Soviet Baby Boomers Analysis

This sentiment of men as holding different but superior proficiencies and skills was also present in Soviet Baby Boomers. In his interview, Arkadii went out of his way to mention that he didn't think women were inferior, but that "they're more emotional, and emotion has no place in science", and that "we didn't take [female scientists] very seriously"1 before proceeding to laugh. Despite his claim to the contrary, Arkadii exhibits the idea that women are inferior in through their traits, and thus are unsuited for certain jobs, while men belong in those jobs instead. The trait that Arkadii specifically references as inferior is that of emotion, which is often viewed as a major cornerstone for expected female gender roles. Furthermore, his assertation that him and his colleagues did not take female scientists seriously not only indicates the strong sexism present in the working culture, but that many women were needlessly pushed aside in the field despite what

scientific advancements they could have contributed to the greater scientific community. Thus, the drive to ensure male dominance in the field was held to a greater standard than, and takes priority over, that of working for the sole purpose of furthering Soviet society. …show more content…
In her interview, she said "I was not only our main breadwinner, but also assumed the Soviet woman's double burden at home. You're probably unable to imagine how hard that is. It's tough now, but it was even harder back then."5 Olga is referring to the concept of the "Second Shift", where women have to work a full shift's worth of work at their place of employment, but then are expected to do all of the chores, cooking, and family work, often taking the same amount of time and effort as the shift at work, and do that every single day [source?]. The long-term