Representation of male and female family roles in Soviet magazines of the late 1960-ies – 1970-ies

Abstract

The social institution of the family as an environment for the formation and evolution of gender roles is of particular interest for the study of Soviet society. The government controlled the private sphere of public life even in the late USSR. The media were an important social institution that influenced the construction of ideas about gender and reproduced images of desired models of family relations and the gender structure of society. Gender analysis can be used to identify popular stereotypes about masculinity and femininity, as well as gender family roles in the late USSR. In this paper, the author analyzes the materials of Soviet magazines and newspapers published from the late 1960-ies to the 1970-ies: the magazine for parents and teachers «Family and School», the popular science magazine «Health», the advertising magazine «New goods», the children’s magazines «Murzilka» and «Funny Pictures». These publications are aimed at different readership. This allows us to get a more complete picture of the real and desired models of masculinity and femininity in late Soviet society. As a result of the study, conclusions are drawn about significant discrepancies between the declared equality of women and men in Soviet society and the real gender structure. The representation of stereotypical models of family relations indicates contradictions in the peculiarities of male and female gender socialization, as well as in the gender differentiation of family and household functions of men and women.

Keywords

• gender
• gender history
• gender stereotypes
• late soviet society
• family in the ussr
• gender roles in the family
• women and men in the ussr
• periodicals