Women in Russian History

by Natalia Pushkareva, Eve Levin

As the first survey of the history of women in Russia to be published in any language, this book is itself an historic event -- the result of the collaboration of the leading Russian and American specialists on Russian women's history. The book is divided in to four chronological parts corresponding to eras of Russian (I) Kievan/Mongol (10th - 15th centuries); (II) Muscovite ( 16th - 17th centuries); (III) 18th century; and (IV) 19th - early 20th centuries. Each part gives coverage to four main (1) The role of prominent women in public life, with biographical sketches of women who attained prominence in political or cultural life; (2) Women's daily life and family roles; (3) Women's status under the law; (4) Material culture and in particular women's dress as an expression of their place in society.

Genres: Russia, Nonfiction, History, Academic

336 pages, Paperback

Published December 31, 1996

Reviews

[Horus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent summary of Russian history focusing almost exclusively on the women who helped make the country, change & support the country, and in many ways, be subjugated by the later period male dominated legal system. The authors do an excellent job at illustrating how powerful women could be at one time, and how much influence they had on the country's development, laws and education. Even more refreshing, is that it wasn't considered strange at the time. Many of the women discussed in this book will not be new to students of Russian history, but the perspective certainly is. The authors discuss lives, with as much detail as their primary sources have allowed them to extrapolate from. This is an excellent addition to any historian's bookshelf.

[Cheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a bit of a mixed bag for me. The topic is fascinating but I found the translation is a bit choppy and dry. The author focused solely on the role of women’s rulers and noted that only when the Rus’ realm was fragmented, that when these Grand Princesses had the chance to shine. The lack of sources is probably the reason why Pushkareva couldn’t weave an interesting narrative of each historical figure. The result was a bit of information here and there regarding the various princesses. Obviously, the majority of cultural discussion goes to the life of the women in nobility and not as much as peasant women.

When the Rus’ realm became centralized and centered on Muscovy and well into the Russian Empire, this was where the role of noble women started to become limited. The powerful political position was dominated exclusively by men. The women were relegated into seclusion (the Terem). Their fortune did change when Peter the Great Europanized his court but the role of the women was still limited to cultural participation only, unlike their predecessor in Kievan Rus where the princesses took active parts in foreign and military matters.

Preparation for the wedding in the Terem by Konstantin Yegorovich Makovsky. Terem is a separate living quarters occupied by noblewomen in Muscovy and Russian Empire (before Peter the Great reforms). Only the noblewomen able to live in seclusion as the majority of peasant women still worked outdoor and can freely walk outside.

One of the interesting tidbits from this book that made me chuckle was when Russian women back then were allowed to fight in a duel to resolve legal issues.

“In the case of conflicting testimony, a judicial duel was fought, where God (it was believed) would grant victory to the person telling the truth. (Judicial duels were not fought to the death, but combatants battled with pikes or staves until one or another party conceded defeat.)”
“The law mandated that women fulfil the same procedures as men, except they were allowed to make their depositions not at court but in their own homes. Women could refuse to fight personally in a judicial duel and could hire a substitute instead. But when both plaintiffs were women, the law dictated that they fight in single combat, and there shall be no substitute for either women.” ~Chapter 1, Warriors, Regents, and Scholars: The Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries, Page 50.

Overall, not a bad book per se but I find it’s rather dull.

[Lucy Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

essay stuff but review later ;)