Status of women in Siberian Cossack villages in the second half of the 19th century
The status of women in traditional society structures is always characterised by the predetermined social task. The female population of Cossack villages has always been a part of Cossack society in the sense that they played a social role which was anciently considered mandatory for women. That is, Cossack women were wives, mothers, they did household work and performed a secondary role in the economic part of the Cossack economy. In this article, the author tried to draw a general picture of the social status of women in Cossack society through the example of the Siberian Cossack Army settlements. It should be noted that the historical period, taken as the material for the article, is conditioned by the fact that during this period the process of slow social change in the traditional structure of Cossack society began. In Soviet historiography there were no studies on women in Cossack community and women’s issues were poorly considered by historians of the Russian Cossacks. Basing on the evidence of travellers in Siberia, the author notes more independent social behaviour of Siberian Cossack women compared with Siberian peasant women.