CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2011
| Author | Kadnikova, Anna Maratovna |
|---|---|
| Title | The Women's International Democratic Federation World Congress of Women, Moscow, 1963: Women's Rights and World Politics during the Cold War |
| Summary | My thesis focuses on the June 1963 WIDF World Congress of Women that took place in Moscow, in combination with the successful space flight made by Valentina Tereshkova, the world’s first woman astronaut, just a few days before the WIDF Congress. I explore the meaning of these combined events in the context of Soviet leader Khrushchev’s policies of peaceful coexistence and peaceful competition. Based on my research of the archives of the Soviet Women’s Committee (the Soviet member of the WIDF which organized the 1963 Congress) and Soviet and American media, I argue that the Soviet Union successfully used the June 1963 events as an opportunity for public diplomacy, and showcased the USSR to the world as the champion of women’s rights. While most of the literature on the history of the Cold War is still gender blind, I attempt to show not only that the competition (peaceful and not) between the United States and the Soviet Union went beyond missiles, satellites, technology, or even agriculture, but also that their competition regarding the treatment of women by the 1960s was a key part of their rivalry. The thesis also hopes to make a meaningful contribution to the historiography of international women’s organizations in the postwar era, and in particular to the still largely unwritten history of the biggest global women’s organization, the Women’s International Democratic Federation |
| Supervisor | de Haan, Francisca |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2011/kadnikova_anna.pdf |
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