Women's Rights In 20th Century Russia

Equal rights extending to women are a relatively new concept in modern societies. Before the twentieth century, most societies viewed women as the property of their father, and then their bride, and because of this, they had no voting, land owning, or divorce rights of their own. Women were punished extremely cruelly for adultery, for instance, whereas noblemen were almost expected to have extra–marital affairs with other noblewomen. The nineteenth century marks the beginning of modernization in Western Europe due to the emancipation of serfs and the Orthodox Church’s losing its extreme hold on all of the citizens, which gave way to wondering if women would be seen as equals, as well. Peasants and merchants could not ever rise out of their social classes and become nobles due to Russia’s rigid class system. As Anna Karenina takes place at the biggest shift to modernity in Russian history, the social class theory and treatment of women were at the forefront of the novel. …show more content…
Citizens of the Russian state were born into their class and could not move up or down because Russia did not have social mobility. Some aristocrats did not have much more money than the average merchant, and some merchants had more money than the average nobleman. Levin and Vronsky, two separate noblemen, both had to manage their incomes because they made enough money to get by, yet they could not usually spring for luxury items and services that most of the aristocracy could. Anna Karenina focuses on the nobility, yet at one point a character makes an offhand remark that the merchants are becoming more rich and that the aristocracy should be aware of the rising merchant class. Russian society placed the most restrictions upon the nobility because they had the most freedom and leisure