Copyright by Tatiana Borisovna Segura 2008 - The University of ...

spreading gender prejudice in Russia. The transformation of the collectivist value system
which (at least in theory) promoted egalitarian relations between genders into a more
individualistic one, gave rise to a new wave of gender prejudice and discrimination in
Russia. According to Attwood, “the market economy is said to require just those traits
which have traditionally been ascribed to men – entrepreneurship, individual
responsibility, activity, initiative, rationality, courage, a willingness to take risks – and
the demise of state socialism has been accompanied by a celebration of masculinity”
(Attwood Young People, Sex and Identity 112).
In general, the process of post-communist transition had a strong negative effect
on the lives of Russian women (Stulhofer and Sandfort; Moghadan; Lapidus;
Posadskaya; Attwood Young People, Sex and Identity). The unstable economy caused
high rates of unemployment in post-communist Russia, and women were among the first
employees to get fired or laid off. The inability to be financially secure caused by
unemployment lowers the social status of women to the role of housewives who are fully
dependent on their husbands/male partners to provide for the family. The economic
instability and financial insecurity also bring many marriages to an end and lower the
likelihood of marrying.
Gender and family
According to Kotovskaia and Shalygina, quoting Olga Voronina (a Russian
researcher studying the emergence of Russian feminism), because of the power of the
totalitarian regime and Russia’s firm patriarchal relations in all spheres, the traditional
sex-role balance has persisted longer in Russia than in many Western countries (127).
This traditional sex-role balance assigned men the position of primary breadwinners and
women the position of principal family caretakers. The clash between traditional female
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