Dbq Duma Essay

During the October 1905 the creation of a parliamentary assembly, the Duma, was originally to be elected by the limited male suffrage. However, it led to another serious question of female suffrage. Women did not have any rights to vote. Since this was the time when the feminist movements began, the indignation at exclusion from this privilege was not only common to a small circle of educated female, but also to peasant women. There were several protests against this. It encouraged solidarity in the struggle for reform. However, there were some people who were opposed to the adoption of female suffrage, since most peasant women lack of political education/participation and it might lead to some destruction in the Duma. The struggle for female

suffrage continued for another decade.
Along with the Revolution in the Soviet Union and the several questions that a rose during last decades of the equality of rights between women and men reached the point when some decision needed to be made. Therefore, in 1917 the Provisional Government extended the complete economic, political and sexual equality of women. The Bolsheviks under the Lenin argued that with the development of industry and the planned nationalized economy women would be able to play role in all spheres of political and social life. To achieve this goal, women would change their daily life (work in household/factory and childcare). Childcare would become the responsibility of society, which would provide cheap, good quality public dining halls, nurseries, sewing centers and laundries. There were also other decrees such as a woman was no longer obliged to live with her husband or to accompany him if a change of job meant a change of house. Men and women were given equal standing in marriage, and women could get divorced easily. Property relationships also changed to give women equal rights to hold land, be the head of a household and to receive equal pay. Nerveless, did women actually have those rights?
Lenin wrote on International Women's Day, 1921, that while "in Soviet Russia, no trace is left of any inequality between men and women under the law…this is only the first step in the liberation of women” (Pickard). In order to ensure that legal equality becomes a reality (which led to changes in the women’s role in society) a new socialist society needed to be built, where socioeconomic, ethnic and sexual oppression would have no place. Therefore, the Soviet Union mobilized millions of women workers and peasants to participate in building a new society. Different women’s clubs were organized and later on, the First All-Russian Congress of Working Women was organized. In this Congress, Lenin argued "the experience of all liberation movements has shown that the success of a revolution depends on how much women take part in it. The Soviet government is doing everything in its power to enable women to carry on independent proletarian socialist work” (Pickard). The need to inform women of their new position and to draw them into active participation in public life led to creation of the women’s department of the Bolshevik Party, the Zhenotdel, with a monthly publication, Kommunistka. It worked under the general direction and programme of the party for agitation and propaganda to the broad mass of women. The specific task was to bring women into the politics by visiting factories and villages, organizing literacy classes and discussion circles (Pickard). Zhenotdel had a wide spread throughout the Soviet Union and to boost awareness especially to the remotest parts of the country, women’s clubs were also created. The political mobilization of women was occurred, they attended the study group, conference and schools, which were set up, to assist with political education and were ready to take up an active position in society. However, this dramatic increase in political participation of women aroused fear in the male department of the Bolshevik party that the women may attempt to found a party of their own. Therefore, in reality the Soviet system did not actually allowed women to be involved in full politics and practicing politicking (Chuka, 4). Their participation in politics was limited, they seldom achieved to ranks in government. Few, if any, women can be found in positions in the central organs of coercion (the police and military) or within the diplomatic corps. Instead, many of them found in in cultural affairs, health, light industry and consumer-related services. Still those who participated in political sphere were not allowed to articulate an independently formulate viewpoints in all levels of parliament, instead they were obliged to raise up their hands in support of issues which were already decided by the party policy making organ. Even in late 1985 at the 19th Party Conference only 5 women were present over 1250 delegates. Therefore, equality of woman and man in politics was far from being achieved. How about other spheres of life?
Women were supposedly equal to men, they were granted the same right to work and be paid the same wages as men were.

However, in reality they tend to cluster in what have traditionally been “women’s fields”, such as nursing, teaching and light industry, which were low in status and pay. Women did not have more prestigious professions and executive ranks. In all areas of the economy, the percentage of women declined as one moved up the hierarchy of status and authority (Lapidus, 171). The preferred economic sectors such heavy industry and construction had high concentration of men. This division of branches of industry into groups of widely different political and economic importance had direct effect on wage levels. The range of wage differed for each sector. For example, the monthly wage of a chief engineer in the coal industry was 380 rubles. In ferrous metallurgy, an engineer with identical training and functions would earn 270-320 rubles; in light industry 200-210 and in the food industry 180-200 rubles (Lapidus, 190). Such economic sectors and professions as communal services, housing, medicine, teaching, trade and clerical work were the most poorly paid. Therefore, female wages were much lower than male. Another problem faced by women was no enough work to choose from. Many Soviet writers reported that twice as many women than men were holding their works, because no other, more suitable and with wage were available for them. Many women specialists worked at jobs that could have been filled by less qualified persons (Lapidus, 192). Women were still discriminated against in the workplace and in

recruitment.
Most women were unable to focus on their work as men were because they had a household to maintain at the same time. The extent of the resources necessary to free women from domestic drudgery was summed up in study at the time showing that over 7 million domestic workers would be needed to do the shopping, cleaning, cooking and childcare for every 20 million of population (Pickard). However, after a while availability of resources did not much the needs of the workers. Instead of cheap and good quality public food in dining halls, some workers cannot afford to buy meals/quality of food was poor. It led to the position of women as cook and cleaner again, because families went back for eating at home. Without economic independence and a job, simplified divorce only added to the hardship of many women, rather than giving them freedom of choice.
The party of Lenin tried to raise the social position of women. To achieve this goal, women were released from the traditional confines of domestic chores, with childcare becoming the responsibility of society as a whole through the provision of cheap, good quality public dining halls, laundries and nurseries. In reality the complete political, sexual and economic equality of women was just enthusiastic view on new society. Their equality was proclaimed by the state openly and supported by laws, but women conventionally were still discriminated against men in many aspects.