The Gender of Socialist Science. Knowledge, Labor, and Representation in Eastern Europe and the USSR
The Gender of Socialist Science. Knowledge, Labor, and Representation in Eastern Europe and the USSR

Summary/Abstract: Socialism as an ideology – and communist regimes in particular – encouraged women’s participation in science. While the Western world largely sought to relegate women to domestic roles after the end of the Second World War, the communist countries of Eastern Europe took active measures to increase the number of women both in education and in scientific professions. This was partly a matter of involving women in the ‘building of the communist society’, and partly a matter of public diplomacy and propaganda, which portrayed the Eastern bloc as a progressive force that integrated all segments of its population and offered equal opportunities to men, women, and various minorities. Although statistical data is often difficult to find and sometimes inaccurate, both the figures and the public communication of science demonstrated that women were integral to the scientific establishments of those countries.

• Details
• Contents