Authors

Ella Rossman¹;  ¹ University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UK

Discussion

The Soviet Union's official approach to gender equality, sometimes referred to as “state feminism,” is well-known for framing gender inequality within the broader context of capitalist and imperialist oppression, racism, and class struggle. However, a lesser-explored aspect of Soviet ideology is its recognition of the intersection between gender and age within systems of discrimination. 
In my paper, I explore this overlooked aspect of the socialist doctrine by focusing on the event called the World Meeting of Young Women (WMYW) held in Moscow in 1975. This conference, which brought together 400 delegates from around the world, highlighted how the Soviet state, already in the 1970s, considered the specific challenges faced by girls and young women long before the theory of intersectionality and girlhood studies gained momentum in the 1990s. By analysing the WMYW official documentation, media coverage, and personal writings of one participant, I show how the event framed the unique forms of oppression experienced by the so-called “female youth” and promoted a vision of gender and age as deeply intertwined dimensions of inequality. This case study reveals a Soviet contribution to ideas that later shaped global feminist discussions and the work of international organisations promoting gender equality, such as UN Women. It also demonstrates how the political spaces, created and tightly controlled by Soviet authorities, could still occasionally serve as platforms for limited political debate and female dissent.