet society a matter of greater importance under Glasnost. An article from 1990 stated that 92% of Soviet women worked for wages, along with taking care of their children and even their elderly parents. This was a major issue for women, who were being overextended. The biggest cause of this was that Soviet society discouraged men from helping at home.

The basic needs of Soviet women were also ignored as well. Soviet women, as a result of the reforms, stood in line at the grocery store for an average of 2.5 hours a day for basic goods. In addition, birth-control devices, pills, tampax, and medicine are extremely difficult to come by. All in all, the Soviet culture does not support the basic needs of women, and so it makes sense that many of the women haven’t been able to challenge and even break the patriarchal structure.

While Glasnost and Perestroika helped cause the fall of the Soviet Union and end the Cold War, but the effects were mixed. More social freedoms were allowed, but the economy was hurting and there were any social uprisings. Glasnost and Perestroika were especially detrimental to women because the policies didn’t address the division of labor between a man and a woman in a household. There wasn’t an even division of labor; while men were only expected to work, women were now expected to work in addition to caring for the children and taking care of the household. Zoya Pukhova, the head of the Soviet’s Women Committee, spoke to such inequalities to the delegates, saying “Yes, the role of mothers is important, but the responsibility of fathers is equal” along with the statement that “It has become customary to connect home, family, and the education of children on with women…and to therefore blame them for many of our social problems”. While Perestroika and Glasnost looked to give women more rights, women found themselves with more responsibilities- responsibilities that men in Soviet society simply didn’t have. As a result, women found themselves overworked and suffering more inequalities than before.

Documents used in Study
 * What was the situation for that group/institution before Gorbachev became Premier? (Source: The Sex that Perestroika Destroyed)


 * How did that group/institution interpret the application of those policies to it? (Source: Lane, David)

Works Cited 23, December. "The Sex That Perestroika Has Forgotten : Women: Falsely Heralded as the Home of the Liberated Female, the Soviet Union Is Moving Backward in Politics as Well as in Personal Life."//Los Angeles Times//. Los Angeles Times, 23 Dec. 1990. Web. 03 Mar. 2014. .
 * How did the Soviet state apply those policies to that group/institution, and what were the effects? (Source: Mccuaig, Kerry)
 * What was the significance of Gorbachev’s reforms as it pertained to that group/institution? (Source: Geldern, James Von)

Geldern, James Von. "1985: Female Sexuality." //Female Sexuality//. Seventeen Moments in Soviet History, n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2014. .

Gitomirski, Sasha. "The Cold War Museum." //Cold War Museum//. Cold War Museum, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014. .

Lane, David. "Soviet Society Under Perestroika." //Google Books//. Harper Collins Academic, n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2014. .

Mccuaig, Kerry. "Perestroika, Glasnost, and Women." //Canadian Woman Studies//. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2014. .