Status of Women in the Lower Don Farms in the 1960-Mid-1980s
The article examines the status of women in the farm and villages of the Lower Don during the blossoming of the Soviet Union in the 1960-mid-1980s. This region is the historical place of inhabitancy of the Don Cossacks. This study considers the part of the adult female working-age population. The role and status of the Cos-sack woman in retrospect, as well as the specifics of her position due to the historical development of the Cossacks are shown. It is noted that the Cossack family was the patriarchal type. The article analyzes the change in the position and attitude to the female population in the Soviet period. Henceforth, the way of life of women was a new set of roles and functions prescribed by the state and society in accordance with the Communist ideology. The importance of women's involvement in the production sector and their participation in public and state activities is identified. Nevertheless, after examining the daily life of the farm female population of the Lower Don, it was found that the prescribed expectations were not supported by the state and party authorities of the district and the region. Attention is drawn to women's commitment to traditional forms of activity and their non-participation in socialist construction and social activities. It describes everyday practices in the daily routine and household, in which a large share was occupied by manual work. The article shows the role of women in the family, their functions for raising children and participation in providing the family budget, due to fishery. Women also take on an important role in preserving and transfer of traditional culture. All this, in many ways, contributed to the preservation of the traditional way of life, at least until the mid-1980s, despite the rooting in this period of time, a different way of life that corresponded to the system of social ideas of the Soviet state.