le areas iva

Soviet women ina

rapidly c

Not long ago there appeared a fascinat-
ing newspaper piece whose headline
summed up its contents with stark, al-
most forlorn simplicity: ‘‘The problem of
single women in Soviet Byelorussia,” it
said. The article, by TASS correspon-
dent Lilia Lomsadze, described the con-
sequences of a badly skewed male-
female ratio in the city of Minsk, where
marriageable women outnumber the men
by more than two to one. It was a sad
story of searching souls, lonely hearts
clubs and desperate wind-torn messages
pinned to telephone poles and bulletin
boards.

This news from Minsk is just one re-
cent acknowledgement of a problem that
plagues many modern Soviet cities. Ex-
tensive, decade-leaping economic
development in this century has fre-
quently had as its by-product an uneven
distribution of the sexes. Heavy industry
boom-towns, such as the steel center of
Novokuznetsk, are often crawling with
men while places like the textile town of
Ivanovo have the Minsk syndrome with
a vengeance.

In addition, at any given time there are
some three million young men in the
army, for all intents and purposes out of
romantic circulation.

The problem of numbers, however, is
only the tip of the iceberg. It is the easiest
point from which to begin to unravel the
complex riddle of male-female relations
in the USSR at the present moment. In
the course of its rapid development,
Soviet society has created some serious
disparities which in turn put strain on
family life, romantic expectations and the
vision of personal fulfilment. And this is
why Soviet women, who enjoy the most
sweeping economic rights and social pre-
rogatives of any women anywhere in the
world, are not feeling all that liberated
these days.

“We might almost speak of two sepa-
rate cultures, one for men and one for
women,” says Valeria Kalmyk, vice
president of the Soviet Women’s Com-
mittee. Nearly all Soviet women — 92
per cent of them — work or study, she
says. Though generalizations are
dangerous (what follows is mainly valid
for Russia and the European USSR),
Soviet women on the whole demonstrate
more drive, determination and respon-
sibility in their work than men do. This is
reflected in a surprising statistic: 60 per
cent of specialists in the USSR with

Women have a variety of goals to fight
for, some specific and some in. aid of
general social and economic objectives
that affect them disproportionately ...
they have a big stake in peristroika.
Photos: In the Togliatti auto plant, Rus-
sian republic and on a street in Riga.

They also display a far greater zest for

-cultural life. “‘On average,” says Kal-

myk, ‘women go to the cinema, theatre,
exhibitions and concerts far more often
than men.”

Another important factor is that Rus-
sian women do not, by the large, share
their menfolk’s predilection for hard
drinking. Speaking personally, I can re-
call numerous Moscow parties I have at-
tended over the past year that ended up
with the men drinking and singing in the
kitchen, and the women in another room
chatting about literature, fashion, or
dancing with each other.

Today’s single women are the
daughters and grand-daughters of the
“‘widowed generation’ of Soviet women
who came out of the hell of the Second
World War, when the male population
was decimated, and were glad to find a
man, any man. They tended to coddle,
pamper and spoil their menfolk, an under-
standable reaction under the circum-
stances. Today’s young women are
clearly unwilling to follow that example,
but their confusion and frustrations are
frequently in evidence.

Most commonly heard. from them is
the lament that there is not a shortage of
men, but of the right sort of men. The
educational and cultural standards of
Soviet women have risen very high, and
so have their romantic expectations.

“The problem is that there are so few
men among men,”’ says a friend of mine,
Natasha, 32. Natasha booted her hus-
band out of their one-bedroom apart-
ment shortly after their son was born
because, she says, ‘‘I didn’t want to have
to look after two babies.”’

This is not an unusual case. The di-
vorce rate in the USSR is extremely
high, almost one in two, and two-thirds
of these are initiated by women. Few
Soviet women will hesitate to take this
step, if marriage turns out to be unsatis-
factory, because of the powerful legal and
economic advantages they possess.

Except under highly extraordinary
circumstances, Soviet courts always
award custody of children to the mother.
Child care is universally available and
subsidized; many nurseries operate on a
24-hour basis to accommodate shift-

workers — a fact that enables lots of.

single mothers to live their own social
lives. If a child is sick, the mother can
take as much time as she needs from
work, with pay, to look after it. Trade

e:

hanging society

unions are quick to go to bat for any
single mothers who require financial or
other assistance.

Indeed, one often hears from Soviet
women that they have no problems that
call for political mobilization as women to
deal with. Most seem satisfied with their
social and legal status, and with the trade
unions and other mass organizations that

represent them, and prefer to regard their

frustrations as personal or family prob-
lems to be worked out individually. One,

an older woman, once even suggested to.

me that ‘our problems stem from having
too many rights for women.”’

Kalmyk disagrees. She points out that
women have a variety of goals to fight
for, some specific and some in aid of
general social and economic objectives
that affect women disproportionately.
However, she admits, the Soviet Wom-
en’s Committee has been facing an uphill
battle in its new campaign to organize
local women’s councils —the first Soviet
attempt to build a mass movement of
women since the 1920s.

The first thing to note,”’ she says, “‘is
that women have a-~ big stake in the
economic restructuring, perestroika.
Surveys show that Soviet women on
average spend 50 per cent more time on
household chores, shopping and child
care than do their husbands. These bur-
dens fall entirely upon single mothers.
The provision of better services, con-
sumer goods, appliances, housing, and
so on — all primary objectives of peres-
troika — will ease the load and help to
create a better home climate in which the

complexities of male-female relations
can be addressed. In other words, the
balance will shift in women’s favor.
“‘Another area in which women share
an interest is in combatting alcoholism.
Some of our new women’s councils have
already succeeded in creating ‘alcohol
free zones’ in their farms and work-
places. They have a major role to play in

persuading and educating those who

abuse strong drink.”’

Over the long haul, says Kalmyk,
Soviet women need to develop strategies
for increasing their representation in the
higher levels of management and politi-
cal leadership. Despite 70 years of legis-
lated equality, these upper strata remain
very much a boy’s club.

Some figures recently compiled for in-
dustries in which women workers pre-
dominate illustrate the depth of the prob-
lem: women account for 31 per cent of all
managers in light industry, 21 per cent in
the textile industry and just 14 per cent in
the food industry.

Another problem, notes Kalmyk, is
the persistence of disparaging and un-
flattering female stereotypes in the mass
media and cinema. The Soviet Women’s
Committee has taken an active approach
to this, visiting with editors, producers
and writers, and putting forward their
own ideas on how to improve program-
ming and project a better and fairer image
of women. .

What seems clear is that most of the
questions that animate women in the
West — daycare, legal equality, sexual
harassment, abortion, equal pay — are
basically non-issues with Soviet women.
Yet a complex set of different problems
has emerged which affects them deeply.
As Soviet women grow increasingly
self-aware and politicized, it will be
fascinating to watch the forms in which
they seek to redress the imbalances and
disparities between the sexes, and carve
out a new place for themselves within a

_ fapidly changing society.

8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 23, 1987

pact —
possibl

MOSCOW — It is ‘‘possi
and réalistic’’ to believe tha
global ‘double zero’ agreement
medium and short range nucl
missiles can be worked out by!
end of this year, Soviet leat
Mikhail Gorbachev has noted!
ground-breaking foreign poll
analysis published in leading
viet newspapers -late last week

“This treaty on medium 2
shorter range missiles would b
fine prelude to a breakthrough
the talks on large-scale — 501

_ cent — reductions in strategic |

fensive arms in conditions of !
strict-observance of the ABMt
aty,’’ he said.

“T believe that, given mull
efforts in this direction, an acct
on strategic nuclear weape
could become a reality as early
the first half of next year,’ G
bachev said. :

The Soviet leader’s artic
timed to coincide with the 42
Assembly of the United Nati@
and the visit to Washington of §
viet Foreign Minister Edua
Shevardnadze, was the most ¢
finitive statement yet of the ra

‘cal approach to international

sues which Gorbachev calls |
new way of thinking.”’

In it he spells out in thorou
detail the Soviet call for a ‘‘co
prehensive system of intert
tional peace and security,” |
cluding a strong regime of art
control, strengthened roles fort
United Nations and other bodi
of international cooperation a!
regulation, and the integration
global efforts to deal with pro
lems of ecology, disease, hungé
distribution of resources a
development.

Among other things, Gorb
chev met President Reagan’s !
cent challenge that the Sov!
Union should “‘openly publish}
military budget,’’ with the follo\
ing promise: “‘I think that .
within the next two or three yea
we will be able to compare t
figures that are of interest to |
and our partners and which wou
symmetrically reflect the expe
ditures of the two sides.”’

“Tt is becoming impossible |
put up with a situation such as tl
world has found itself in on tl
threshold of the third millenium.
the Soviet leader concluded. ‘“*W
live in the face of the threat ‘
annihilation, in a state of constal
tension, in an atmosphere of su
picion and strife, spending hus
sums and quantities of effort ar
talent of millions of people only |
increase mutual mistrust af
fear.

“The political and moral cot!
of the problem is the trust of tl
states and peoples in one anothe'
respect for international agre¢
ments and institutions.

“‘The idea of a comprehensiv
system of security is the first pla
for a possible new organization ¢
life in our common planetar
home. In other words, it is a
opening to the future where th
security of all is the essentiz
condition for the security
each.”