The Bashkir Woman’s Social Status within the Family in the First Soviet Decade

Abstract

Introduction. This article attempts a review of key trends in the transformation of Bashkir women’s social status within the family framework between 1917 and 1927. Goals. The study employs newly discovered data to show some specific features in the marital status of Bashkiria’s women in the 1920s. Materials and Methods. Relevant documents from the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History and the National Archive of the Republic of Bashkortostan served as the main sources for the research; published materials on the subject also proved as instrumental and efficient. The research methods employed include statistical, descriptive, and comparative historical ones. Results. The research indicates that the period under consideration was marked by the struggle of dedicated women to improve their positions in various spheres including that of the family. The struggle was long and painstaking. In Bashkiria, the old ways were changing slowly, and throughout those years traditional Bashkir customs and perceptions continued to play an important role in regulating family and marriage institutions. Such phenomena as polygamy, early marriages (including unwilled and unequal ones), kalym and others were still quite common. Nevertheless, the first decade of Soviet rule in the republic was also a period of serious success marked by advancing the de facto equality of women in the family, and the legislative measures did seek to improve the marital status of women. The analysis shows that in the period in question was witnessing a radical transformation in women’s positions in the family and everyday life contexts. The research allows for a conclusion that the image of a ‘new woman’ in the family sphere was being shaped during the first Soviet decade.