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Body of the Nation: Mothering, Prostitution, and Women's Place in Postcommunist Latvia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Daina Stukuls
Daina Stukuls*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, George Washington University
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Extract

Among the guiding preoccupations of postcommunist Latvia and its east European neighbors is the desire to be “normal.” A unifying notion in the period of opposition to Soviet communism, “normality” became a site of political contestation after the restoration of independence in Latvia. The fields of political and social life have been dominated by two competing narratives of normality: temporal normality, a restorationist narrative that elevates the experiences and institutions of independent interwar Latvia as a model for postcommunist change, and spatial normality, which takes the western (European) road of capitalist modernity as a map for the future. Although frequently at odds with one another in the field of political life, the temporal and spatial narratives share a nation-centered orientation that both reinforces and, arguably, expands women's subjugated status in society and submerges the “woman question” beneath the "national question." That is to say that although women as members of the body of the citizenry share in the benefits that accrue to this group in the forms of free speech, voting rights, and the right to own property, women as women have not benefited and, in fact, have suffered the consequences of the dual trends of commodification and domestication that have accompanied, respectively, the push toward economic modernity and the elevation of tradition in social life.

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Articles
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Slavic Review , Volume 58 , Issue 3 , Fall 1999 , pp. 537 - 558
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1999

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References

I wish to thank Michael D. Kennedy and Peggy Watson for comments and assistance on earlier versions of this paper. I benefited as well from the suggestions of the Continuities and Transpositions in a Sociology of Eastern Europe group at the University of Michigan. Finally, I wish to thank my anonymous reviewers, who proposed helpful ideas for shaping and sharpening the work.

1. By temporal normality, I mean a body of ideas and initiatives that derive from a vision that elevates the historical experience of Latvian independence (1918–1940) as a model for postcommunist society. Temporal refers to the location of this vision's Utopia, a location in historical time. Under spatial normality, I include the ideas and initiatives that elevate modernity as experienced by the west, particularly western Europe, as a model for transformation after communism. Hence, spatial refers to a Utopia located in space, in the modern west.

2. A number of women in Latvia are not citizens, and, though legal residents who are entitled to a broad spectrum of rights, including freedoms of speech and assembly, they cannot vote or own land. According to statistics published in 1997, 72 percent of Latvia's population had citizenship. Data from the same year indicate that most Latvians were citizens (99.2 percent) and that 37 percent of Russians, the largest ethnic minority in Latvia, were citizens. Most noncitizens are registered as legal residents. See Latvia Human Development Report 1997 (Riga, 1997), 49. Substantial changes in the citizenship law accepted in late 1998 provide expanded opportunities for noncitizens to acquire citizenship. According to Naturalization Service officials in Latvia, in early 1999 about 7 percent of eligible noncitizens had applied for citizenship. Consequently, the proportion of non-Latvians with citizenship will continue to increase.

3. Several notable works in this area include the following: Barbara, Einhorn, Cinderella Goes to Market: Citizenship, Gender, and Women's Movements in East Central Europe (New York, 1993)Google Scholar; Gail, Kligman, “The Social Legacy of Communism: Women, Children, and the Feminization of Poverty,” in Millar, James R. and Wolchik, Sharon L., eds., The Social Legacy of Communism (Washington, 1994)Google Scholar; Gail, Kligman, “Women and the Negotiation of Identity in Postcommunist Eastern Europe,” in Bonnell, Victoria, ed., Identities in Transition: Eastern Europe and Russia after the Collapse of Communism (Berkeley, 1996)Google Scholar; and Katherine, Verdery, What Was Socialism, and What Comes Next? (Princeton, 1996), chap. 3Google Scholar.

4. Post-Bloc states are more homogenous ethnically than post-Soviet states. For example, Poland is 97.6 percent Polish, the Czech Republic 94.4 percent Czech, Hungary 89.9 percent Hungarian, and Bulgaria 85.3 percent Bulgarian. For comparison, Latvia is 56.7 percent Latvian, Estonia 61.5 percent Estonian, and Ukraine 73 percent Ukrainian. The only ex-Soviet republic with a lower titular proportion is Kazakhstan, where Kazakhs make up about 46 percent of the population. For data on titular populations, see the Central Intelligence Agency World Fact Book on the internet: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook (consulted October 1998). The latest figure on Latvia is from Latvia Human Development Report 1997, 49. The figure on Kazakhstan is from Pål Kolstø and Irina, Malkova, “Is Kazakhstan Being Kazakhified?” Analysis of Current Events 9, no. 11 (November 1997): 1.Google Scholar

5. I thank one of the referees for Slavic Review for highlighting this point.

6. A chapter on social welfare in Children and Families in Latvia 1994: Situation Analysis notes that state social policy aims, among other things, to “ensure a quality of life to the individual” and to “protect and support the family.” See Tereze Šaraka, “State Social Policy and Its Implementation,” in UNICEF Latvian National Committee, Children and Families in Latvia 1994: Situation Analysis (Riga, 1995), 33.

7. In March 1996, Latvia's Labor Code was revised, and the section that guarantees equal rights on the job and forbids the disqualification of individuals with appropriate work credentials was modified to specifically forbid discrimination based on gender or age. What effect this action will have on actual working conditions in Latvia is difficult to tell at this time.

8. Peggy, Watson, “Eastern Europe's Silent Revolution: Gender,” Sociology 27, no. 3 (August 1993): 472–73.Google Scholar

9. See, for example, Watson, “Eastern Europe's Silent Revolution: Gender “; Ewa Hauser, “Traditions of Patriotism, Questions of Gender: The Case of Poland,” Genders 22: Postcommunism and the Body Politic (1995): 72–403; and Moghadam, Valentine M., “Patriarchy and Post-Communism: Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union,” in Moghadam, Valentine M., ed., Patriarchy and Economic Development: Women's Positions at the End of the Twentieth Century (Oxford, 1996), 327–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

10. In 1989, the proportion of Latvians in the population fell to a low of 52 percent. By 1997, Latvians were estimated to makeup 56 percent of the population. Most of the rest are Russians, who make up approximately 33 percent of the population. Smaller ethnic minority populations include Belorussians, Lithuanians, Jews, and Ukrainians. The great demographic change can be attributed to World War II battleground losses, political emigration after Soviet occupation, Soviet-era deportations, low birthrates, and heavy inmigration from other parts of the Soviet Union during the Soviet period. For estimates on population changes and their causes in the Baltics, see Misiunas, Romuald J. and Taagepera, Rein, The Baltic States: Years of Dependence, 1940–1990 (Berkeley, 1993), 350–58 and 368.Google Scholar

11. Dzidris, Seps, “Women and Crime,” in Trapenciere, Ilze and Kalnina, Sandra, eds., Fragments of Reality: Insights on Women in a Changing Society (Riga, 1992), 187.Google Scholar

12. Hartmane, Sarmīte, “Woman's [sic] Mood and Health Criteria,” in Trapenciere, and Kalnina, , eds., Fragments of Reality, 204.Google Scholar

13. Ārija Karpova and Inta Kraukle, “Some Ideas about the Latvian Woman in the Present Sociopsychological Situation,” in Trapenciere and Kalnina, eds., Fragments of Reality, 77 and 80.14. Latvia Human Development Report 1995 (Riga, 1995), chap. 4 (emphasis added).

15. Anu, Narusk, “Gender and Rationality: The Case of Estonian Women,” in Kauppinen, Kaisa and Gordon, Tuula, eds., Unresolved Dilemmas: Women, Work and theFamily in the United States, Europe, and the former Soviet Union (Brookfield, Vt., 1997), 116.Google Scholar

16. This phrasing is used in Anastasia, Posadskaya, “Changes in Gender Discourses and Policies in the Former Soviet Union,” in Moghadam, Valentine M., ed., Democratic Reform and the Position of Women in Transitional Economies (New York, 1993), 170–71.Google Scholar

17. In a paper given at a 1990 conference on the future of the Latvian nation, referent Jēkabs Raipulis suggested that “In order to improve the health of the nation, [it is necessary] to forbid women (especially pregnant women) from engaging in professions that could have an impact on the health of the unborn child.” Raipulis, , “Latviešu tautu saglabāt varam tikai mēs paši,” Latviešu nācijas izredzes: 1990.gada 28. seplembra konference (Riga, 1990), 59 (emphasis added)Google Scholar.

18. I thank one of the anonymous referees for Slavic Reviezv for this useful point.

19. Eglīte, Pārsla, “Family Policy during the Transition Period in Latvia,” Humanities and Social Sciences Latvia 2, no. 7 (1995): 35.Google Scholar

20. Among the 1, 062 families with children in the first year of life interviewed by the Institute of Economics about the policy of discontinuing allowances to two-earner families, 89.9 percent indicated that they disapproved of canceling benefits for working mothers. The survey is discussed in Eglīte, “Family Policy during the Transition Period in Latvia,” 28–47.

21. Data on this issue and statistical data on other issues relating to women in Latvia are available in the report issued in preparation for the Fourth United Nations Conference on Women held in 1995: Latvian National Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Fourth Conference on Women, National Report on the Situation of Women (Riga, 1995), 25.

22. Figures from 1990 and 1993 are from Inna, Zarina, ed., News about Women in Latvia (Riga, 1994), 20 Google Scholar. Data from 1995 are taken from Latvia Human Development Report 1996 (Riga, 1996), 69.

23. Pārsla Eglīte, personal correspondence, March 1998.

24. The second child was to be entitled to 1.2 times the first child's allowance; third, fourth, and fifth children were to receive 1.6 times the first child's allowance. For sixth and later children, the sum returned to that of the first child.

25. The cost of goods and services is similar to that in the United States; the cost of rent in Latvia, however, is much lower.

26. The last year in which Latvia experienced a positive natural growth rate was 1990, when the rate was 1.2 per 1, 000. In 1991, the rate was —0.1, and by 1994 it had fallen to -6.9. See Uldis Ušakis, “The Demographic Situation in Latvia: A Statistical View,” Humanities and Social Sciences Latvia 2 (1995): 5.

27. Zarina, News about Women in Latvia, 18. Data from 1995 are from Valsts statistikas komiteja, Latvia's state statistical committee.

28. Population Reference Bureau, World Population Data Sheet (Washington, 1988).

29. The figures cited include the influence of emigration as well a declining birthrate. See Pārsla Eglīte, “Population of Latvia: A Demographic Survey,” in Children andFamilies in Latvia 1994, 22.

30. Efforts to severely restrict or outlaw abortion have failed in the legislature, and abortion remains legal and available, in contrast to some other east European countries such as Poland. The cost of a private abortion, however, may be prohibitive. Pārsla Eglīte suggests that the growing availability of reliable contraceptive devices also helps to explain the decline. The number of female users remains low, just 20.7 percent in 1996, although the figure does reflect a slight increase from earlier years: from 1992 to 1995, the proportion remained virtually unchanged at 18 percent. Early data are from National Report on the Situation of Women, 27. Recent data are from Latvia Human Development Report 1997, 88. I did not find any data on male contraceptive use.

31. This data on abortions is from Latvia's state statistical committee.

32. In 1994, it was estimated that fully 80 percent of single-parent families were indigent, a situation that is unlikely to have improved significantly at this time. See Anita Jakobsōne, “Children in Families at Risk,” in Children and Families in Latvia 1994, 55.

33. A sampling of figures illustrates women's higher educational attainment: in 1993, 20 percent of university-age women were enrolled in higher education as compared to 15 percent of men of like age; among women between the ages of 25 and 34, the average number of years of education is 12.4; among men it is 11.8 years. See National Report on the Situation of Women, 31.

34. Women are underrepresented in the more remunerative private sector and constitute just 31 percent of employers. Latvia Human Development Report 1997, 35 and 39.

35. National Report on the Situation of Women, 13.

36. Latvia Human Development Report 1997, 32.

37. This statistic includes both women who are unemployed and seeking work and those who are not seeking paid employment outside the home. Statistics are for November 1995. Darbaspēks Latvijā (Riga, 1996).

38. Darbaspēks Latvijā (Riga, 1997), 38–40, and Priede, Zaiga, “Nodarbinātība un darba apstākli,” in Oslands, Odne, ed., Dztves apstdkli Latvijā: Dzīves apstāklu pētijums (Riga, 1996), 198.Google Scholar

39. Pārsla Eglīte, interview, Riga, April 1997. The social tax collects funds for public welfare programs, including pensions. Wages are taxed at 37 percent: 28 percent is paid by the employer and 9 percent by the employee. Over time, the percentage paid by employees will rise: by 2001, it will be 15 percent. There is some incentive for companies and employees to make unofficial arrangements because the tax is so high, but the state hopes to discourage this tendency by making pensions as well as other benefits contingent on whether social taxes have been paid and how much has been accumulated. Latvia Human Development Report 1997, 34.

40. Information on maternity leaves comes from Pārsla Eglīte, interview, Riga, April 1997. Data on unemployment benefits was taken from Latvia Human Development Report 1997, 33.

41. Līga Krapāne, “Pārkārtojumi ǵimenes lietās jeb Kas jāzina precēties un škirties gribētājiem,” Diena, July 1993.

42. Eglīte, “Population of Latvia,” 24, and Latvia Human Development Report 1997, 91. According to Pārsla Eglīte, some of this drop is attributable to the decline in the number of marriages. Personal communication, March 1998.

43. Eglīte, “Population of Latvia,” 25.

44. Einhorn, Cinderella Goes to Market, 39–40.

45. Latvia Human Development Report 1996, 105.

46. In 1996, about 7.2 percent of the total economically active population was officially classified as unemployed. Latvia Human Development Report 1997, 35.

47. Posadskaya, “Changes in Gender Discourses and Policies in the Former Soviet Union,” 163.

48. Carol, Delaney, “Father State, Motherland, and the Birth of Modern Turkey,” in Yanagisako, Sylvia and Delaney, Carol, eds., Naturalizing Power: Essays in Feminist Cultural Analysis (New York, 1995), 178.Google Scholar

49. Although males, both young boys and adults, are involved in Latvia's sex trade as prostitutes, the vast majority of prostitutes are women; therefore, this examination focuses on female sex work.

50. The lower figure is an estimate from Human Development Report Latvia 1995. The higher figure is an estimate from the Morality Police, the body responsible for policing the sex trade. At least 3, 000 prostitutes are registered in the files of Riga's criminal police.

51. In Latvian, the name of the unit was Tikumības policija. It may also be translated as Decency Police.

52. Statistics cited in this paragraph come from unpublished data prepared by the Morality Police for the Republic of Latvia's Cabinet of Ministers in 1995 and from Dzidris Seps, “Prostiūicija—sociāla parādība,” in Noziedzības novēršanas nacionālās padomes kriminoloǵisko pētijumu centrs, Kriminoloǵiskais biletens nr. 26: Prostitūcijas sociālās, ekonomiskās un liesiskā s problēmas (Riga, 1995), 40, and Andrejs Vilks, “Noziedzība, korupcija un ēnu ekonomika.” Krīze Latvijā. Ko darīt? (Riga, 1996), 37.

53. Egfls Skele, “LR valdibu nomaina Ledi Lukss,” Diena, 17 April 1995.

54. “Caka ielas republika,” Rigas Balss, 5 December 1997, reprinted in Laiks, lO January 1998, 12.

55. A. Vilks, interview, April 1997.

56. Unpublished data prepared by the Morality Police for the Republic of Latvia's Cabinet of Ministers in 1995. This is a considerable sum in Latvia where the median monthly wage is still around 100 lati per month.

57. “Labak stradat par prostitutu, neka dzlvot pusbada,” Baltic News Service report, 11 November 1997, reprinted in Laiks, 22 November 1997, 12.

58. This explanation was offered to me both by policewomen in the (former) Morality Police and by lay persons with whom I spoke about the issue.

59. Kligman includes sex work in this category, writing that “the marketing of the body also speaks to the easy translation of the ‘labor value’ of the body into entrepreneurial activities.” See Kligman, “Women and the Negotiation of Identity in Postcommunist Eastern Europe,” 77.

60. A. Darzniece (head of the Morality Police), interview, April 1997.

61. Junior Inspector Inta Mežavilka, interview, Riga, April 1997.

62. “Prostitūcija Latvijā: Izplatības pakā pe, veidošanas mehā nisms un kontroles iespējas (kriminoloǵiska pē tijuma materiā li),” in Noziedzī bas novē rš anas nacionā lā s padomes kriminoloǵ isko pē tijumu centrs, Kriminoloǵ iskais biletens nr. 26: Prostitū cijas sociā lā s, ekonomiskā s un tiesiskā s problē mas (Riga, 1995), 53.

63. Inspector Aiva Soboleva and Junior Inspector Inta Mežavilka, interviews, Riga, April 1997.

64. It is notable that, according to unpublished data collected by the police, most prostitutes have completed twelve grades of school, some have technical or vocational higher education, and some are university students or graduates.

65. Inspector Aiva Soboleva and Junior Inspector Inta Mež avilka, interviews, Riga, April 1997. Although the earnings of prostitutes vary widely, the typical hourly earnings of a prostitute in Riga's sex clubs in 1995 was estimated to be between 15 and 20 lati per hour. For comparison, the typical monthly wage for a state worker at that time was around 60 lati per month. Seps, “Prostitū cija—sociala parā dī ba,” 40.

66. These data come from the unpublished material of the Morality Police.

67. Pā rsla Eglī te, personal communication, April 1998.

68. Pā rsla Eglī te, interview, Riga, April 1997.

69. Latvia Human Development Report 1997, 40.

70. Waters, Elizabeth, “Restructuring the ‘Woman Question‘: Perestroika and Prostitution,” Feminist Review, no. 33 (Autumn 1989): 4.Google Scholar

71. Junior Inspector Inta Mež avilka, interview, Riga, April 1997.

72. Seps, “Prostitū cija—sociā la parā dī ba,” 45.

73. Ibid., 42.

74. “Jautā jumā par prostitū cijas legalizē š anu vai noliegš anu (LR Generā lprokuratū ras Metodikas nodalas viedoklis),” published in Noziedzī bas novē rš anas nacionā lā s padomes kriminoloǵ isko pē tijumu centrs, Kriminoloǵ iskais bilelens nr. 26, 107.

75. J. Raipulis, “Prostitiū cijas sociā lie un tiesiskie aspekti,” in Noziedzī bas novē rš anas nacionā lā s padomes kriminoloǵ isko pē tijumu centrs, Kriminoloǵ iskais biletens nr. 26, 32.

76. National Report on the Situation of Women, 30.

77. Gavrilovs quoted in “Čaka ielas republika,” 12.

78. J. Raipulis, “Prostitū cijas sociā lie un tiesiskie aspekti,” 34.

79. A. Dā rzniece, interview, April 1997.

80. See the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, United Nations resolution # A/RES/317 (IV), 1949.

81. The women's organizations represented in the council include organizations with interests in religion, charity, politics, and sports, among others. Zarina, News about Women in Latvia, 36–39.

82. National Report on the Situation of Women, 26–31.

83. Odne Oslands, “Idzī votā ji,” in Oslands, ed., Dzī ves apstā kli Latvijā, 53.

84. In 1997, about 60 percent of non-Latvians did not hold citizenship. As indicated earlier, however, changes in the citizenship law passed in 1998 should increase the proportion with citizenship considerably. 1 was not able to find information that broke this data down by gender.

85. Ole Norgaard with Dan Hindsgaul, Lars Johannsen, and Helle Willumsen, The Baltic States after Independence (Brookfield, Vt., 1996), 157.

86. Ibid., 150.

87. I thank Peggy Watson for this useful point.

88. Moghadam, “Patriarchy and Post-communism,” 327.

89. Watson, “Eastern Europe's Silent Revolution: Gender,” 472.