Women's department of the Central committee of the communist party (Bolsheviks) of Byelorussia in 1945-1954: structure, responsibilities, challenges

The article identifies the context in which the women’s department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Byelorussia was established, the main directions of its work in 1945-1954 and the results achieved. The author examines the establishment of this body within the framework of a large political project of Soviet construction in the western regions of Belarus, taking into account the problematic social and political situation in this region in the post-war years. Employees of women’s departments and female activists took an effective part in collectivization, campaigns to eliminate illiteracy, provide social assistance to mothers with many children and single mothers, select, train and retain female personnel for the public administration system, raise the level of education of women and in many other significant social, political and economic initiatives in the BSSR.