Incomes and Expenses of Single Women Farmers of Sverdlovsk Region (according to Budget Surveys of 1965)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the subject insufficiently developed in the national historiography, especially in regard to its regional dimension. The study is conducted on archival materials with the assistance of the scientific and publicistic literature. The relevance of the topic is determined by its importance for the social sciences, especially for history and economics. The purpose of the article was a study of incomes and expenses of single women farmers of Sverdlovsk region in 1965. It is noted that cash incomes and costs of these category of citizens have practically never been investigated by domestic social scientists. It is stated that in the structure of monetary income Soviet statistics considered not only the cost of products produced in personal subsidiary plots, but also obtained by gathering, hunting and fishing. It is emphasized that there was a pretty serious differentiation of monetary incomes and charges of the surveyed women farmers. It is stated that single women farmers were in a better position compared with family farmers. It is proved that the leading costs of single farmers was the cost of food. It is concluded that most of participants could only rely on their own strength, because state pensions and benefits, as well as cash income from the farm as a whole were negligible.