Dear Martin Petrick, thank you for your question.
Although the Soviet Union tried to keep the kolkhoz system uniform, yet local cultural peculiarities played significant role in shaping the organization of labour and agricultural activities in each country. So depending which countries you visited, the gender dynamics could have been diverse.
In case of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan female accountants are encountered more often than female heads of private farms. Women can manage farm only when replacing their husbands or sons while they are working outside of their home villages.
During the Soviet period indeed, women were encouraged to be actively involved in various occupations, including as tractor drivers, however now the ownership is not anymore collective and decisions are made by the owners of tractors who are usually men. There is a lack of agricultural machinery in most post-Soviet countries and buying new equipment is costly, therefore, machinery is considered to be an asset that can also bring good profit when tractor services are in demand. Economic and gender occupational segregation still holds the barriers for women to enter into male dominated occupations. However, I expect that such women who took over water mastering jobs, when necessary and provided with opportunities to build their capacities, would be eager to drive a tractor too.
Dear Martin Petrick, thank you for your question.
Although the Soviet Union tried to keep the kolkhoz system uniform, yet local cultural peculiarities played significant role in shaping the organization of labour and agricultural activities in each country. So depending which countries you visited, the gender dynamics could have been diverse.
In case of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan female accountants are encountered more often than female heads of private farms. Women can manage farm only when replacing their husbands or sons while they are working outside of their home villages.
During the Soviet period indeed, women were encouraged to be actively involved in various occupations, including as tractor drivers, however now the ownership is not anymore collective and decisions are made by the owners of tractors who are usually men. There is a lack of agricultural machinery in most post-Soviet countries and buying new equipment is costly, therefore, machinery is considered to be an asset that can also bring good profit when tractor services are in demand. Economic and gender occupational segregation still holds the barriers for women to enter into male dominated occupations. However, I expect that such women who took over water mastering jobs, when necessary and provided with opportunities to build their capacities, would be eager to drive a tractor too.