page_title: Soviet working class
section_title: Women
hierarchical_section_title: Soviet working class / Employment / Women
caption_attribution_description: English: “Bolshevichka garment factory”. Suits for men are manufactured at the Bolshevichka garment factory. Русский: «Швейная фабрика "Большевичка"». Швейная фабрика "Большевичка" по пошиву мужских костюмов. Россия, Москва
context_page_description: The Soviet working class was, according to Marxist–Leninist theory, supposed to be the Soviet Union's ruling class during its transition from the socialist stage of development to full communism. However, it's commonly argued that its influence over production and policies diminished as the USSR's existence progressed.
context_section_description: The early Soviet government ensued a policy of pushing more women into urban industrial employment; these policies were ideologically, politically and/or economically driven. The post-revolutionary turmoils which took place hampered any improvements for immediate prospects of increased employment of women in urban areas.  The 13th Party Congress, held in 1924, took employment of women very seriously, and were alarmed with the developments in the country; employment of women had decreased to 23 percent of the total workforce from 25 percent. By 1928, the proportion of women working in the workforce had increased to 24 percent. During Joseph Stalin's rule the number of women working increased from 24 percent of the workforce in 1928 to 39 percent in 1940. In the period 1940–1950 women were 92 percent of new entrants in employment; this is mostly due to the exodus of the males who fought during World War II. As seen in the table, the return of males to civilian life decreased women employment;  56 percent of the workforce were women in 1945, it decreased to 47 in 1950.
  A last, major campaign to increase women employment was initiated in the 1960s because of labor shortages across the country. A 1959 census stated that out of the 13 million able-strong people who could work, but didn't, 89 percent of them were women. These women lived in small urban areas with low, or bad child-care facilities. In the period 1960–1971, 18 million new women were employed, the majority of them came from households. This source of labor was exhausted nationwide, except within the Soviet Muslim community. Employing women was a major problem in Soviet Central Asia, the majority of women working the Central Asian republics were of Russian or Ukrainian ethnicity. An example, in 1973 54 percent of the population of Turkmenistan were employed, of these, less than one-third of them were ethnic Turkmen.
  Similar to capitalism, patriarchy and the role of women played an important part in Soviet development. Before Stalin became premier, the government initiated a policy which ended discrimination against women in the workplace. However, Stalin's government was more conservative, and overturned several Bolshevik legislations. While not opposing that women should work, women were given low-level jobs and were, in the workplace, on the bottom of the social ladder. Women were given the lowest-paid jobs and low-skilled jobs. Another problem was that while women were proletarianised, their family burdens increased – women were still expected to continue their traditional duties at home and in the family.
  Despite discrimination, several advances were made. For instance, in 1926 9 out of every 10 working women worked in agriculture, in 1959 this had decreased to half of working women and in 1975 under a third of women worked in agriculture. A major reason for the increasing role which women held in the workforce was due to the fact that, by 1960, there were more women than men in the Soviet Union. Women were the logical replacement for men – a source which was becoming dry. Another reason for the increasing role of women was that average wages were too small; women needed to work if the picture of the average Soviet family would become reality.
caption: Suits for men are manufactured at the Bolshevichka garment factory by women
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