This document provides an overview of a research project analyzing the construction of women's images in Soviet fiction movies from 1967 to 1982. It examines how women are portrayed as workers, wives, and mothers through a discourse analysis of 5 popular movies from the period. Preliminary findings suggest the films replicated gender patterns from early Soviet cinema and displayed conflicts between women's work and family roles not publicly discussed until 1985. The research draws on literature about gender in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia to understand how the movies represented femininity and women's status through marriage.

1. THE CONSTRUCTION OF
WOMEN IMAGES IN SOVIET
FICTION MOVIES OF THE
STAGNATION PERIOD
(1967-1982)
Iana Kalinichenko
Social Studies of Gender with major in Media and
Communication

2. THE FOCUS OF THE RESEARCH
In Soviet movies of Stagnation Period…
How the image of woman
-as a worker
-as a wife
-as a mother
is constructed?
(with a reference to “triple role on women”, Hashamova, Y.,
(2006). Castrated Patriarchy, Violence, and Gender Hierarchies
in Post-Soviet Film. In: Goscilo, H., & Lanoux, A. (eds.), Gender
and national identity in twentieth-century Russian culture.
DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press.)

3. THE OBJECTS OF THE RESEARCH
5 movies-for-tv:
Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession (1973, 93 min)
[was one of the most attended movies in the Soviet Union in
1973 with more than 60 million tickets sold]
The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (1975, 184 min)
[traditionally broadcast in Russia and the former Soviet
republics and satellite states every New Year's Day]
Office Romance (1977, 159 min) [was the leader of Soviet
film distribution in 1978 and still enjoys wide popularity in
the former Soviet republics]
Moscow Does not Believe in Tears (1980, 140 min) [won
an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1980]
Charodei (1982, 160 min) [became a classic of Soviet New
Year's Eve romantic comedies]

4. METHODS OF THE RESEARCH
 Conversation analysis
 Discourse analysis: Laclau and
Mouffe’s discourse theory
How language constructs phenomena?
How texts take meaning through
interconnections with other texts and
discourses?
Language as a constitutive part of social
reality.
Movie reality as a source of information
about society.

5. TERMS AND CONCEPTS USED IN
THE RESEARCH
 Backlash in feminism
 Class
 Dichotomy / binary oppositions
 Domestic division of labour
 Gender
 Representation
 Signifier and signified

6. PRELIMINARY FINDINGS, PART 1
The movies replicate certain patterns that first
appeared in motion pictures of pre-Soviet times
(1905-1921):
woman’s social status is defined through marriage;
opposition of the emancipated woman struggling for
an independent social life versus the old-fashioned men
for whom women remain the objects of ‘beauty and
decorum’;
men become weak when encountered with active
females whose social behavior deviates from the one
assigned by traditional gender roles;
women who have power and courage to take important
decisions often pay a price for it.
Reference: Beumers, B., (2009). A history of Russian
cinema. New York, NY: Berg.

7. PRELIMINARY FINDINGS, PART 2
The movies display a conflict between woman’s work and family
roles which started to develop during the Stagnation period, but
was publicly discussed in media only in 1985 (discussion club on
women’s two roles in Rabotnitsa journal):
“The image of the Soviet woman which was consistently
portrayed in the past, who excels in her chosen career as well as
being a devoted wife and mother, is now said to be seldom found
in reality. The attempt to combine these roles has actually had
negative consequences. It has given women an excessive work-
load, has contributed to their loss of femininity, and has led to
neglect of their families. […] The solution which, as we saw
earlier, is increasingly popular amongst sociologists and
demographers, also finds expression in Rabotnitsa’s discussion
club. This is that women have to make a choice between putting
work or family first. Yet once again, the family is presented as
the only really morally valid choice”.
Reference: Attwood, L., (1990). The New Soviet Man and Woman:
Sex-Role Socialization in the USSR. London: Macmillan.

8. CONNECTIONS TO OTHER
RESEARCHES
The problem of feminism(s) in post-Soviet countries:
“The sad fact is that no serious feminist movement
exists in post-socialist countries”.
“In post-socialist societies, even some top women
academics or managers will not call themselves
feminists because they fear being perceived as man-like
women. The roots of this equating of feminism with a
lack of femininity lie in the image of the communist
woman. […] This is the image that women in post-
socialism reject when they hesitate to call themselves
feminists”.
Reference: Salecl, R., (1994). The spoils of freedom:
psychoanalysis and feminism after the fall of socialism.
London: Routledge.

9. CONNECTIONS TO OTHER
RESEARCHES
Problems with woman equality at labor market in modern
Russia:
“The respondents' negative attitude to the idea of women's
equality is evidently explained by women's traditional self-
identification. The overwhelming majority of women in the
group under survey (70 percent) primarily identify
themselves with the family (i.e., one of the most significant
self-identification criteria for them is that of sex and marital
status)”
Citation from “GENDER PROFILE OF THE RUSSIAN
FEDERATION” (based on domestic publications, 1993-2003).
The World Bank document. http://www-
wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer
/WDSP/IB/2007/04/04/000020953_20070404142115/Rendered/
PDF/393330RU0Gender0profile01PUBLIC1.pdf

10. THE RESEARCH IS BASED ON THE
FOLLOWING LITERATURE:
 Ashwin, S. , (ed.). (2000). Gender, State and Society in Soviet and Post-
Soviet Russia. London: Routledge.
 Baehr, H., and Gray, A., (eds.). (1996). Turning It On: A Reader in Women
and Media. London: Arnold.
 Beumers, B., (2009). A history of Russian Cinema. Oxford: Berg.
 Goscilo, H., and Lanoux, A., (eds.). (2006). Gender and National Identity in
Twentieth-Century Russian Culture. Northen Illinois University Press.
 Gunter, B., (1995). Television and Gender Representation. London: John
Libbey & Company Ltd.
 Jørgensen, M., and Phillips, L., (2002). Discourse analysis as theory and
method. London : Sage.
 Lacey, N., (1998). Image and Representaion: Key Concepts in Media
Studies. London: MACMILLAN PRESS LTD.
 Lacey, N., (2000). Narrative and Genre: Key Concepts in Media Studies.
London: MACMILLAN PRESS LTD.
 Macdonald, M., (1995). Representing women: Myths of Femeninity in the
Popular Media. London: Edward Arnold.
 Tuchman, G., Daniels, A. K. & Benet, J. (eds.). Hearth and home: Images
of women in the mass media. New York: Oxford U.P.