State Ideologies, State-led Gender Policies and the Role of Zhenotdel in the Soviet Society Experiences of the 1930s

Yıl 2023, Cilt: 2 Sayı: 2, 106 - 116, 30.12.2023

Gökhan Sırmalı Muharrem Doğan

https://doi.org/10.61158/saukad.1322565

Öz

This study discusses gender equality appearances in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) during the time period between 1928 when the first five-year plan was implemented and the end of the 1930s. Investigating to what extent gender equality goals were achieved in the Soviet society gives us the relationship between gender perspectives and ideology, state-led policies, and women’s and men’s experiences in the stated period. The Zhenotdel, the women’s department of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the All-Russian Communist Party, is one of the most crucial institutions to conduct state-led gender policies in the USSR. The study, therefore, starts with the Zhenotdel’s gender policies and further investigates the Zhensektor, a woman section of the Party. The aims of both institutions are not only women’s issues but also matters concentrated on state-led policies and ideologies in the Soviet society. However, Stalin’s declaration of “Socialism in One Country” brought harsh masculine policies and a state-led ideology prioritized that women’s emancipation and gender equality. Therefore, in that period, gender equality in Soviet society could not be achieved.

Anahtar Kelimeler

USSR, Gender Equality, Zhenotdel, State Ideology, State-led Policies.

Devlet İdeolojileri, Devlet Güdümlü Toplumsal Cinsiyet Politikaları ve Sovyet Toplumunda Zhenotdel'in Rolü: 1930'ların Deneyimi

Öz

Bu çalışma, ilk beş yıllık planın uygulandığı tarih olan 1928'den 1930'ların sonuna kadar Sovyet Sosyalist Cumhuriyetler Birliği'ndeki (SSCB) toplumsal cinsiyet eşitliği görünümlerini ele almaktadır. Sovyet toplumunda toplumsal cinsiyet eşitliği hedeflerine ne ölçüde ulaşıldığını ele almak, belirtilen dönemde toplumsal cinsiyet perspektifleri ile devlet ideolojisi, devlet güdümlü politikalar ile kadın ve erkek deneyimleri arasındaki ilişkiyi ortaya koymaktadır. Komünist Parti Merkez Komitesi Sekreterliği'nin kadın birimi olan Zhenotdel, SSCB'deki devlet güdümlü toplumsal cinsiyet politikalarını yürüten o dönemki en önemli kurumlardan biriydi. Bu nedenle çalışma, Zhenotdel'in toplumsal cinsiyet politikalarıyla başlayıp; daha sonra Parti'nin kadın kolu olarak kurulan Zhensektor’la devam etmektedir. Her iki kurumun amacı da yalnızca Sovyet toplumundaki kadın sorunlarını ele almak değil, aynı zamanda Sovyet toplumundaki devlet güdümlü politikaları ve ideolojileri sürdürmektir. Ancak, Stalin'in “Tek Ülkede Sosyalizm” beyannamesi, maskülen politikaları beraberinde getirmiş ve devletçi ideoloji, kadınların özgürleşmesini ve toplumsal cinsiyet eşitliğinin sağlanmasını öncelemiştir. Bundan dolayı bahsi geçen yıllarda Sovyet toplumunda toplumsal cinsiyet eşitliği istenildiği şekliyle hayata geçirilememiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

SSCB, Toplumsal Cinsiyet Eşitliği, Zhenotdel, Devlet İdeolojisi, Devlet Güdümlü Politikalar

Kaynakça

• Arat, Z. F. (2015). Feminisms, Women’s Rights, and the UN: Would Achieving Gender Equality Empower Women? American Political Science Review, 109(4), 674-689.
• Ashwin, S. (2000). Introduction: gender, state and society in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. In S. Ashwin (Ed.), Gender, State and Society in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia (pp. 1-29). New York: Taylor &Francis Books Ltd. Berktay, F. (2010). Tarihin Cinsiyeti. İstanbul: Metis.
• Buckley, M. (1992). Women and Ideology in the Soviet Union (4 ed.). United States of America: The University of Michigan Press.
• Buckley, M. (2001). the Untold Story of the Obshchesvennitsa in the 1930s. In M. Ilıc (Ed.), Women in stalin Era (pp. 151-172). New York: Palgrave.
• Connell, R. W. (1987). Main Structures: Labour, Power, Cathexis. In R.W.Connell (Ed.), Gender and power Society, the Person and Sexual politics (pp. 91-118). Polity Press.
• Council of Europe (2023). Equality between women and men https://www.coe.int/en/web/genderequality/at-a-glance
• Çakır, S. (2007). Feminizm Ataerkil İktidarın Eleştirisi. In H. B. örs (Ed.), 19..Yüzyıldan 20. Yüzyıla Modern Siyasal İdeolojiler (pp. 413-475). İstanbul: Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
• Davies, S. (2011). A Mother's Cares': Women Workers and Popular Opinion in stalin's Russia,1934-1941. In M. Ilıc (Ed.), Women in Stalin Era (pp. 89-110). New York: Palgrave.
• Donovan, J. (2012). Feminist Theory: The Intellectual Traditions. A&C Black.
• Gender Equality Division Department of Justice and Equality. (2017). What is Gender Equality? Retrieved 04 18, 2017, from http://www.genderequality.ie/en/GE/Pages/WhatisGE
• Giddens, A. (1986). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. University of California Press.
• Goldman, W. (2001). Babas at the Bench:Gender Conflict in Soviet Industry in the 1930ss. In M. Ilıc (Ed.), Women in Stalin Era (pp. 69-88). New York: Palgrave.
• Goldman, W. Z. (2002). Women at the Gates. Cambridge: The Press of the University of Cambridge.
• Kay, R. (2000). Russian Women and their Organizations: Gender, Discrimination and Grassroots Women's Organizations, 1991-96. Macmillan Press.
• Kiblitskaya, M. (2000). Russia's female breadwinners. In S. Ashwin (Ed.), Gender, State and Society in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia (pp. 55-70). New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
• Mitchell, J. (1971). Woman's Estate. Penguin Books.
• Reid, S. E. (1998). All Stalin's Women: Gender and Power in Soviet Art of the 1930s. Associatio for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, 57(1), 133-173.
• Sacks, M. P. (1976). Women'sWork in Soviet Russia. New York: Praeger Publishers.
• Schrand, T. G. (1999). The Five-Year Plan for Women's Labour: Constructing Socialism and The 'Double Burden', 1930-1932. Europe-Asia Studies, 58(8), 1455-1478.
• Schrand, T. G. (2001). Socialism in One Gender: Masculine values in the Stalin Revolution. In B. Clements, R.
• Friedman, & D. Healey (Eds.), Russian Masculinities in History and Culture (pp. 194-209). Palgrave Macmillan.
• Scott, J. W. (1988). Gender and the politics of History. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Stites, R. (1976). Zhenotdel: Bolshevism and Russian Women 1917-1930. Russian History, 3(2), 174-193.
• Tong, R. (2014). Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction, Boulder: Westview Press.
• United Nations. (2002). Gender Mainstreaming an Overview. New York: Litho in United Nations.
• United Nations (2023). Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/
• Walby S. (1990). Theorizing patriarchy. Blackwell.
• Walters M. (2005). Feminism: a very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
• Wood, E. A. (2021). Paradoxes of gender in Soviet Communist Party women’s sections (the Zhenotdel), 1918–1930. In The Routledge Handbook of Gender in Central-Eastern Europe and Eurasia (pp. 219-226). Routledge.