Job cutbacks in administration are 80% 1991) 77% of the unemployed in Moscow are women. It is being considered whether dismissals of women who are the "sole provider" should not be forbidden.
The fact that the Soviet leadership was aware that they had to draw women behind perestroika was shown by the setting up of women's councils in the factories. Their tasks were included in the law on the enterprises but defined in a very
"To concern themselves with matters which affect women at work and in everyday life."
Without clearly defined powers, however, these councils cannot do anything. "One acts according to the motto: beat your wings, as long as you have the strength, but do not dare to step over the boundaries which nature has supposedly set (Sowjetunion Heute, no. 3, 1990)."
A particular problem, which is now at least being brought to public attention through readers letters, is that of the most important method of birth control — abortion. Abortion was legalized immediately after the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks on economic grounds stemming from "state interests".
At this time it was not demanded that women bear children whose upbringing no one could take charge of. Already, by 1923, this freedom was limited; an abortion troika consisting of a doctor, a representative of the health commissariat and a representative of the local soviet now had the final say on whether there were social or medical grounds for the abortion. Abortion again criminalized
The Stalin era marked a big step backwards, abortion being once again made a criminal offence. From 1936 onwards was completely forbidden. In 1955 it was once again officially permitted on medical grounds and since 1968 has been completely free. At present it is the method of birth control.
This development of the abortion question shows clearly that what has been at stake is neither morality nor the welfare of woman and child, but power over women to put them at the disposal of supposed economic imperatives and deprive them of control over their own bodies.
Contraceptive means are not available even in the big cities. The quality of condoms — the production of which has been stepped up in connection with the coming of AIDS — are inadequate (leaky or too solid) and the pill is considered by many women to be so doubtful from a health point of view that they refuse to use it. "The pill is a hormone preparation,
Almost every woman in the ex-Soviet Union has had an abortion, as a rule from one to five times, in some cases as many as 15 times. Obtained without private expenditure it is a bloody and barbaric operation. A quote from a reader's letter is characteristic: nature, and can bear any pain, but it would be better if she did not have to suffer."
It is now being stressed that every woman has the right to anaesthetic, as is also true for births. These take place exclusively in clinics and whether or not painkillers are available is (or was) in most cases related to readiness to pay. From many interviews and descriptions it can be concluded that medical care and drugs can be had for the right price. Women are, naturally, especially bitter about this kind of
Marriage remains norm
Although in much of the ex-Soviet Union living together without marriage is accepted, marriage remains the acceptable norm, one reason often being that it is the only way to attain independence and also the only possibility of having a sex life. Marriage, which is formally only a type of registration, has a romantic component expressed in a ceremony resembling a church ceremony, with white dress, dark suit, bouquets, music and speeches.
The bridal pair can obtain a "marriage book" when they set the date for the marriage — this entitles them to make purchases in special stores, where they can buy a kind of dowry and also marriage
Many marriages do not last long. The divorce rate in the ex-USSR stood at 3.4 per thousand inhabitants compared to a marriage rate of 9.3 per thousand. Requests for dissolution mostly come from women, often owing to the man's alcoholism. Often a "destroyed sex life" is also cited as a reason.
There is virtually no sex education provided in the public education system. At present, however, everything is up for discussion and the need for such education stated. The problem of AIDS, which is now recognized in the USSR, speaks in favour of sex education. At the same time pornography and prostitution are also surfacing.
The material consequences of divorce for women are not serious, although the situation of single women with two or more children is regarded as a social problem. Women have a job and their own income. Maintenance payments are not assure dor more thas. a year care is an 5 cases for five years. Child care is an
•nternational Viewpoint #224 • March 16, 1992
WOMEN: ex-USSR exceptionally difficult problem, as also is general family support.
In families that stay together, it is the women who assume the overwhelming share of housework. Women perform 70% of the shopping, 80% of the cooking, 64% of the washing up, 90% of the washing and 87% of the ironing (the precise figures are from the 1960s, since when the situation has perhaps improved slightly).
### Lack of space
Especially in the big cities, above all in Moscow, some 20 to 25% of families are forced to share accommodation where they lack space. At present each person has some 15.2 square metres of living space (in the USA it is 40 sq. m.).
Big dwellings may accommodate two, three or often more families. Young couples often live with their parents (in-law) so that five or six people are sharing two rooms and cooking and washing facilities have to be shared with even more people. In these circumstances even the installation of a washing machine can lead to major conflicts since this will be an individual and not a collective acquisition. The journal Sowjetunion heute ("Soviet Union Today") calls this "a pre-divorce situation".
The 27th congress of the CPSU in 1986 decided that by the year 2000 every family would have a self-contained dwelling or their own home. Home building was to be officially pushed along, since unexploited capital could be used and one's own home "makes for a strong and big family." The tendency to put the emphasis on the family is here apparent.
While in the countryside the grandmother still often assumes a part of the burden of child-rearing, families in the cities depend on public institutions.
The motherhood laws in the ex-USSR facilitated care by the mother for the first phase of the child's life (the father does not appear in these laws). For the raising of babies, the mother can have a year's part paid leave, which can be extended to one and a half years with a guarantee of a job to return to. In 1990 unpaid maternity leave was extended to three years. Distance of crèches resented
However, in Moscow, for example, it is particularly resented by crèches are usually neither near to their homes nor their workplaces. Women, and sometimes men, must make hourlong journeys twice a day on overcrowded public transport to and from the crèches. As a result, many, especially single women, make use of children's homes which turn the children into weekend visitors.
Many women have a low opinion of kindergartens. Mothers complain that the children are always ill and especially suffer from colds. The groups of children are large - 25 or more.
New pre-school institutions with three million places were envisaged for the 12th Five-Year Plan (1986-1990). In 1983 14.4 million children had places in such institutions, when in 1960 there were only 4.4 million — a rise of four times in 20 years. With a population increase of some 5.6 million, we can estimate that there are some 33 million children of pre-school age, of which some 4-5 million were being looked after at home.
That is, only about half of children find a place in a public institution. The situation in the towns in this respect is better than in the countryside.
In general shopping is women's business. Often groups are formed in the enterprises who send a woman during working time to shop on a shift basis.
### Queuing tripled
Queuing in the shops can be tripled as one 1. chooses the product; 2. pays; and 3. takes the product, sometimes in a different place. Shopping for a family demands an hour and a half. It is easy to understand how necessary a reliably secure supply of the needed goods is.
The number of labour saving household appliances seems considerable. According to statistics from 1983, out of 100 households, 90 had a fridge, 70 a washing machine, 36 a vacuum cleaner, 95 a television and 93 a radio). These appliances often need repairs and the service sector is very inadequate.
In order to offset the privatization of reproductive labour (and housework), the provision of more attractive, cheaper and efficient servicing centres would be needed. However, all public statements and interviews make it plain that the tendency is strongly towards the nuclear family. The re-discovery of the family has gone so far that it is believed that the problem of the dismissal of workers can be solved
Tatyana Zaslavskaya, a member of the Academy of Sciences, has said "in my view a part of the employed women should renounce their jobs and give priority to house work, if the incomes of their husbands rise as planned.
"This leaves open the question of whether women who have qualifications will so simply be ready to leave work. It is hard to believe that women take remarks such as this from a woman professor of medicine seriously: "In the end there is a genetic difference between men and women. If men have to spend too much time in the kitchen they will lose their masculinity."
The small difference, and its big consequences, works out thus for the woman: eight and a half hours work (with a break); one or two hours of travelling to and from work; an hour and a half shopping (this
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March 16, 1991• #224 International Viewpoint must be done every day since storage is a problem and goods in short supply must be hunted up daily).
On top of this should be added an hour and a half to two hours preparation of meals, since ready made meals are rare, and often a further one or two hours clothes' care, since some children's clothes in particular must often be hand washed daily because they are in such short supply.
The woman worker with children then needs at least another half hour to make herself up, since one must be attractive. It is also necessary to sleep, and, after such a day, it is easy to understand why women do not usually have the time for social or political activity.
The time for this would be Saturday, which is above all washing day. In any case school books present the domestic scene thus: mother gets on with the washing, cooking and cleaning, while father watches TV and reads the paper.
Position of men protected
The laws in the ex-Soviet Union which were passed to protect women can be seen to be in reality laws which protect the position of men. The legislation spared men the discussion of their responsibility for reproductive labour. Also here, as in a more explicit sense under capitalism, women have been a part of the reserve army of labour.
The 1919 programme of the Bolsheviks considered equality in marriage and family law to be achieved. The next demand in the programme is concerned with "ideological and educational work" inside the party. The Bolsheviks demanded that in order for "women to be freed from the material burdens of outdated household management, communal housing, public restaurants, wash-houses should be set up at this time."
ideas nor materially has recent policy matched up to this demand. To be sure the 12th Five-Year Plan (19861990) envisaged an increase in the quantity and above all the quality of services and the law on state enterprises of June 1987 explicitly addresses the social tasks in this sphere. But in the centre we find the "strengthening of the family": "A strong family is one of the most important bases
At the 8th Congress of the Writers organization's talked in his programmatic opening speech about the complexity of the marriage problem and decided to strike a positive note: "There are also happy, to a certain extent exemplary families welded together by present and everlasting love." It is to say the least suspicious that a tale with the title "the warmth of a cosy home" won a prize. It is not clear whether this reflected official views, but the title was clearly welcome in the context.
"We must organize the practical activity zie of the state institutions and social organizations in such a way that they strengthen the family and its bases... on this depends whether dynasties of workers are rooted far and wide, to promote good family traditions and to educate the younger generation in the experiences of their elders" said Mikhail Gorbachev at the CPSU's 27th party congress.
The first signs of an independent women's organization could be seen in the 1979 samizdat publication "Women and Russia". This collection presented the situation of women in essays and poems and also dealt with their situation in jail.
The work of the women involved was obstructed by the authorities and they either left the country or became religious. At present there are no signs of feminist self-organization, although in many regions women have founded local groups. It is hard to see much of a real change coming from the former official women's organizations, which are initiated and led from the top.
Women's union founded
It is true that in November 1990 a women's union was founded in the Russian Federation by the coming together of different women's committees, associations and clubs whose aim is to protect "the interests of women and the family" but precisely this formulation reveals that it is not really centrally concerned with women's interests. These women also start from the idea that the women problem should be dealt with "together with the state and legal organs" (SU heute, 12/