women's suffrage movement in russia
To further their cause, American women took lessons from women elsewhere, who argued for universal suffrage as a war measure. On the newly-established Women’s Day in 1914, a group of Bolshevik women, including Konkordiia Samoilova, Nadezhda Krupskaia and Inessa Armand, published the first Russian socialist women’s journal, Rabotnitsa (The Woman Worker). The Russian Revolutions of 1917 saw the collapse of the Russian Empire, a short-lived provisional government, and the creation of the world's first socialist state under the Bolsheviks. The life of the first Soviet family. 1921: Armenia grants women's suffrage. The situation for women in Russia is getting worse, activists say. However, in Russia this wasn’t really an issue since nobody, regardless of gender, had rightto vote until 1905 anyway. ", Ruthchild, Rochelle Goldberg. • Clements, Barbara E. "Working-Class and Peasant Women in the Russian Revolution, 1917-1923" Signs 8#2 (1982), pp. Nonetheless, Soviet Russia’s charter for women’s rights was decades ahead of any capitalist country. ", "Teaching & Learning Guide for: Men, Women and an Integrated History of the Russian Revolutionary Movement. [7] Barbara Engel has explored the ways the revolution was gendered. More radical groups, such as the Russian Union for Women’s Equality, and journals dedicated to the ‘woman question’ were established. The outbreak of the First World War provoked a surge of patriotism in Russia, among both men and women, and the popular press were fulsome in their praise of … However by 1908, the forces of reaction were pushing back hard, and feminists were in retreat. Women’s Movement in Russia and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The "women's suffrage movement" (or "woman suffrage movement") includes all the organized activities of reformers to change laws that kept women from voting or to add laws and constitutional amendments to guarantee women the right to vote. [18], While men were forcibly conscripted for service in the civil war when multiple enemies tried to overthrow the Bolsheviks, women were not required to participate. Brazil: 1932. The Soviet Union now has all levels of government being controlled by the Communist Party, which effectively rules the country. ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Women_in_the_Russian_Revolution&oldid=1007515377, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Clements, Barbara E. "Working-Class and Peasant Women in the Russian Revolution, 1917-1923", DeHaan, Francisca, Krassimira Dasskalova, and Anna Loutfi (eds. In the West, the suffragette movement struggled for political rights. Women advocating for these kinds of political rights generally came from upper and middle-class background, while poorer women protested for "bread and peace. By 1936, Joseph Stalin reversed most of the liberal laws, ushering in a conservative, pronatalist era that lasted for decades to come. "Women's Suffrage and Revolution in the Russian Empire, 1905-1917". The struggles to extend the franchise, so that women would have the right to vote in elections to the Duma, saw a mass participation of women. From the mid-19th century, Russian intellectuals, such as the anarchist Petr Kropotkin, began to take an interest in the ‘woman question’. In 1872, Susan B. Anthony illegally voted and her arrest revitalized the Suffrage movement. Lenin spoke often of the importance of relieving women from housework so they could participate more fully in society, and an effort to pay workers for household chores began. The bourgeoisie granted this concession in the face of the Russian Revolution and massive class struggle between 1917 and 1920. South Carolina women were a part of the fight for suffrage that started here in the years after the Civil War. Ruthchild, Rochelle Goldberg. They thought men and women needed to work together with no division, and because of this, in the party's early days, there was no literature printed specifically targeting women, and the Bolsheviks refused to create a bureau for women workers. The roots of women’s suffrage movement in general can be found in the 18th century: Olympe de Gouges, widely regarded as being the first champion of female suffrage, published her declaration of rights of the woman and the female citizen (Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne) after the French Revolution in 1791. Other woman suffrage conventions were held as the movement gained its first mass strength, but at first no way of extending the vote to women was known except by amendments to the constitutions of the various states. Suffragerefers to the right to vote, and typically the term is used to refer to wom… In book: The Women's Movement in Wartime (pp.124-140) Authors: They argued that these ‘bourgeois’ women could not understand the needs of workers and peasant women and that the women’s movement threatened working-class solidarity. [8] as a consequence, reformers and revolutionaries generally viewed women as backward and superstitious, and not to be trusted politically. [11] In light of the participation of women in the February Revolution, the Bolshevik Party began to rethink and restructure its approach to "the women question." ", Barbara Alpern Engel, "A Gendered Revolution? Feminism in Russia originated in the 18th century, influenced by the Western European Enlightenment and mostly confined to the aristocracy. While International Women's Day is marked Friday across many countries with calls for gender equality, in Russia it is still a holiday largely focused on celebrating outdated gender roles. "Revolution begins at home? [25], Gender representation on corporate boards of directors, Science, technology, engineering and mathematics, Film directors, cinematographers and screenwriters, The February Revolution and its impact on the Bolshevik party, The Women Questions and Bolshevik politics. Russian women are equal in theory, but not in practice. [19] The principle "Equal pay for equal work" was officially legislated. According to Elwood, the reason the party leadership agreed to back up Armand’s agitation for communal facilities was that the Civil War required enlisting women into factory work and auxiliary tasks in the Red Army, which created the need to release women from traditional duties. The suffrage movement made it easier for women to attend professional training and colleges just like men to compete on fairer grounds. The Russian Revolution, which was welcomed by millions of workers across Europe, played a decisive role in the achievement of votes for women in Britain. The provisional government that took power after the February 1917 overthrow of the tsar promoted liberalism and made Russia the first major country to give women the right to vote. More radical groups, such as the Russian Union for Women’s Equality, and journals dedicated to the ‘woman question’ were established. When a Russian army recruitment office ordered a photoshoot to celebrate International Women's Day, it didn't feature any of the 45,000 women currently serving in the country's armed forces. The young Russian feminist movement was exhilarated by the uprising of 1905, which was followed by a liberalization of some of the tight restrictions on women, and the creation of a national parliament. Beth Holmgren and Rochelle Goldberg Ruthchild (eds. [13], Beginning in October 1918, the Soviet Union liberalized divorce and abortion laws, decriminalized homosexuality, permitted cohabitation, and ushered in a host of reforms that theoretically made women more equal to men. [citation needed] Outside the Bolsheviks, Maria Spiridonova emerged as one of the main leaders of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries and generally of the peasant movement: she chaired the Extraordinary All-Russia Congress Of Soviets Of Peasants' Deputies in late November 1917, and was later appointed head of the Peasant Section of the Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian Soviet of Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Deputies (VTsIK) until July 1918. After the February Revolution of 1917, feminist lobbying gained suffrage a The campaign for women’s suffrage and equality in Russia gained momentum during and after the 1905 … In 1859 Saint Petersburg Imperial University allowed women to audit its courses, but the policy was revoked just four years later. In 1889, Wilhelmina Drucker founded a women's movement called Vrije Vrouwen Vereeniging (Free Women's Union) and it was from this movement that the campaign for women's suffrage in the Netherlands emerged. On the other hand working class was gendered as male, which impeded innovations. With the 1905 revolution the general picture radically changed, with many women now participating in events such as those lead by Father Gapon. 1921: Sweden gives women voting rights with some restrictions. Does Russia need a #MeToo movement? Inessa Armand (1874-1920) was an active revolutionary who was very close to Lenin; she was given major roles after he assumed power. Only a small minority of peasant women joined the Bolshevik cause. In March 1917, the largest women’s demonstration in Russia’s history took place in Petrograd. Lenin never fully recovered his health. Indeed after 1905 radical elements increasingly conceptualized women as locked out of the public sphere, were only men were legitimate participants. Led by Poliksena Shishkina-Iavein, President of the League for Women’s Equal Rights and Russia’s first female gynecologist, and the revolutionary Vera Figner, the march was attended by up to 40,000 women. Women were barred from universities, and there was a general sense of despair among liberal forces. The initial difficulties in linking the struggles against specific gender oppression to the more generalised class struggle often made these women easy prey for the feminist bourgeois movement. Ruthchild, Rochelle Goldberg. Rabotnitsa ceased publication after only seven issues but was revived in 1917 and became one of the main Bolshevik publications. They gained rights under the provisional government, including the right to vote, to serve as attorneys, and equal rights in civil service. These intellectuals, mostly men and a few noblewomen, debated in salons and the press on the issue of women’s legal and social status and their role in the family. [12], The Bolsheviks had opposed any division of the working class, including separating men and women to put some focus specifically on women's issues. They were able to equalize women's legal status with men's by reforming certain laws such as the Code on Marriage, the Family, and Guardianship ratified in October 1918 which allows both spouses were to retain the right to their own property and earnings, grant children born outside wedlock the same rights as those born within, and made divorce available upon request. Some Marxists referred to women workers as the "most backward stratum of the proletariat" and accused them of being unable to develop a revolutionary consciousness without party guidance. He believed that the oppression of women was a function of their exclusion from the public production sphere and the relegation to the domestic sphere. Digital Material (43) Overview. [14] The new system produced many broken marriages, as well as countless children born out of wedlock. Rochelle Goldberg Ruthchild research materials on the women's rights movement in Russia Collection Overview. The Communist Women’s Movement pointed to Russia as proof of what women would gain under workers’ rule. Following the Russian Revolution, a small number of suffragettes transferred their allegiance from the women’s movement to international communism. Patriarchal gender roles were way of life in villages, and the village was the only life peasant women knew. During the revolution of 1917 and 3 year Russian civil war, the Bolshvik Party under Vladimir Lenin took over soviet forces. In the 1860s in Saint Petersburg a feminist movement began to coalesce, led by Anna Filosofova (1837-1912), Nadezhda Stasova (1835-1895), and Mariia Trubnikova (1835-1897), together known as the "triumvirate". Having determined the perceptions of women's roles in each of the three time periods, students analyze primary sources that outline the methods used and reforms demanded by the woman's suffrage movement in each time period. Peasant women also took on new roles, taking over some of their husbands' farm work. At first, feminists concentrated on providing women in the Russian Empire with proper education (until 1868, women had no access to universities) and jobs (since single women were financially vulnerable). All women's combat units were put into place, the first of these forming in May 1917. "Men, Women and an Integrated History of the Russian Revolutionary Movement. ", Pushkareva, Natalia. By the mid-nineteenth century, West European notions of equality were starting to take hold in Russia. The campaign for women’s suffrage and equality in Russia gained momentum during and after the 1905 Revolution. [6], During this time Bolshevik feminism really began to take form. In many areas, such as Yaroslavl, the female turnout exceeded that of men. One of the leaders of the 1910s Women's Voting Rights Movement for the 19th Amendment; founder of National Woman's Party, initiator of the Silent Sentinels and the 1913 Women's Suffrage Parade, author of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment A few women were highly visible in this revolution, especially those who gathered in mass protest on the International Women's Day to call for political rights. "Soviet and Post-Soviet Scholarship of Women’s Participation in Russia’s Socio-Political Life from 1900 to 1917. The specific features of the women’s movement in Russia were determined by the distinctive elements in the country’s historical development. [3] The social conditions of women during World War I affected the role they played in coming revolutions. ), Dzhumyga, Ievgen. Under the leadership of Alexandra Kollontai, and with the support of women like Inessa Armand and, Nadezhda Krupskaya the Zhenotdel spread the news of the revolution, enforced its laws, set up political education and literacy classes for working-class and peasant women and fought prostitution. "‘What did you do in the Revolution, Mother?’ Image, myth and prejudice in Western writing on the Russian Revolution. While some were part of the radical revolutionary tide that overthrew the tsar (the Slavic term for a king or monarch) and resulted in Soviet socialist rule, others sought individual rights without such large-scale political change. [1], The outbreak of war in August 1914 was a surprise; the Empire was poorly prepared. They made explicit commitments to promote the equality of men and women. Historians and librarians at the University of South Carolina have played a major role in documenting and preserving their stories. The latter played a reactionary rol… The convention, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Susan B. Anthony, marked the beginning of the women’s suffrage movement. This is a site dedicated to the history of the Russian women's suffrage movement. 1921: Lithuania grants women's suffrage. › bl.uk/women-and-the-russian-revolution, Leadership and political participation – [UN Women] Women in Parliaments: World Classification – [IPU], Copyright © 2021 (RYB) Red Yellow Blue, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Get Started “It is therefore perfectly right for us to put forward demands for the benefit of women. Along with educated women of the intelligentsia, female workers and peasants also called for the right to vote. Throughout the 19th century, the idea of feminism remained closely tied to revolutionary politics and to social reform. The month of August marks 100 years since the ratification of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote in the United States. Rochelle Goldberg Ruthchild, "Women's Suffrage and Revolution in the Russian Empire, 1905-1917," in Karen Offen, ed., Natalia Pushkareva, "Soviet and Post-Soviet Scholarship of Women’s Participation in Russia’s Socio-Political Life from 1900 to 1917. Peasant women were largely uninvolved in both the "bourgeois" feminist movement, and the Bolshevik revolution. [24] Armand also chaired the First International Conference of Communist Women in 1920. ), Extraordinary All-Russia Congress Of Soviets Of Peasants' Deputies, Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian Soviet of Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Deputies (VTsIK), Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil War § Women and families, "Did the Russian Revolution Really Change Much for Women? [4], The February Revolution toppled the tsarist regime and established a provisional government. Engels' 1890 work on The Women Question influenced Lenin heavily. In 1917, they acquiesced to the demands of the Russian feminist movement and created the Women's Bureau. In the 20th century Russian feminists, inspired by socialist doctrine, shifted their focus from philanthropic works to organizing among peasants and factory workers. Inessa Armand (1874-1920), Alexandra Kollontai (1872-1952), Nadezhda Krupskaya (1869-1939) and Aleksandra Artyukhina (1889–1969) were prominent Bolsheviks. There was a precipitous decline in the birth rate, which the Kremlin perceived as a threat to Soviet military power. However, it's important to realize that women's suffrage took place in many countries, not just the United States. [21] She became head of the Moscow Economic Council[22] and served as an executive member of the Moscow Soviet. "Women and Gender in 1917." The campaign for women’s suffrage and equality in Russia gained momentum during and after the 1905 Revolution. ), McDermid, Jane. Many early Russian feminists and ordinary Russian working women actively participated in the Revolution, and all were affected by the events of that period and the new policies of the Soviet Union. 1920: Women's suffrage is granted in Albania, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. In 1848 women and men met in Seneca Falls, New York to advance the cause for women’s rights. Explore women’s activism from generations past and present. These intellectuals, mostly men and a few noblewomen, debated in salons and the press on the issue of women’s legal and social status and their role in the family. She drove through reforms to allow women rights to divorce, abort, participate in government affairs and create the facilities like mass canteens and mother centers. Through these opportunities, women accomplished greater duties, such as being leaders in society. As soon as the Bolsheviks took power in October 1917, they liberalized laws on divorce and abortion, decriminalized homosexuality, and proclaimed a new higher status for women. "Women's Suffrage and Revolution in the Russian Empire, 1905-1917," in Karen Offen, ed., Turton, Katy. [9][10] Many wrote and theorized on the issue, but many Russians associated the issue mainly with feminists. In sharp contrast to the West, however, the Russian discussions regarding the rights and roles of women did not form part of the basic struggle for human rights. Before the revolution, feminism was condemned as "bourgeois" because it tended to come from the upper classes, and was considered counterrevolutionary because of the perception that it would have divided the working class. Maybe some of you are thinking: ''What's a suffrage movement?'' Pamphlets, books, periodicals, and organizational reports documenting activism and public debates surrounding women’s rights and health in early 20th-century Russia. But family lawyers and women’s rights workers believe the legislation represents a turning point in the freedoms of Russian women, a dark signal from the … The weakness of the cult of domesticity in the Imperial era facilitated the introduction of innovative Bolshevik policies. January 2007; DOI: 10.1057/9780230210790_8. After the February Revolution, the fight for women’s suffrage increased, in line with the general call for the implementation of democratic reforms. The number of women workers in industrial centers rose to over one million as 250,000 women joined the workforce between 1914 and 1917. [23] In 1918, with Sverdlov's assistance against opposition from Zinoviev and Radek, she succeeded in getting a national congress of working women held, with Lenin as a speaker. 215-235 online [2] Women fought directly in the war in small numbers on the front lines, often disguised as men, and thousands more served as nurses. ", Donald, Moira. "The Home Front In Odessa During The Great War (July 1914–February 1917): The Gender Aspect Of The Problem.".