HISTORY
Famous and Influential Russian Women from Moscow
Women have long been an influential factor in Russia’s diversely complex social and political history.
The gender roles that they fulfill and the greatness they have collectively achieved for the overall betterment of their nation have significantly impacted the trajectory of their mother country’s development and progression into what it is today.
Despite the observable male dominance in most parts of the world throughout history, there’s no doubt about the innate influence that women have had on the formation of great nations, kingdoms, and civilizations in general.
They say that behind every successful man is a woman — one who gave birth to him and raised him from the ground up, or one who stood by his side and influenced his path towards greatness.
Mother Russia is no exception to this phenomenon — in fact, no nation is.
The country’s capital, Moscow, has been the birthplace of many admirable female figures who have achieved their own brand of greatness in one way or another, leaving their imprint on history books and on modern society itself.
The traditional gender roles that Russians have practiced in the past prior to the receding Byzantine Empire of the 1450’s may have appeared to be limiting and restrictive of women’s freedoms, since they were. But despite this, they were fortunate enough to enjoy more social and legal freedoms by the time Peter the Great rose to power in the years 1682 to 1725, wherein he implemented the Petrine reforms which reorganized the social hierarchy of women in Russian society.
Most Eastern European nations throughout the course of (and prior to) the eighteenth century have embodied oppressive and constrictive gender roles for women, depriving them of proper education, political participation, and many other basic human rights.
However, Russia at the time was seeing a progressive shift in attitudes towards women’s rights in a highly positive trajectory.
The Soviet era saw a push towards equality for women in all facets of social, political, economic, and educational capacities — thus directly reshaping the household dynamic of domestic gender roles in Russian society for good.
Since then, Russian women have been heavily involved in the workforce and in manual labor, working side by side with men to physically build the solid infrastructure of their union’s industrial prowess.
By this time, women were no longer confined to being just birth-givers, maids, or housewives. Ever since then, Russia has been a commonly cited example of a leading role model nation in women’s suffrage and equality.
The great women produced by this nation have gone on to solidify their legacy in stone for the history books to recount, and in this blog, we’ll talk about some of the successful women of Russia — particularly those born in (or hailing from) the city of Moscow.
Empress Elizabeth of Russia
Elizabeth Petrovna was born on December 29, 1709 at an estate near Moscow called Kolomenskoye, and she learned about linguistics, math, arts, and sports from a French governess.
From a young age, she embodied radiant beauty and level-headedness, and she was a very sociable and talented young woman.
She bestowed the crown of an empress upon herself at the Dormition Cathedral on the 25tth of April, 1742, and despite her lack of political knowledge and leadership skills, she quickly adapted to the responsibilities obliged to her. She successfully led Russia through some very difficult times, having tapped into her potential for strong governance which she inherited from her father.
Elizabeth proceeded to make education available to people of all social statuses. She was a firm endorser of art and knowledge, so she funded the construction of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts and was involved in the creation of the very first Russian university established in Moscow.
One famous aspect of her reign was that she had an extreme hatred for bloodshed. She was a lover of peace and never had anyone executed throughout the duration of her rule.
She outlawed capital punishment and did everything in her power to minimize unnecessary death in the political atmosphere of Russia.
She was renowned for her penchant for peace and love as well as her dedication to art and academic freedom for all.
Marina Tsvetaeva
One of the most prolific and talented wordsmiths in the history of Russian literature is no other than the one and only Marina Ivanovna Tsevas. She was a highly talented poet — among the finest ones to come out of Russia in the twentieth century.
Marina Tsvetaeva’s father was a Fine Arts professor at the University of Moscow, and she was born in the capital in 1892.
In her teen years, she studied literary history at Sorbonne, and went on to be influenced by the rising Russian symbolist movement — a highly influential style of poetry in Russian literature that set the groundwork for her later work as a reputable poet.
She braved through and drew inspiration from the 1917 Russian Revolution, writing about the conflict as the events of the ordeal happened to her in real time.
A famine quickly ensued, and Marina was forced to leave her child in an adoption home where the child unfortunately died of starvation, and many more turbulent trials and tribulations plagued her existence until she decided to take her own life.
With a creative mind and a penchant for immersive poetry, she was able to portray the events of the war with a highly profound, genuinely raw manifestation of the human condition.
Critics and translators of her work highlight the pure emotion and passion in her words, which went on to influence the Russian poetry scene for years to come.
Vera Menchik
Vera Menchik went down in history as the first female world chess champion, competing head to head with (and even surpassing) some of the best male chess players in the country.
She was born in Moscow in 1906 and began playing chess at an early age — nine years old to be exact.
She went on to have a highly successful career as a professional chess player and gained significant popularity and praise throughout her run in the chess world, which never saw a female player as good as this before. She maintained the female world champion status for 17 consecutive years.
She met her unfortunate fate when a German V-1 bomber destroyed her home in 1944, claiming her life along with her sister and mother. Today, she is celebrated for her sharp mind and highly impressive wits back in her day.
These are just a handful of some of the greatest influential females to ever come out of Moscow — but there are countless more. Mother Russia has produced some of the strongest, brightest, most brilliant and resourceful women throughout history.
This truly is a testament to the strong values and determination that the Russian people innately embody, and a reminder that Moscow is one of the most significant and influential places in all of Russia.
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