Women in contemporary Soviet society

A review of seven books on the lives of women in the contemporary USSR. Prominent themes include: the continued suffering of women under a system that has declared itself to have resolved the problem of female emancipation; the economic miseries of life as a single parent; the isolation, humiliation, callousness, & pain associated with childbirth & abortion; the schizophrenic nature of the female gender role; & the contradictions inherent in official pronouncements on sexual equality, the high levels of education & involvement in the workforce characteristic of Soviet women, & the government concern over the birthrate, which had led to a reaffirmation of traditional family values. These works are considered in light of revelations about Soviet women's lives, made known under the policy of glasnost' (openness) & through the slow emergence of feminism following its suppression under Leonid Brezhnev. 36 References. Adapted from the source document.