50s

US:
 American society in the 1950s was based on the family. And the Cold

War was in part a culture war, with the American family at the center

of the struggle.

 Embedded in the propaganda of the time was the idea that the nuclear

family was what made Americans superior to the Communists.

American propaganda showed the horrors of Communism in the lives

of Russian women. They were shown dressed in gunnysacks, as they

toiled in drab factories while their children were placed in cold,

anonymous day care centers. In contrast to the "evils" of Communism,

an image was promoted of American women, with their feminine

hairdos and delicate dresses, tending to the hearth and home as they

enjoyed the fruits of capitalism, democracy, and freedom.

 Women felt tremendous societal pressure to focus their aspirations on

a wedding ring. Since promoted in the culture and media at the time

was that a husband was far more important for a young woman than a

college degree. If a woman wasn't engaged or married by her early

twenties, she was in danger of becoming an "old maid."

 Despite the fact that employment rates also rose for women during this

period, the media did not focused on that.

  Women who chose to work when they didn't need the paycheck were

often considered selfish, putting themselves before the needs of their

family.

 Impossible standard of beauty.

URSS:

 To achieve the Soviet goal of a single class of workers and peasants,

the state required women as workers and thus enabled them access to

education, a career, and legal guarantees of equality.

 But they were discouraged from attaining high-ranking economic and

political leadership positions; they were paid less and there were no

reliable means of protection for those women who suffered sexual

harassment on the workplace.

60s

US:

 Thirty-eight percent of American women were employed, mostly

working “pink collar” jobs as a teacher, nurse or secretary.

  Women accounted for just six percent of doctors, three percent of

lawyers, and less than one percent of engineers.

 Many american women lived under laws that gave their husbands

control of their property and earnings. They could not go into business

without their husband’s permission or get credit without male

consigners.

 There was, for all practical purposes, a national consensus that women

could not be airplane pilots, fire fighters, carpenters, movie directors,

CEO’s, etc.

 Still the same image of family and women on TV.

 We can see that they weren’t treated fairly, but they didn’t necessarly

saw it in that way. The economy was booming = good life; and they

tended to compare themself to other women, not men.

 Same standart of beauty.

URSS:

 The state was promoving an image of “the working mother”. From the

point of view of Soviet ideology, the ideal image of the Soviet woman

was a caring mother who also worked at a job, did housework.

 Most Soviet women had to reconcile a full-time job and numerous

domestic tasks. They were less paid tan man.

  Everyone participated in the labor force regardless of gender. In 1967,

women made up 41% of engineers there.

 In 1967 the concept of alimony was introduced, which was paid from

the fathers to the divorced mothers.

70s

US:

 The fight for women's rights now began to have a serious impact on

American life.

 California adopted the nation's first no-fault divorce law.

 One of the most important feminist successes of the early 1970s was

when Nixon signed into law the Equal Employment Opportunity Act

of 1972 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The first

one gives the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

authority to sue in federal courts when it finds reasonable cause to

believe that there has been employment discrimination based on race,

color, religion, sex, or national origin. Title IX of the Education

Amendments requires gender equity in every educational program that

receives federal funding including but not limited to sports.

 1976, the Supreme Court upholds women’s right to unemployment

benefits during the last three months of pregnancy.

URSS:

 In 1970 51% of wage earners were women.

 In general it was less than half the free time available to men.

 A study carried out in Leningrad industries between 1970 and

1977. Among the technicians, there were 69.4% women. Among

highly qualified professionals, 62.4%. However, among section

heads and managers, they were only 6.3%.

 During the 1970’s “masculinized” women were blamed for rising

male hooliganism and alcoholism.

 Valentina tereshkova

 Born: March 06, 1937

 Born into a humble, proletarian family in the postwar USSR,

Tereshkova did not go to school until she was eight years old and

dropped out of school a few years later to work in a textile

factory.

 At the age of 26, Russian astronaut Valentina Tereshkova became

the first woman to fly into outer space aboard the Vostok 6

spacecraft, on june 16 of 1963. After 70 hours of flight and 48 laps

around the Earth, Tereshkova landed near a Kazakh village with

symptoms of dizziness but with the satisfaction of having fulfilled

a mission: for Russia and for feminism.

 Her code name was chaika, which means "seagull" in Russian.

 After her sidereal journey, Valentina studied for a bachelor's,

master's and doctorate in engineering

 Valentina Tereshkova then began her political career, which led

her to become a member of the Supreme Soviet and the Central

Committee of the Communist Party. However, his figure will

always be remembered for his solo space adventure. Since then,

many other women have completed missions in outer space, but

none have done it again alone.

 She also foufht for women rights.