Gender and Equality in the Workforce in the USSR

Gender and Equality in the Workforce in the USSR

For every person, different reasons exist to go out and seek employment. These reasons, however, stem from the type of government that people are ruled by. In Russia, during the period that will be discussed, a Socialist government ruled the USSR. It was under this government, that everyone was to have a job and unemployment was to be kept at a minimum. During this socialist regime, the attitudes to working will be taken from the perspectives of three related women. The first woman, Mela Krul, was born in 1932 and is the mother of Alla Veitsman and Helen Krul Zlatkin. Alla Veitsman is the oldest sister and was born in 1954. Although her work experience under the socialist government is brief, it shows signs of the progress that women made during the middle to late 1900s. Helen Zlatkin, born in 1962, had no work experience in the former USSR, but her personal account demonstrates the types of choices that women made in order to have both family and work. Mela Krul was the only one who had extensive work experience in the USSR, but she was able to see the changes and progress that women underwent through the daily activities and choices that both of her daughters made. As these three women came to the United States of America, along with their families, they faced a democratic government where employment was not guaranteed and women did have to face the hardships of unemployment, and more importantly, inequality. It would be the values and traditions that both Alla and Helen believed in that allowed them to be successful and relatively unaffected by inequality.

In the time period that the three women lived in the USSR, society was ruled by socialism (communists did exist, but were not the majority). Under this theory of government, everyone worked; it was believed to be a disgrace if a person simply sat at home and did not participate in the labor force. The goal was to have every citizen in the USSR working; there was little focus on quality or productivity, "Early Soviet policies rested on the assumption that genuine equality and independence for women depended on full economics participation." (Lapidus 168) People were encouraged to work, not to meet their potential in the workplace. In order to receive their monthly pay in rubles, the workers had a quota to meet. The workers rarely met this quota --...

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...to a certain age group desire these things -- but she did not take into account immigrants. No matter when a certain immigrant woman is born, once she has arrived into the United States she wants a job and a family -- a career comes later. For an immigrant woman, it is never a question between a family or a job, you have both -- you must have a job to keep the family healthy and in need of nothing. For an immigrant woman coming from a socialist government where benefits were nonexistent, jobs in America that do offer benefits do not advocate inequality, but advocate progress and an opportunity to support one's family by fully participating in the labor market. Immigrant families never lose sight of the importance of family and the support that they can offer you. Society is constantly changing and new and better things are always improving, but the help of one's family members can never be overlooked -- some traditions promote modernization and progress. The authors of the economic models discussed try to fit people into categories without taking into account very important exceptions -- personal values will never fit into categories and will always promote equality and progress.