Zhenotdel (The women's section of the communist party) and its works in the Turkestan [Jenotdel (Komünist parti kadın birimi) ve türkistan’daki çalışmaları]

Abstract

Women took on many roles during and after the revolution, and in this way, they were one of the most important supporters of the Communist Party. However, in the early years there were concerns of the Communist Party about the establishment of a separate women’s organization, since separate women’s organizations might lead to feminist deviations. But the women leaders, including Alexandra Kollontai and Inessa Armand, rejected any parallels to feminist ideology and convinced the Communist Party for the establishment of the Zhenotdel. The tasks of Zhenotdel was to help in the emancipation of women from the drudgery of private child care and food preparation and also to help to resolve the issues of abortion, prostitution, unemployment etc. Another task of the Zhenotdel was to become a part of the Soviet society the so-called “women of the East”-the Muslim women. This paper aims to analyze development of women’s movement in Russia, establishment process of the Zhenotdel and the content of its works, and also its propaganda for Muslim women in the Turkestan. © 2019, Ahmet Yesevi University. All rights reserved.