“Being a woman is different here”: Changing perceptions of femininity and gender relations among former Soviet women living in Greater Boston

SynopsisThis ethnographic article sheds new light on the process of social adjustment of former Soviet women as immigrants in the U.S., and thus contributes to the contemporary feminist scholarship on immigrant women and social transformations of femininity after Socialism. Boston was chosen as the site of this research due to the large size and unique social profile of former Soviet immigrants who moved there since the late 1980s. Its empirical basis includes 24 in-depth interviews and observations of everyday activities and interactions between Russian immigrants, their families, friends, and the mainstream American milieu. The themes discussed include employment, work-family divide, marriage, sexuality and parenting practices, attitudes towards Western feminism and American sexual mores. Across these different themes, the article juxtaposes the former Soviet and Western notions of gender roles, women's place and femininity. The article concludes with reflections on the signs of cultural continuity versus change and adaptation in this remarkable group of immigrant women.