Poslankyně neruského původu v sovětském parlamentu, 1989–1991: Intersekcionalita v imperiální situaci

The study focuses on the position of female deputies of non-Russian descent in parliamentary debates of the Perestroika period in the Soviet Union. The key issues the author examines concern the grievances which these female deputies were pointing out, and the potential solutions they were proposing to mitigate or eliminate them. The most important forum where these debates were taking place was the Congress of People's Deputies (S"ezd narodnykh deputatov), which arose from partly pluralistic elections, was the supreme body of state power from 1989 to 1991, and meant a significant progress in the Communist leadership's efforts to democratize the political system. Gender-wise, the body was very unbalanced as women accounted for just 352 out of its 2,250 members. The author works with stenographic records of speeches of the female deputies of non-Russian descent at the five sessions of the Congress, viewing them through a prism of concepts of "intersectionality" and "imperial situation." The speeches of the female deputies often accentuated national grievances and hardships, which was indicative of a considerable importance of nationalism in Soviet discussions of the Perestroika period and in the systemic crisis of the USSR. However, they also showed that viewing problems in a nationalism-tinged perspectives did not necessarily mean seeking a nationalist solution, as many of the female deputies preferred looking for a solution within the Soviet Union to that consisting in sovereignty or even independence of its republics. The female deputies also insistently reflected urgent social, economic, professional, environmental, and local problems