Russian Dreams about the West
In the former Soviet Union, dramatic and fast changes of the society and the social institutions, the globalisation, the openness to the West, unemployment, impoverishment and the deterioration of medical care have caused consequences for many people.
This has driven people to look for new life strategies. One of these strategies is to leave the country. Typical emigrants are scientists, top sportsmen and musicians. But in this presentation I focus on Russian women. Women's emigration and women from the former east block involved in sex trade or trafficking are often discussed from the point of view of structural and political factors, but these factors explain only partly “women’s drain”.
Since the 19th century, women’s position in Russia has been of multiple origins. The women’s situation originate from the Russian patriarchal society and has been influenced by the Russian-orthodox church. Women’s position in Soviet were far from the myth about the free Soviet woman. Women’s lives were burdened by a double workload and, in addition, an unpaid contribution to the common dream of the future happy society was expected from them.
Women’s drain from the East block has influenced Swedish authorities, e.g. the social services, the Migration board and the psychiatry system. Some of the Russian women try to find a partner in a western country and others are looking for a job or are asylum-seekers. Often, after the migration, the situation turns out totally different from the dreams of these women.
The presentation is based on my master thesis and further research. At first I have focussed on young post-soviet women’s lives. I present research based on analyses of interviews with girls in Russia, aged 12 -14. The results shows that already young girls find that moving to a country in West could be a solution and give them a possibility to a better life.
Secondly I concentrate on how the post-Soviet grown-up women’s choice of life strategies could be understood on the basis of the stories told by the women themselves.
I have interviewed Russian women in Turkey, who work like striptease dancers and models and Russian women who are asylum-seekers in Sweden, and present analyses of their stories.