History is made up of many different events; such as wars, plagues, revolutions, etc. Such events not only had negative and positive effects on people who lived them but also in the world today. Many of these events were male oriented or when you read about them the writer focuses on how it affected men during its time. Even though male dominated, certain time periods throughout history have had a great influence and participation of Females. Event such as the Bolshevik Revolution had a major impact on the lives of women. Many historians such as Richard Stites believed that the Bolshevik revolution improved the lives of Soviet women. While other Historians such as Francoise Navailh believed that it did not improve women’s lives. So the answer to the question; Did the Bolshevik Revolution improve the lives of Soviet Women can not only be found through the following summarizes of the two different historians argument, but also form your very own knowledge of European history. Professor Richard Stites argue that …show more content…
women’s lives did improve due to the Bolshevik Revolution. His main argument is Zhenotdel and how it helped females receive equal rights and leadership roles. The Zhenotdel was a woman focused committee in the Communist Party. Stites argues that the Zhenotdel created new jobs for women, encouraged them to become educated, and changed the way family structure was viewed. Though many men during this time refused to encourage their wives to change their position in society and at home; women saw the help of the Zhenotdel as a step to reaching emancipation. Richard also states that the Zhenotdel saw to improve every woman. They wanted every women to focus becoming more involved in the revolution by learning and participating. Causing not only the improvement of the middle class women, but also of the peasant women. Clearly, proving that though disapproved by men; women’s lives did improve through the revolution. For the “No” side of the argument Francoise Navailh states that though the Zhenotdel did somewhat improve the lives of Soviet women it did not help them reach complete liberation. Navailh stresses the fact that Soviet women were able to reach certain liberations in marriage, divorce, and job position, but they could not reach the same level of importance of men. Though women were able to work certain jobs men worked they were paid less than the male workers. Also he says that though the “new women” wanted not to depend on a man materialistically or emotionally ; she would never be able to because men would always have more power over them, whether it was through money or position. In the end though changes were made they were never enough for women to find complete equality. Though I understand both sides of the argument I am more inclined to agree with Francoise Navailh’s “No” argument.
I do see how the Zhenotdel did help women pursue emancipation but it didn’t completely give it to them. Just like throughout history and even now in our modern world, women could not reach complete liberation and equality. They may have been able to reach employment in governmental positions but they were never able to reach equal pay. Without equal pay or even receiving the same amount of respect men received, women were never able to be completely emancipated because they would always have to depend on the men. This event in history though it may seem to be the only occasion in which women cannot reach full equality, but it is just one of the many times in which women have been seen as inferior to men. Therefore, causing me to not only agree with the Navailh but also see how the Bolshevik Revolution did not improve the lives of Soviet
women. In conclusion, many historians can argue that the Bolshevik Revolution did improve the lives of Soviet women just like Richard Stites did. Saying that certain groups of women such as the impoverished did improve with the help of the Zhenotdel. While other historians can counter that argument by arguing that though the Zhenotdel did seek to help improve the lives of Soviet women, they could never fully reach liberation because they would always be seen beneath men since it was a man dominated nation. It did not matter how hard they worked and fought, females could not reach full equality which proves that Soviet women’s lives did not improve due to the Bolshevik Revolution. They may have received more right but that did not mean they were completely liberated and equal to men.
In conclusion, these two articles were very well written and can help the reader understand about the women revolutions of 1848. Women were very tired of being categorized as useless people. Eventually, they rose up and wrote demands in Hungary, and in Germany, Zitz’s leadership led the women to a better place than they were before. Essentially, these articles explain the situation in each country as Nemes and Zucker demonstrate how women got their place by exposing their thoughts and researching facts of history. All in all, these articles contribute to an understanding of the 1848 Revolutions.
The book became a great source of information for me, which explained the difficulties faced by women of the mentioned period. The author succeeded to convince me that today it is important to remember the ones who managed to change the course of history. Contemporary women should be thankful to the processes, which took place starting from the nineteenth century. Personally, I am the one believing that society should live in terms of equality. It is not fair and inhuman to create barriers to any of the social members.
In document one, alexandra Kollontai states that the communist party does not care for the female working class. She says that even though the bourgeois do have a women's movement in affect, the working class had no help. She herself is a bit of an anomaly seeing as she had a reputation in economic and social literature before the Russian Revolution. She was one of the few women with such a title before the revolution. Because she had this advantage, she was able to see exactly how the female working class is suffering. In document six, Castro made a speech to the Federation of Cuban Women saying that the Cuban Communist Party is very discriminatory towards women. He acknowledges that women contribute to the party and have sacrificed a lot for the revolution. He even admits that women have higher revolutionary qualifications than men do. Even though Castro made this speech to the Federation of Cuban Women, they were not his intended audience. He was speaking to the communist party, showing his discontent for the way women were being treated. He then goes on to say that they are currently trying to fix this issue, further supporting the women's rights movement in Cuba. Document seven is an open letter by a women's group in Romania for Elena Ceausescu, the wife of the Romanian, communist dictator. The letter says that Ceausescu should know what it is like for the working class women. They spend many hours working and are expecting to come home and do even more work to provide food for their families. It then goes on to state that this lifestyle is very hard and strips them of their will to live, saying that that is ‘utter misery and injustice’. Elena Ceausescu is known for her lavish lifestyle and since she is the wife of the leader, she doesn't face discrimination. Even though she doesn't struggle, she still has the power to change something for the female working class and yet, she doesn't. This goes to
There are many people who have lived through and within the Bolshevik Revolution, so there are a multitudinous variety of perspectives, thoughts, and insights about the revolution. The Bolshevik Revolution is known for many things; some say that the revolution helped women become free of control, and others proclaim that it did nothing but continue to hold women captive of their desired rights. The Bolshevik Revolution article states the side of a history professor Richard Stites, who argues yes the revolution benefited the women whilst the other side is declared no the revolution did no justice for women at all, which was argued by a Russian scholar, Lesly A. Rimmel. The opposing arguments both create an effective view on the revolution, and
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 --...
As women started working, patriarchal control of the family was upset (Faragher 400). Women were now bringing in income just like the men were and to them this was empowering. They now longer depended on a man to survive. Now that women were working many also wanted an education beyond high school. Women started going to college and with a better education were able to further increase the interest of the women 's rights movements (Knight 361). Despite these advances women still were not close to gaining equality to their male counterparts. However they did gain more control of the family’s well being.
...men are not discriminated anymore. Women are not expected to be just a plain housewife, taking care of her husband and children. They get high education and nice jobs with promising salaries. But, some women are still treated the same way they were treated in 1940’s. Paternalistic tradition still occurs in Russia along with other countries. This confirms that there are some similarities and differences for treating women in today’s society compared to the early days.
America has this capitalistic view that women should stay home and be housewives, but just make it easier for them to manage the household. Nixon had this “[a]ttitude toward women is universal. What we want to do is make easier the life of our housewives” (pg. 47 doc 5). America’s decision on just making housewives lives shows how America is not interested in changing and making their economy better. When the topic came up at the debate Nixon decides to avoid the topic. Soviet Union displayed equality of allowing women and men to work to help push forward their economy. Again proving how the Soviet Union was ahead of America in terms of the economical
Women have played a significant role even though they were not in position of power. Women have impacted their society and did many things for the citizens although nobody has really noticed it. Two women that have impacted their society is Queen Elizabeth and Empress Theodora.
Unfortunately, too many students hear teachers say that if it 's in the book, then it must be so. Much of what has been called history has been recorded by men of the dominant culture of that society. The men who write the text decided what should be recorded and what is important. There is little written about women, let alone minority women. A lot of students have deducted that since women and members of minority groups rarely appear in history texts, they contributed little to history.” She even references a book that supports her opinion by Dr. Mary Pipher, a psychotherapist and New York Times best-selling author for her book, Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls (1975), says that when girls and women read a history of Western civilization, they are essentially reading a record of men’s lives. Pipher quotes Dale Spender, author of Man Made Language (1980; 1985), “Women’s accomplishments are relegated to the lost and found.” As girls study Western civilization, they become increasingly aware that history is the history of men. History is His Story, the story of
Therefore, it is apparent that the methods employed to exact gender equality were incapable of achieving success because there was no coordinated effort to eradicate the existing patriarchal undertones pervading Eastern European Communist Society. Moreover, the very of nature of communism, in spite of the rhetoric propagated by communist leaders, may have served to reinforce the patriarchal tendencies already existent in society.
The Effects of Stalin's Economic and Social Policies. One of Russia's most prominent political leaders of all time, was a. man named Joseph Dzhugashvili. A man, who at one time was being trained to become a priest, and would one day become a major. revolutionary in the history of the USSR.
After World War II ended, the U.S was prospering in a new period of technology, a booming economy, and the expansion of consumerism through innovative mass media. However, as the tensions of the Cold War intensified throughout the decade, anything outside of the norm was seen as controversial and pressures to conform shaped the expectations about the roles of men and women in postwar American society. During the 1950s, GI’s and their newly wed wives were moving out of the city to escape urban decadence and into the suburbs, where acres of mass-produced housing awaited; a new system of construction , influenced by the standardization of building materials, based on what one man could manage to carry, the application of assembly line methods-the
Since the beginning of the Soviet Union period, equality between men and women in the country has not yet been granted. One of the central points of the Bolshevik revolution and the Soviet Constitution gave women guaranteed equal rights, thought Russian government still has not kept up with its promises to women along with many other issues. Male citizens in Russia still have the majority of the rights in the country. Failure to resolve this matter, the Russian government has drafted laws that prohibit gender discrimination in the Russia workforce, which never were passed.
The Conditions for Workers and Peasants Under the Bolsheviks and Under the Tsar's Rule Conditions for workers and peasants were deplorable under the rule of the Tsars, but not to the extent they were under the Bolsheviks. Despite the Bolsheviks claiming their policies were entirely in favour of the proletariat, peasants were forced to face horrific famine and a vast decline in living standards under rule by Lenin and the Bolsheviks. When Alexander II came to power in 1855 he realised that in order to modernise Russia and improve the weakening economy he needed to make dramatic reforms. In 1861 Alexander issued his Emancipation Manifesto, proposing 17 legislative acts that would free the serfs in Russia. Even though this new-found freedom in some ways seemed to place a greater burden on the peasants due to heavy redemption payments on their land and little improvement regarding agricultural methods in Russia, the act made the now-freed serfs feel that progress was being made towards a fairer social system in Russia and gave them some hope for more affirmative reforms in the future.