Womens autonomy in the Old Believers society (on materials of Novgorod Province the 19th century from)
Today argued that gender stereotypes are infl uenced by culture, society and diff erent spheres of social activity. In this regard, researchers show that despite the fact that church is a very conservative social institution, the roles of men and women are always changing in it. Regarding to Old Believer religious group is mentioned that old believer women, going beyond their gender status, have more signifi cant role according to Pravoslavian women. On the basis of church and state statistics, ethnographic and historical sources the author examines the following questions: in which conditions women could play important role in the Old Believers community, as well as historical and religious-dogmatic reasons of the old believers womens free status.