On the Intersection of Gender and Class: How Single Mothers Organize Their Everyday Life in Post-Socialist Russia

Lytkina, Tatyana S.; Yaroshenko, Svetlana S.

doi:10.31857/S013216250017574-4

Home

Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya

Issue 11

On the Intersection of Gender and Class: How Single Mothers Organize Their Everyday Life in Post-Socialist Russia

Annotation
Reviews
References

On the Intersection of Gender and Class: How Single Mothers Organize Their Everyday Life in Post-Socialist Russia

PII

S013216250017574-4-1

DOI

10.31857/S013216250017574-4

Publication type

Article

Status

Published

Authors

Tatyana S. Lytkina

Occupation: Senior Researcher
Affiliation: Komi Science Centre of the Ural Branch of RAS
Address: Russian Federation, Syktyvkar

Svetlana S. Yaroshenko

Occupation: Assoc. Prof. of Comparative Sociology Chair
Affiliation: St. Petersburg State University
Address: Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

Journal name

Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya

Edition

Issue 11

Pages

61-72

Abstract

This article analyzes of how gender inequality is woven into the process of class formation in post-socialist conditions. Based on the materials of in-depth semi-structured interviews with single mothers in the framework of a longitudinal study, it is proved that single motherhood is becoming a gender institution that accumulates multiple structural oppression of women through the elimination of guarantees, increasing intensity of paid work, decreasing wages and the need to cover missing incomes by mobilizing their social resources and links. The intensity of work is not limited to paid employment, it also grows in the domestic sphere, where they also have to be more practical, spending additional efforts on maintaining family relationships eventually resulting in significant savings on food and services. The norm of the Soviet gender order of women's double employment at home and at work took on a different meaning. Women's employment under the coercion of the state has transformed into economically forced employment, which however does not allow achieving material independence and confidence in the future. The prospects for upward mobility are more and more limited, and not only for the women we studied but also for their children.

Keywords

single mothers, employment, life strategies, well-being, intersectionality, Marxist feminist analysis, post socialism

Received

22.11.2021

Publication date

22.12.2021

Number of characters

34325

Cite

GOST	Lytkina T., Yaroshenko S. On the Intersection of Gender and Class: How Single Mothers Organize Their Everyday Life in Post-Socialist Russia // Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya – 2021. – Issue 11 C. 61-72 [Electronic resource]. URL: http://ras.jes.su/socis/s013216250017574-4-1-en (circulation date: 10.10.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013216250017574-4
MLA	Lytkina, Tatyana S, Yaroshenko, Svetlana S. "On the Intersection of Gender and Class: How Single Mothers Organize Their Everyday Life in Post-Socialist Russia." Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya 11 (2021):61-72. DOI: 10.31857/S013216250017574-4
APA	Lytkina T., Yaroshenko S. (2021). On the Intersection of Gender and Class: How Single Mothers Organize Their Everyday Life in Post-Socialist Russia. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya (11), pp.61-72 DOI: 10.31857/S013216250017574-4

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 909

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Arruzza C. (2016) The queer alliance between Marxism and Feminism. In: Hatrman H. Unhappy marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Toward a more progressive union. Moscow: Svobmarksizd. (In Russ.)
2. Ashwin S. (2001) Approval of male identity in the labor market in modern Russia. Rubezh. Almanah socialnyh issledovanyi [Frontier. Almanac of Social Research]. No. 16–17: 5–24. (In Russ.)
3. Biese I., McKie L. (2016) Opting in: Women in search of well-being. In: Connerlley M.L., Wu J., eds. Handbook on well-being of working women. International handbooks of quality of life. London: Springler: 503–516.
4. Burawoy M., Wright E.O. (2011) Sociological Marxism. Sotsiologiya [Sociology]. No. 2: 43–57. (In Russ.)
5. Chafetz J.S. (1997) Feminist theory and sociology: Underutilized contributions for mainstream sociology. Annual sociological review. 23: 97–120.
6. Danilova S.S. (2009) Sotciologicheskii analis problem odinikih materei v malom gorode. Zhenshina v rossiiskom obshestve [Woman in Russian society]. No. 1 (50): 49–57.
7. Ghodsee К. (2020) Why women have better sex under socialism. And other arguments for economic independence. Moscow: Alpina non-fiction. (In Russ.)
8. Gurko T.A. (2000) Variativeness of views in the sphere of parenthood. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 11: 90–97. (In Russ.)
9. Hatrman H. (1979/ 2016) Unhappy marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Toward a more progressive union. Svobmarksizd. (In Russ.)
10. Klammer U. (2018) Gender and Career Patterns in Light of EU Employment and Social Policy Strategies. In.: Hohnerlein E.M. et al. (eds). Erwerbsverlauf und sozialer Schutz in Europa. London: Springer: 48–55.
11. Lunyakova L.G. (2001) On living level of single mother families today. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No: 86–95. (In Russ.)
12. Lytkina Т. (2001) The distribution of power in the family as a factor in employment strategies and household organization. Rubezh. Almanah socialnyh issledovanyi [Frontier. Almanac of Social Research]. 2001. No. 16–17: 50–65. (In Russ.)
13. Lytkina Т. (2011b) The Social Biography of Exclusion in Post-Soviet Russia. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsial’noj antropologii [Journal of sociology and social anthropology]. Vol. 14. No. 1: 87–109. (In Russ.)
14. Lytkina Т. (2011а) Maternal family. The Soviet Dream and Post-Soviet Reality. In: Yaroshenko S.S., ed. Frauenprojekt: Metamorphosen eines dissidentischen Feminismus: Ansichten einer jungen Generation aus Russland und Österreich. St. Petersburg: Aleteija (In Russ.)
15. Lytkina Т., Smirnov А. (2019) Russian North in the Context of Global Neoliberal Politics: Overcoming Spatial Inequality or Expulsion? Mir Rossii [Universe of Russia]. No. 28(3): 27–47. (In Russ.)
16. Ridgeway C. (2011) Framed by gender: How gender inequality persists in the modern world. New York: Oxford University press.
17. Ridgeway C. (2014) Why Status Matters for Inequality. American Sociological Review. 79 (1): 1–16.
18. Rossi A.S., ed. (2001) Caring and Doing for Others: Social Responsibility in the Domains of Family, Work and Community. Chicago: University of Chicago.
19. Smith D.E. (1987) The everyday world as problematic. A feminist sociology. Boston: Open university press.
20. Smith D.E. (2005) Institutional Ethnography: A Sociology for People. Toronto: AltaMira Press.
21. Smoleva E.O. Mothers with many children and single mothers: stereotypes and social vulnerability. Zhenshina v rossiiskom obshestve [Woman in Russian society]. 2017. No. 4 (85): 14–25.
22. Stacey J., Thorne B. (1985) The missing feminist revolution in sociology. Social problems. 32 (4): 301–316.
23. Standing G. (2014) The precariat. The new dangerous class. Moscow: Ad Marginem Press. (In Russ.)
24. Tartakovskaya I.N. (2015) The gender order reproduction via career strategies: Intersectional analyses. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 5: 84–93 (In Russ.)
25. Utrata J. (2015) Women without men. Single mothers and family change in the new Russia. London: Cornell university press.
26. Voronzova M.G. (2000) Are fathers involved in providing for children? Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 11: 145–148. (In Russ.)
27. Wichterich C. (2005) Femme global: Globalisierung ist nicht geschlechtsneutral. Moscow: Links. (In Russ.)
28. Yaroshenko S. (2001) Gender differences in strategies of employment among working poor // Rubezh. Almanah socialnyh issledovanyi [Frontier. Almanac of Social Research]. 2001. No.16–17: 25–49. (In Russ.)
29. Yurchak A. (2002) Men's economy: "Don't be silly when you forge a career". In: Ushakin S., ed. On masculinity. Moscow: NLO. (In Russ.)
30. Zaharov S., Churilova Е. (2013) The phenomenon of lone motherhood in Russia: statistical and demographic analysis of the prevalence and mechanisms of its formation. Mir Rossii [Universe of Russia]. No. 4: 86–117. (In Russ.)