ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the ways in which the issue of women's subordinate position has been posed and discussed in Soviet society. Of particular interest is the manner in which discussions of the "woman question" have been a vehicle for raising questions which transcend inequality between the sexes and touch on broader problems of work and the nature of power. The essential feature of the approach is a reassertion of the economic and social importance of certain traditional female roles. All participants in the discussions invoke the ideal of social and economic equality of the sexes in one form or another. A study of "power in the family" by the sociologist A. L. Pimenova illustrates the way in which the issue of sexual inequality has served as a vehicle for exploring the delicate problem of power. "Power in the family" can be taken as a metaphor for power relationships in the society at large.
