Evening star., 1941-11-02
New Day for Russian
Women
BIZ Frederic J. HdSkin.


battle is nothing new in the worlds long
chapter of wars, but 1t focuses attention
on what women of Russia have been ex-
| periencing for quarter century. That
experience, or more aptly put, a renais-
sance for Russian women, is one of the
finest chapters of Russias progress under
| its present regime Women doing battle
at the front is only an outward reVela-
ton OF what has been accomplished in
the short space of IS years.
Women of Russia, like women in all
other lands, have not always enjoyed
what they do today. Their task was
hard enough before the end Of the first
World War. At that time millions of
Russias young men had been slaugh-
tered in the marshes of East Prussia. in
the Galician hills and elsewhere. The
1917 Bolshevist revolution had been fol-
lowed by disastrous foreign invasion and
civil strife Russia credit was gone and
her capitalist neighbors looked on her
with great suspicion and fear. Her
leaders realized that, at whatever cost,
it vas vital for Russia to transform her
bankrupt agricultural economy into that
of modern industrial state.
To carry on an unprecedented program
of work and more work was the order Of
the day. Turning furroWs in field or
operating machine in factory became
more important than raising family, so
domestic life began to be looked upon as
a sort of privilege TO be taken on or
discarded at will. Divorces became in
creasingly common, one court handling
5000 in one year. And divorce was quite
a simple matter, for all a bored citizen
| had to DO was to visit the Bureau OF
Vital Statistics and request papers Of
freedom. Three rubles was the charge,
and on payment of the fee a post card
was sent notifying his erstwhile mate
that a divorce had been granted.
Whether the card arrived or not was Of
no concern, for its recording as having
been sent could not be contested.
This loose and unorthodoX handling of
divorces was looked upon in many in
stances as means of freeing many men
for state labor activities. for 1t was found
that worker without dependents MADE
higher average in production, What
Russia needed was more man power for
the state let the home fare the best 1t
could
But while all this was going on Russia
was brought face TO face with the fat
that nations home life is the nation
life. and without the first the second !,
of little value In the case Of RuSs.9,
family life had to be given a first con-
sideration because it had no stream Of
immigration to draw upon as did the
United States between 1865 and 1915.
So abruptly, The post card divorce pro-
cedure was abolished. The infuentsl
Soviet press began to speak Of the re-
sponsiblit!es Of marriage of the need for
family life, Of the mutual duties CT
, parents and offspring A new code OF
, ethics had been put into operation. Thai
was the beginning of the building OF
, new womanhood in Russia. Moreover.
officials began to check the number O.
! dependents who had been forced upon
the state for support as result Of loose
divorce laws, for practically no penaltr
for failure to support minor children was
involved in the dissolution of a marriage.
Divorce. of course still remains priv
> ilege of the dissatisfied, but it is not n
be undertaken casually. A document {.
separation must be signed by both hus
band and wife and where there is &c
sertion, the plaintiff must wait al lea
six months before the Official partirc.
And. above all. any children affected
must be considered. No ahmony :,
T granted except in cases where there a.
= minor children, and if an alimony dodge
S is caught and usually he is, he goes 10
! prison for two years.
S So, when Russia decreed that man
= could not marry for mere convenience
j and leave wife at will Russian women
e came in for new respect. At this time.
r too. Stain began to ask that more atte.l-
)" ton be given the individual, that the
man as we'll as the machine be guarded,
and that everywhere woman be given
, due respect and opportunity to rise in
the role of respected motherhood And
, it is here that woman. as child bearer
and rearer, steps into the breach. Give
her a stabilized family and the soil will
be firm for the roots of that future en-
lightened and socially minded popula-
ton.
Within 10 years after this new awaken
ing over the proper treatment of Russian
women nearly 5000 900 were enrolled III
the National Air and Chemical Defense
Society Hundreds became pilots, and
one group of women designed a sport
plane capable of making $50 miles an
hour In 10 years. too Russia had en-
: rolled 100000 crack markswomen and
r half a million more were in training for
sharpshooterS' medals
This new day for Russian women
ushered in other things for them. A
survey, for instance, was conducted
throughout Russia to see that women
y received the places they merit in in
dustry and the professions along with
5 men, with equal compensation and with
. equal opportunity. Party groups got busy
ferreting out negligent application of the
laws that guarantee women chance to
S advance in any field. AS a result. there
. is no profession or occupation in Russia
in which women do not hold important
posts In industry they hold approxi-
. mately 10 per cent of the key jobs about
per cent in transportation and COM
mercial organizations, and among sclen-
tific workers 80 per cent are women.
This new emphasis on womanhood
and family life in Russia received a
= symbolic and official approval a little
more than six years ago when Josef
Stain was photographed for the first
time with his family. Until then no.