Word: westerners
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Mikhail and Raisa, a pair who can hold their own in the international journalistic sweepstakes vis-a-vis Ron and Nancy and, given the Gorbachevs' comparative youth (he is 57, she 56) and the Soviet political system, who will probably outlast George and Barbara or Mike and Kitty. The Western press trembles with anticipation...
...interview with NBC's Tom Brokaw last year, a question on whether Gorbachev discussed "Soviet affairs at the highest level" with his wife was deleted. The General Secretary's answer ("We discuss everything") was cut as well. In Washington last year she spontaneously crossed the street to talk to Western journalists, underlining a Gorbachevian openness; her KGB bodyguards promptly ordered the only Soviet journalist in the press group to leave...
Which Raisa will appear at the summit, the vivacious woman who chats up Western reporters abroad or the more modest one who stays in the background on her husband's tours of Soviet factories and collective farms? At a time when Gorbachev's reform efforts are still facing opposition from hard-liners, obstructionist bureaucrats and skeptical workers, the General Secretary is likely to tread softly. But he has not given up on pushing his wife forward, perhaps to demonstrate in the most personal terms that he is intent on improving the lot of women. Since 1987, for example...
...women would suggest that Raisa sets a realistic standard for the future. Quite the contrary. The hopes and dreams of most Soviet women in fact sound startlingly unemancipated to the Western ear. They rarely challenge the status quo, which entitles men to be waited on, first by their mothers, then by their wives and female employees. Nor do women question the concept that they should assume responsibility for all child-related matters, whether that involves family planning, child rearing or, if a marriage breaks up, child support. Says Tanya, a Moscow teacher who, like many of the women interviewed, requested...
Small wonder that the typical Soviet woman is far less interested in redefining her role than in reordering her life. Primarily, she wants greater control over her time: longer maternity leaves, flexible work schedules, part- time jobs. She would like to have time-saving conveniences that most Western women take for granted: electric mixers, cars, supermarkets for one- stop shopping. In many rural areas, the wish list is more fundamental: central heating, running water, sewerage. And everywhere, women share the sentiment expressed by Anna, 28, a language student at Moscow State University: "Soviet women don't want equality. We want...