Soviet social policy during the Great Patriotic War, 1941-1945: gender aspect
The article is devoted to the gender aspect of social policy during the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. On the base of the wide set of documents the author demonstrates the process of women getting involved in all spheres of economy with the exception of high-ranked positions in the government and army. The gender tendency in employment policy was the involvement of women to the professions which were traditionally considered male. The successful labor of women on the front and in the interior demonstrates that division of professions to “women’s” and “men’s” can be characterized as biological determinism. The family policy was the policy of the strengthening of the state regulation of family. The author shows that state policy in stimulating birth rate and strengthening family values was accompanied with limitations of family rights for its independent development. State education policy broke the principles of gender equality as well. In the public administration the gender policy was also determined by conditions of the war time. The author concludes that the essential trait of Soviet social policy during the Great Patriotic War was gender pragmatism.