Book excerpt: With the collapse of Soviet rule and the emergence of independent Russia, the image of Russian women in the Western imagination has changed dramatically. The robust tractor drivers and athletes have been replaced by glamorous but vulnerable beauty queens or the dishevelled and downcast women trading goods on the streets. The authors of this work take a closer look at what lies behind the above images and how Russian women are coping with a very different sort of life. The main focus is on the effect of unemployment on Russian women and how they are coping with it. Based on case studies and personal interviews carried out in the Moscow region in 1993-94, No More Heroines? will provide both specialist and non-specialist alike with access to the thinking of women and their organisations in Russia today.