ABSTRACT
This chapter explores gender aspects of housing in post-Soviet Russia compared to the Soviet norms and women's experiences with improvement in housing. It analyses the most important post-1991 changes in housing regulations, discourses, and outcomes from a gender perspective. The chapter is dedicated to the analysis of the memories of women of the Soviet generation with regard to their housing problems and strategies for improving their housing. It analyses contemporary publications and discusses on the improvement of housing and the place of a home in a woman's life. The beginning of the neoliberal transformation was connected to the unprecedented possibility of privatisation of housing. The growing social differentiation between Russian citizens made housing an even greater marker of social stratification compared to state socialism. Soviet families and individuals had the right to exchange their rooms and apartments on the basis of mutual consent and if all the rules with respect to square metres were observed.
