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UKRAINIAN WOMAN OUR ENGLISH COLUMiN Everyday Life of the Women in USSR T h e H o u sin g The sore spot of th e Soviet life is the housing problem . It is al w ays considered to be transitory. Y et the situation th at several fa milies live in one apartm ent, and th a t some four fam ilies cook in one kitchen, has continued for for ty years and the Soviet system had not been able to rem edy this curse. The daily “R adianska U kraina” from O ctober 15, 1956 reported of a dw elling m inimum of nine square m eters for a person. This is a governm ent regulation, but in fact a person in USSR is not able to attain the possibility of utilizing m ore than five square m eters of living space. A joint household of two, three or four housekeepers in one kitch en is a frightful overburdening of the housewife.. In such circum stance's the food m ay not be prop erly. prepared, nor the hygienic principles observed which require careful attending. P u r c h a sin g o f F o o d A r tic le s The purchasing of food articles in th e governm ent operated stores is ham per ed extrem ely. Only in m ajor cities, like Leningrad,. M os cow and Kiev the stores have ad equate quantities of suitable a r ticles. In oth er cities and tow ns tlie supplying is irregular, and therefore the Soviet new spapers are frequently printing reports on the shortage of various articles in th e stores. It is probable that the food stores w here the p arty officials, and Soviet dignitaries in particu lar, are buying, are delivering the purchased articles to their hom es. H ow ever, as we know from the reports of th e visitors, the com m on people in' U/SSR continue to w ait in queues for their tu rn in frofit of food stores. The daily Radianska U kraina reported not long ago of the shor tage and som etim es of real lack of vegetables in tlie cities (R. U., Sept. 27 and 29, 1956). A b sen ce o f E le c tr ic ity and F u el The Soviet new spapers are con tinually appealing to the populace to save electricity, not alone at homes but likewise in the indus try w here the w orkers are being urged to push the trolleys w ith their hands so as to save electri city. On th e w ant of fuel in the vil lages there was an. article in the daily R adianska U kraina of Kiev, in O ctober 1956. E a tin g in R esta u ra n ts and R ead y C ooked M eals E ating in restaurants is pos sible in USSR but solely for high ly paid officials, specialists and p arty bosses, who are earning big salaries. Cheap eating places, how ever, are overcrow ded so much th at the Soviet press is full of com plaints over slow service which then is no tim e saving for a w orking man o r woman, as it is supposed to be. C loth in g The same delineation th a t p er tains to feeding of fam ilies, is likew ise applicable to the clothing of them . There has been in USSR a noted shortage of suitable parts in the stores. Besides, the income of the Soviet w orker is such that it m ay perm it even like purchases to a very lim ited extent. This com parison will illustrate the situ a tio n : In U nited States the w orker is laboring 30 hours in o rd e r to buy a suit while in USSR it takes a w orker to toil 239 hours for sim ilar purchase. Also in U.S.A. one ma}r buy a pair of shoes for 4 ■’hours w ork, while in U SSR for 61 hours w ork. (D ata from U krainian Review of the In stitute for the Study of USSR, vol. 6, 1956). T he Care o f C hildren The care of children in U SSR in overcrow ded dw ellings and w ith the wife overburdened w ith duties, is a serious problem . The women of higher social strata possess special separate tenem ents and have household servants th at are w oefully under paid. H aving these* servants at th eir disposal, they are able to dis tribute their double obligations. Yet the hom ekeeper and the m o ther at the same tim e of a w ork er, a w orker herself, cannot avail herself such a help. T here are not sufficient day nurseries or kindergartens in U SSR to m eet the needs of w ork ing women. If only 87,000,000 of city population be considered, then the num ber of children would am ount to 13 millions (15 percent), while the num ber of births in day nurseries and kin dergartens is but 2,033,000, which means th at 11 million children are outside the netw ork of these in stitutions. (N a ro d n o y e K h o z y a y stv o U S S R , M o sc o w 1956) The above 'problems were dis cussed with Mrs. E. D. Roosevelt during our conference on March 18, 1958. O U R LIFE E d ited by E d ito ria l B oard P u b lish ed b y th e U krainian N a tio n a l W o m e n ’s L e a g u e o f America» Inc. 909 N . F ranklin S t. P h ilad elp h ia 23, Pa. P h o n e M A 7-7945
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