Nurses in the Soviet Union: Explorations of Gender in State and Society

Abstract

This chapter examines the question of gender construction and portrayals of women through an analysis of the Soviet nurse, and in particular it analyses the changing representation of the Soviet nurse. By tracing the Soviet nurse in publications such as Rabotnitsa and Za sanitarnuyu oboronu, the chapter assesses how the depiction of nurses—and by extension women more generally—varied from maternal, to feminine, and/or to militaristic, depending on the social and political context. This analysis of nurse representation argues that it was only during the first and final days of the Soviet Union that the reality of nurses’ position within society, that is, their low social status and ambiguous position, featured in media portrayals of this largely female profession.

My thanks to Melanie Ilic and the anonymous reviewers for their comments and helpful suggestions.