Gender, equality and difference during and after state socialism / edited by Rebecca Kay.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Kay, Rebecca, 1971-

Series:

Studies in central and eastern Europe

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women--Soviet Union--Social conditions.

Women.

Sex role.

Soviet Union.

Social conditions.

Women--Russia (Federation)--Social conditions.

Russia (Federation).

Sex role--Soviet Union.

Sex role--Russia (Federation).

Soviet Union--Social conditions.

Russia (Federation)--Social conditions--1991-.

Physical Description:

xiii, 237 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Basingstoke ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

Summary:

Gender, Equality and Difference During and After State Socialism examines gender as a socially and culturally constructed phenomenon which is influential in and influenced by state-led policies and structures as well as social practices and relations and which shapes the experiences and lives of both women and men. Focusing on the societies of the former Soviet bloc, the book explores the pivotal nature of the demise of the communist regimes, in relation both to experiences of gender and to their study. Each chapter is based on new and original research either into areas of contemporary life not previously explored in such detail or providing new insight into historical issues on the basis of improved access to sources and the use of new methodologies. The book places the study of gender in the societies of the former Soviet bloc within a wider transnational perspective, challenging essentialist views of these societies and demonstrating the contribution of locally-focused research to wider understandings and theories of gender.

Contents:

Introduction: Gender, Equality and the State from 'Socialism' to 'Democracy'? / Rebecca Kay 1

Part I Equal but Different: State Socialism and Women's Roles in Public and Private Life 19

1 'We were very upset if we didn't look fashionable': Women's Beauty Practices in Post-war Russia / Yulia Gradskova 21

2 How to Combine Motherhood and Wage Labour: Hungarian Expert Perspectives During the 1960s / Ildiko Asztalos Morell 41

3 Reprivatising Women's Lives: from Khrushchev to Brezhnev / Natalia Vinokurova 63

4 Wives or Workers? Women's Position in the Labour Force and in Domestic Life in Sweden and Russia During the 1960s / Helene Carlback 85

5 Heroine Mothers and Demographic Crises: the Legacy of the Late Soviet Era / Sue Bridger 105

Part II (Re-)Negotiating Gender, Equality and Difference in the Post-socialist Era: Rights, Participation and Marginalisation 123

6 'In our society it's as if the man is just some kind of stud': Men's Experiences of Fatherhood and Fathers' Rights in Contemporary Russia / Rebecca Kay 125

7 The Right to be Different? Sexual Citizenship and its Politics in Post-Soviet Russia / Francesca Stella 146

8 Russian Women's Perceptions of Human Rights and Rights-based Approaches in Everyday Life / Vikki Turbine 167

9 Doubly Disadvantaged? Gender, Forced Migration and the Russian Labour Market / Larisa Kosygina 187

10 Press Images of Human Trafficking from Russia: Myths and Interpretations / Mary Buckley 211.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780230524842

0230524842

OCLC:

159610087