During the Soviet Union woman were equal under the law. While under the law they were, in practice they weren’t. When Stalin took over Russia from the Tsar, his government had a woman’s department called the Zhenotdel. The Zhenotdel had ideas about eliminating the individual household along with that under socialism woman should work equal to men in jobs. When they were abolished in the 1930s, the idea of removing the individual household was renounced, but the latter idea stayed. Also, because Joseph Stalin’s five year plans quickly received labour shortages, woman were recruited in large numbers into the work force. Between the years of 1929 and 1932, over one million woman entered the industrial force and about two point five million gained
