Social Issues in Russia Every country in the world has its problems with society. Many have issues with feminism, homosexuality, racism and much more. However, Russia has been through a lot as a country. They went through two world wars where for the majority of the time, most of the world saw them as the enemy. They have dealt with the Cold War, communism, nihilistic movements, and other such matters throughout their long history.
Each country’s history affects the course of how their social issues and society will develop and play out. In Russia, they have had had all those wars, they have occupied other countries, and they have distanced themselves from Western ideas and phenomena at many different times in their past. Compared …show more content…
But by no means have they been completely against women or debasing of what they are capable of. Catherine the Great, after all, is a female called “Great”—and the name still identifies her in history books around the globe. A big reason for the discrepancy in Russian “feminism” is the fact that during the Soviet times, the ideal woman was seen as a hard worker and somewhat opposite of “traditional womanhood,” and after the fall of the Soviet Union, “Russian women welcomed a return to traditional gender roles and felt the urge to overcompensate for years of subjugated femininity” (Bruk, 2014). This is why it seems so backwards to those in the West. To Westerners, it is a “battle for fairness … to be treated more like men, but for post-Soviet Russian women, the battle for fairness … [is to] be treated more like women” (Bruk, 2014). However, it is not backwards if you look at it in a technical sense--in that these women are not feminists according to a dictionary definition, if they indeed are seeking to be treated more like women. Rather, they simply want to be able to express their femininity that was being subdued for …show more content…
Just like any country, they see and do things differently than other countries and cultures. For example, Nicola-Ann Hardwick wrote that “political discourses [in Russia] reconstructed the role of women as belonging to the domestic sphere, feminism continued to be linked with negative connotations such as ugliness, hatred of men, and lesbianism…” (Hardwick, 2014). It is not clear as to what the majority of people in Russia perceive feminism as, but it can be much more or encompass not as much as many might
Each country’s history affects the course of how their social issues and society will develop and play out. In Russia, they have had had all those wars, they have occupied other countries, and they have distanced themselves from Western ideas and phenomena at many different times in their past. Compared …show more content…
But by no means have they been completely against women or debasing of what they are capable of. Catherine the Great, after all, is a female called “Great”—and the name still identifies her in history books around the globe. A big reason for the discrepancy in Russian “feminism” is the fact that during the Soviet times, the ideal woman was seen as a hard worker and somewhat opposite of “traditional womanhood,” and after the fall of the Soviet Union, “Russian women welcomed a return to traditional gender roles and felt the urge to overcompensate for years of subjugated femininity” (Bruk, 2014). This is why it seems so backwards to those in the West. To Westerners, it is a “battle for fairness … to be treated more like men, but for post-Soviet Russian women, the battle for fairness … [is to] be treated more like women” (Bruk, 2014). However, it is not backwards if you look at it in a technical sense--in that these women are not feminists according to a dictionary definition, if they indeed are seeking to be treated more like women. Rather, they simply want to be able to express their femininity that was being subdued for …show more content…
Just like any country, they see and do things differently than other countries and cultures. For example, Nicola-Ann Hardwick wrote that “political discourses [in Russia] reconstructed the role of women as belonging to the domestic sphere, feminism continued to be linked with negative connotations such as ugliness, hatred of men, and lesbianism…” (Hardwick, 2014). It is not clear as to what the majority of people in Russia perceive feminism as, but it can be much more or encompass not as much as many might