The image of women in the periodical press of the Kazan province at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries

Kazan province was distinguished by its ethnic and religious diversity, historical traditions, and well-developed university culture. Newspapers, including those of a commercial nature, occupied an important place in public life. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were women among the editors and publishers of Kazan newspapers. A historiographical review showed that the materials of the local periodical press became the subject of study by Kazan researchers, including in the reconstruction of some aspects of women’s daily life. However, there is no special work devoted to the study of the appearance of women on the pages of periodicals of the Kazan province. Meanwhile, addressing this topic allows us to see the processes of transformation of women’s social roles as a result of the modernization of society at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to study the image of a woman in the periodical press of the Kazan province. For this purpose, the materials of the newspapers Kazansky Birzhevoy Listok, Kazansky Telegraph, Volzhsky Vestnik, Kamsko-Volzhskaya Rech and other publications were analyzed. Both author's materials and anonymous correspondence, chronicles of incidents, advertisements and advertisements are considered. Different types of women’s practices were identified and several thematic groups were identified on the provincial press database. In each of them, a certain image of a woman was developed (a lady, a worker, a Muslim, a fighter for her rights, etc.). The authors conclude that the image of a woman presented in the newspapers was contradictory: on the one hand, it was tied to her social origin, on the other, the bourgeois development of society leveled ethno-confessional and class boundaries. The differences that existed were marked by external signs. The article is intended for historians and anyone interested in the history of the Russian Empire, the history of everyday life, and women’s emancipation.