| Summary: | 碩士 === 淡江大學 === 俄羅斯研究所碩士班 === 98 === In Russian language, “Russia” (Россия) is a feminine word. As its name insinuates, Russia carries a feminine soul according to its tradition. Furthermore, Russian people’s national characteristics such as magnanimity, generosity, hospitality, freedom-seeking, compassion, endurance, perseverance, and fantasy-loving, make them more like a feminine (and womanish) individual.
Although maternity has been always the central concept of Russian culture, women have an inferior social status compared to men in Russia. To fight for a gender-equal society, a tough striving is necessary. Compared to other European countries where females have already gained better social positions and had outstanding achievements in politic, economic and academic fields, Russian society still seems lacking strength to make women and men stand equal.
What kind of traditional culture which deeply led to Russian women’s inferior status? In addition to the religious factor of the faith of “God the father” in Christianity, the birth of "family rules" (Домострой) fully gave the ordinance that women should unconditionally conform to the householder—their father or husband— in daily life and whilst dealing with house chores, no matter spiritually or physically. In Russia’s feudal era, a prevailing saying went as “God dominate the universe, whilst Tsar dominates the country and men dominate the family.” The sentence shows that a household has an absolute power over women, children and every family member. The meaning of obeying "family rules" is to unconditionally comply with the household and follow his orders of family affairs in daily life.
Russian women stayed in their lowly status for very long time. Until the economy and society transformed from 18th to the beginning of 20th century and new ideas then emerged, Russian women’s issues eventually raised attention and triggered more discussions. Since then, Russian women, like men, could enter the society and earn money by working. However, there are still abundant debates about if this phenomenon is a true freedom for women or another social exploitation on women.
There are some questions worthy to be studied. After a long fight for rights, have women in contemporary Russia gained the equal rights as men, which is what they longed for? Does the past still shadow the modern society? How a modern woman’s value influenced by tradition? How about Russian women’s status in future?
To answer these questions, the aim of this thesis is to analyze the tradition society from a gender point of view. This thesis will be divided into four main parts. In the first part, the myth of mothers and women in Russian traditional society in religions and philosophy will be referred to discuss the “female Russia” in traditional values, the female image in the Bible, the contrast between the holiness of Holy Mother and women’s powerlessness in reality, and the relationship of mothers and mother country. The second part will centre on women’s activities in traditional society by discussing the customs, including the traditional wedding rituals, women’s culture and labor works in the rural society.
The third part will explore the influence of “family rules” on women. The contents will include the relationship of two genders before the birth of “family rules”, the formation of “family rules”, and how the titles and contents of “family rules” build up the ideal female image and constrain women’s thoughts and power. In this part, the main reasons which led to Russian women’s low status, and the deep rooted religious values will be discussed. This part is the main focus of this thesis. The fourth part is about women’s family status and social status during eighteenth century to twentieth century. It will include the cultivation of girls’ ethic values, family and school education, women’s occupation and women’s status after 1917 Russian Revolution. In the last conclusion part, the modern meaning of traditional values on women will be discussed. This part responds to the first part of my thesis—it will look at the traditional impact on the modern society and how tradition and modernity fuse.
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