Alevtina Fedulova Explained

Alevtina Fedulova
Native Name Lang:ru
Office:Deputy Chairman of the State Duma
Term Start:11 January 1994
Term End:17 December 1995
1Blankname:Chairman
1Namedata:Ivan Rybkin
Office1:Member of the 28th CPSU Central Committee
Term Start1:1990
Term End1:1991
Office2:Secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee — Chairman of the Young Pioneers Central Council
Term Start2:20 December 1971
Term End2:18 May 1984
Predecessor2:Tamara Kutsenko
Successor2:Lyudmila Shvetsova
Party:Women of Russia (1993–98)
Otherparty:CPSU (1968–1991),
Fatherland — All Russia (1998–2001)
Birth Name:Alevtina Vasilyevna Timakova
Birth Date:14 April 1940
Birth Place:Elektrostal, Moscow Oblast, RSFSR, Soviet Union

Alevtina Vasilyevna Fedulova (Russian: Алевтина Васильевна Федулова, born 14 April 1940) is a Russian political activist and former leader of the Soviet Women's Committee (later the Union of Women of Russia).

Early life

Fedulova was born on 14 April 1940, in Elektrostal, to an illiterate, yet intelligent, mother and a blacksmith father, who died when she was young. An excellent student, Fedulova wished to become a teacher as a child, but went to a local technical school linked to a local factory. Under pressure, Fedulova's mother paid the tuition to allow her to finish at the school, enabling her to take entrance exams in Moscow for a teacher training institute there.[1]

Fedulova married at age 20, while still studying at the institute, in 1960. Her husband was conscripted to military service around the time their son was born. Upon graduation, she became a teacher of biology and chemistry. She remained as a high school teacher for ten years.[2]

Political career

In 1963, Fedulova joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, about which she expressed some ambivalence.

Fedulova later became head of the Pioneers and was the executive secretary of the Soviet Peace Committee.[3] In 1987, she left her position to work for the Soviet Women's Committee full-time, and was elected vice-president of the organisation that same year.[4] From 1981 until 1986, she was a member of the CPSU's Auditing Commission, and was promoted to the Central Committee in 1990.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Fedulova's position of power within the CPSU made many feminists sceptical.[5] [6] However, as leader of the Women of Russia bloc in 1993,[7] but not affiliated to any political party in particular, she became a member of the Duma. This resulted in 8% of the Duma belonging to the Women of Russia bloc, allowing them to form their own official faction within the Russian government.[8]

Personal life

Fedulova is married to her husband, a former deputy sports minister, and has one son and two grandchildren.[2]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Racioppi . Linda . See . Katherine O'Sullivan . Women's Activism in Contemporary Russia . 1997 . Temple University Press . 978-1-56639-521-2 . 80–106 .
  2. News: Landrey . Wilbur G. . December 18, 1993 . Russia's women make big strides . . May 28, 2021 . ProQuest.
  3. Moscow and the Peace Movement: The Soviet Committee for the Defense of Peace . Foreign Affairs Note . May 1987 . Appendix A . 9 . United States Department of State.
  4. Khudyakova . T. . January 24, 1990 . State and Law . . 41 . 52 . 32 . May 28, 2021 . . vanc.
  5. Nechemias. Carol. 2000. Politics in Post-Soviet Russia: Where are the Women?. Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization. https://web.archive.org/web/20150710125157/https://www.gwu.edu/~ieresgwu/assets/docs/demokratizatsiya%20archive/08-2_Nechemias.PDF. 10 July 2015. 23 May 2021. Its leader, Alevtina Fedulova, had long worked within the CPSU, a background that made feminist groups wary.. gwu.edu.
  6. News: Bloc to fight for women's status in Russian elections . 23 May 2021 . The Times . Associated Press . 29 November 1993 . Streator, Illinois . 6.
  7. Racioppi . Linda . See . Katherine O'Sullivan . Summer 1995 . Organizing Women before and after the Fall: Women's Politics in the Soviet Union and Post-Soviet Russia . . 20 . 4 . 827 . 10.1086/495023 . 3174884 . 144237966 . May 28, 2021 . vanc. subscription .
  8. News: . Women of Russia movement approves voting list for upcoming elections . . September 20, 1999 . . May 28, 2021.