Kristen Ghodsee reads and discusses Alexandra Kollontai's 1918 essay, "The First Steps Towards the Protection of Motherhood." Kollontai saw motherhood as a "obligation" and "sacred duty" of women, and was very pro-natalist in her politics. But many of the policies she implemented between 1917 and 1918 reflected the desires of working women who attended the conferences Kollontai organized in Petrograd. In many ways, Kollontai may be the reason that policies and programs like daycare, parental leaves, and child allowances (or tax credits) exist in the present day. 

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• Everyday Utopia
• Red Valkyries
• Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism
• Second World, Second Sex

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Kristen R. Ghodsee is the award-winning author of twelve books and a professor and chair of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.