ABSTRACT

Introduction In this chapter we will focus on the notion and the phenomenon of the new woman, which has appeared in transformational periods of Russian and Soviet history since the middle of the nineteenth century. Our aim is twofold. We will argue that the changing figure of the new woman has been an important actor of producing modernisation. We will also argue that on the symbolical level gender-related expressions in general and the notion of the new woman in particular provide recurrent material for the discourses of modernisation. In order to show how the changing gender order is related to the modernisation of political and societal practices as well as to the changing value system we will describe a long time span. We are going to look at the following transformation periods:

1 The Imperial stage of modernisation, The Great Reforms of the 1860s. 2 Modernisation of the revolutionary period and the rise of Soviet Union,

1900-1920s. 3 Khrushchev-era modernisation, the Thaw and de-Stalinisation, 1950-1960s. 4 Perestroika and post-Soviet modernisation, 1980-1990s.