Neither Women, Nor Guinea Pigs: Ordinary Sexism in Russian Scientific Community

Studies of the biographical scenarios of individual members of the Russian intelligentsia during and after perestroika have long ignored the history of the daily life of female academics within the society. The gender aspects of the problem are multifaceted, including the differences between male and female scholars regarding individual survival strategies, everyday struggles, lifestyles, social attitudes, values, time allotment, social leadership roles, and models of inter-individual and inter-group cooperation.

Discrimination mechanisms are reproduced via ethno-cultural stereotypes that repress both overt and subtle forms of female dominance in the scholarly environment. Feminist anthropology adopts very specific methodological basis. It eschews imperialism and the denigration of gender culture being studied, in favor of an analysis of the superstitions and prejudices the analysts bring from their own culture with the same care as the analysis of the culture under study.

The thematization of the history of gender discriminations, the analysis of changes of their character in Russia after 1985 became possible owing to the collapse of the so-called “soviet scholarship”. From that time on the author collect the anecdotes, that reflect the inequities in the employment status, compensation, and reputational standing of women in the sciences. The tools of folklore studies (folkloristic) have been a crucial resource for understanding the nature, impact, and prospects for changing gender-based forms of oppression. The author hopes that in this spirit this text actively draw on, and contribute to elimination of asymmetry in Russian sciences.