Archive of Scientific Articles

Submitted: October 26, 2026

Abstract. The study aims to provide a comprehensive characterization of the social status of women in the Yakut ASSR during the 1970s-1980s (drawing on materials from the city of Yakutsk). The article examines key aspects of public life in the Russian Far East, specifically using the Yakut ASSR in the 1970s-1980s as a case study, with special emphasis on a gender approach – namely, women’s roles in education, profes-sional employment, socio-political activity, and science. The work identifies demographic processes in Yakutia, assesses women’s educational potential, and outlines the trajectories of their integration into socio-political and scholarly life during the period under study. The scientific novelty lies in introducing into academic discourse interview materials conducted with women who were direct participants in the public life of the Yakut ASSR in the 1970s-1980s. This made it possible to reconstruct women’s eve-ryday life strategies and complement official statistical records with oral history narratives. Furthermore, the paper provides the first systematic account of the institutionalization of women’s active socio-political participation during this period, which laid the groundwork for the subsequent transformation and restructuring of the post-Soviet women’s movement. The findings establish that in 1970 the female population outnumbered the male population, and by the late 1980s a slight female majority persisted; notably, women surpassed men in educational attainment, yet remained concentrated predominantly in low-wage economic sectors. Between the 1950s and 1980s, an established tradition emerged of electing women to the post of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Yakut ASSR, alongside which the women’s movement adopted new institutional forms such as congresses and women’s councils. The expansion of regional scientific infrastructure fostered women’s involvement in academic research, eventually culmi-nating in the founding of the League of Women Scientists of Yakutia. Urban women’s participation in civic life blurred the boundary between the public and private spheres, whereas for rural women, subsistence private farming remained the cornerstone of livelihood. Throughout this process, the city of Yakutsk func-tioned as the primary center for cultivating female agency, as rural-to-urban migrant women socialized within the urban environment as university students, researchers, and political figures.

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