Under the Bolsheviks, divorce and abortion laws were liberalised, homosexuality was decriminalised, cohabitation between men and women was permitted, marital rape was made illegal and abortion was legalised. For them, women no longer merely fulfilled the role of the silent, fertile and obedient housewife.

The new Soviet regime also sought the contributions of women in the workplace. Women were seen, at least in theory, as vital for the creation of a single class of workers and peasants, and their previous roles as housewives were considered a hinderance to Soviet progress.