Julia Ioffe on Russia's Feminist History and Putin's Traditionalism

Soviet Union's Early Feminist Policies

• 💡 The Bolsheviks, after seizing power in 1917, aimed to create a new Soviet society with emancipated women, collectivized domestic labor, and significant rights.
• 🔑 Early reforms included no-fault divorce (1918), paid maternity leave (1918), child support, free higher education, and legalizing abortion (1920).
• 🚀 Figures like Alexandra Kollontai fleshed out Marxist ideas on women's emancipation, advocating for collective child-rearing support, state-run services for domestic tasks, and liberation of sexual desires.
• ⚖️ The goal was to dismantle the bourgeois nuclear family, seen as a building block of capitalist society, by liberating women from economic dependence on marriage and making divorce accessible.

The Reversal of Feminist Gains

• ⚠️ The initial radical social experiment faltered due to state priorities, economic hardship (wars, civil war, famines), and a resurgence of traditionalist views among male leaders.
• 📉 Women were expected to work full-time without the promised state support for childcare and domestic tasks, leading to exhaustion.
• 📌 After World War II, under Stalin and Khrushchev, there was a state-driven emphasis on traditional gender roles, encouraging women to be mothers and wives while still working full-time.
• 💰 Stalin imposed a tax on childlessness in 1944 to encourage a baby boom, and medals were introduced for mothers with many children, a practice later reintroduced by Putin.

Putin's Embrace of Traditionalism

• 🇷🇺 Vladimir Putin's rule has seen a resurgence of hyper-traditionalist and hyper-masculine state policies, influenced by his post-war upbringing.
• ⛪ The Russian Orthodox Church has been empowered to fill the ideological void, promoting a view of men as naturally inclined to war and women as subservient mothers.
• 📢 Recruitment ads for the military play on themes of emasculation, urging men to fight in Ukraine to "be a man" and protect women.
• 🚫 Putin's government has labeled the LGBTQ+ movement as extremist, leading to crackdowns and the propagation of a strict "men are men, women are women" ideology, with Putin citing Western gender values as a reason for invading Ukraine.

Gender Roles and the War in Ukraine

• 💥 Putin's government has decriminalized domestic abuse and encourages women to prioritize childbearing over higher education.
• 💸 Significant financial incentives are offered to men who fight in Ukraine, leading some women to view military service as a financial opportunity for their families, even if it means the soldier's death.
• 💔 Conversely, some women protest the war and the conscription of their sons and husbands, while others express disillusionment with the overwhelming burden of work and domestic responsibilities.

Melania Trump and Putin's Influence

• ✉️ Melania Trump's announcement about a back channel to Putin regarding displaced Ukrainian children was seen as an attempt to neutralize skeptical voices in Donald Trump's ear.
• 🤝 The framing of the issue shifted from "kidnapped children" to "displaced," and Putin's government was described positively, suggesting a potential softening of Trump's stance due to this interaction.
• 🇺🇸 Trump's willingness to pressure Netanyahu compared to Putin is attributed to his admiration for Putin's authoritarian style and the fact that Israel is a US ally with less leverage over Russia.