War has a Mother’s Face: Reconstructing Femininity in the Post-War Soviet Union

• In Event: Gender, Trauma, and Memory in Wartime: Perspectives from Romania, Kosovo, and the Soviet Union

Abstract

By the end of World War II (WWII), an estimated 800,000 women had enlisted in the Red Army. These women served not only as cooks and laundresses, but in combat positions as snipers, tank drivers, and scouts. Gender equality was a main tenant of Soviet ideology, yet traditional gender roles remained and came under threat by the enlistment of women into the military, a typically masculine realm. Soldierhood, or the task of killing, seemed to contradict women’s maternal, nurturing roles. Soviet policymakers attempted to reinvigorate masculinity, under threat by women’s combat service and the diminished male population, by reconnecting it to military service in the post-war period. This paper argues that femininity needed to be reconnected to parenthood in a similar fashion. Like other countries, the Soviet Union applied pro-natalist policies in order to recover from the devasting wartime losses. These policies also represented a means to reinforce gender roles that had fluctuated under war. Media, such as film, literature, and periodicals, focused on highlighting women’s maternal responsibilities in the post-war period. Whereas periodicals once framed women’s service as symbolizing the guarantee of gender equality, it now came to represent women’s determination to protect children. Moreover, media encouraged women to participate in peace advocation, on the basis of their roles as nurturing mothers. Conflict both breaks and reinforces traditional gender norms, yet despite state efforts, they rarely can be restored to their pre-war form. This study will shed light on the development of post-war Soviet femininity.

Author

• Victoria Brekke Paige, Ohio State U