Who Is in Charge: Economic Resources and Power in Contemporary Russian Households

• In Event: 086 - Regular Session. Economic Sociology. Gender in the Economy

Abstract

Using a recent representative survey and a sample of interviews with 150 heterosexual couples, we investigate household money management and domestic power dynamics in contemporary Russian two-partner families. In the vast majority of Soviet urban families, it was women who controlled domestic money flows: husbands were expected to give most if not all of their cash wages to their wives who would then make purchases to meet household necessities, similar to how money has been managed in American lower-income households. Russian household money management is changing in response to the neoliberal market reforms, including labor market and welfare policy changes as well as the rise of neo-conservative gender ideology. We find that while about 45% of contemporary Russian two-partner households pool money and manage it jointly, and about a quarter of families exhibit the Soviet-style money management with women in charge (less affluent families and less educated wives), families with men in control of domestic money are on the rise, particularly among younger and more affluent spouses who have been married for less than 20 years and have dependent children. While previous work finds evidence for the feminization of poverty in the postcommunist region, and others emphasize that poverty and gender inequality correlate with the prevalence of female-dominated households, we limit our analysis to two-partner households, and underscore the otherwise hidden aspects of inequality – access to household money among the relative “winners” of the transition: younger and more affluent families.

Authors

• Alya Guseva, Boston University

• Dilyara Ibragimova, National Research University-Higher School of Economics