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Professional women and the economic practices of success and survival before and after regime change: diverse economies and restructuring in the Russian Republic of Buryatia

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Abstract

Drawing from historical research, participant observation, and informal and formal interviews, we examine the economic experiences of professional Buryat and Russian women before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the Siberian Russian Republic of Buryatia. We use a diverse economies framework to theorize a broader understanding of the restructured economy and how women have sought to improve and maintain their lives by developing various practices in the workforce in both the Soviet and post-Soviet periods such as gaining more education, informal networks of exchanges and favors, urbanization, and, for Buryats, Russian language acquisition. We argue that women in the early 2000s continue to employ many of these practices regardless of their varying experiences and attitudes about the transition from socialism to a market economy.

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Notes

  1. Zhenshchiny i rynok truda: Analiticheskaia zapiska No. 01-03-23. (2008). Ulan-Ude: Territorial’nogo organa federal’noi sluzhby gosudarstvennoi statistiki po Respublike Buriatiia. A document of the Territorial Organ of the Russian Federal Office of Government Statistics of the Republic of Buryatia.

  2. These statistics were compiled from Natsional’noi Archiv Respubliki Buriatii (National Archives of the Republic of Buryatia [NARB]), f. R-196, op. 1/8, d. 8, ll. 2-41.

  3. The decline of the Buryat language occurred along with the decline and eventual cancellation of Buryat language schools in the Republic of Buryatia. Information about local government decisions about the phasing out of language education can be found in NARB, f. P-1, op. 1, d. 10087 and f. P-1, op. 1, d. 1485.

  4. NARB, f. R-196, op. 1/8, d. 52, l. 3.

  5. Compiled from Territorial’nogo organa federal’noi sluzhby gosudarstvennoi statistiki po Respublike Buriatiia. Materialy otdela statistiki naseleniia, itogi, vsesoiuznoi perepisi, naselaniia 1,989 g., 35 B (Territorial Organ of the Russian Federal Office of Government Statistics in the Repubic of Buryatia).

  6. While it is not the focus of this paper, Buryats have challenged threats to the erosion of their identity in the face of Russification, sovietization, and modernization. This subject is discussed at length in our article, Sweet and Chakars 2010.

  7. Based on data compiled from NARB, f. R-196, op. 1/8, d. 8.

  8. Compiled from Zhenshchiny i rynok truda: Analiticheskaia zapiska no. 01-03-23. (2008). Ulan-Ude: Territorial’nogo organa federal’noi sluzhby gosudarstvennoi statistiki po Respublike Buriatiia (Territorial Organ of the Russian Federal Office of Government Statistics of the Republic of Buryatia).

  9. Compiled from Zhenshchiny i rynok truda: Analiticheskaia zapiska no. 01-03-23. (2008). Ulan-Ude: Territorial’nogo organa federal’noi sluzhby gosudarstvennoi statistiki po Respublike Buriatiia (Territorial Organ of the Russian Federal Office of Government Statistics of the Republic of Buryatia).

  10. Materials from the conference were reprinted in Pervyi s”ezd zhenshchin Buiatskoi ASSR (Ulan-Ude: Buriatskoe knizhnoe izdatel’stvo 1960).

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Margarita M. Khalbaeva-Boronova for her help with research and conducting the interviews.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Melissa Chakars

  2. Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Elizabeth L. Sweet

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  1. Melissa Chakars
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  2. Elizabeth L. Sweet
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Correspondence to Melissa Chakars.

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Chakars, M., Sweet, E.L. Professional women and the economic practices of success and survival before and after regime change: diverse economies and restructuring in the Russian Republic of Buryatia. GeoJournal 79, 649–663 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-014-9522-5

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