Women took part as demonstrators and activists, with magazines playing a central role. Rabotnitsa' was re-established in 1923 as a 32-page monthly journal combining political and economic articles with stories, poems and articles regarding health care and popular science . Women became increasingly aware of themselves and according to some they resolved to break away from the old survivals and traditional mode of life' by taking off the veil'. Yet many women suffered as a result. Such actions by women caused panic among the male population who did not want to see women involved in such displays of their sexuality. Murder became a common consequence as families were so humiliated by members shedding their veils. Plus women suffered from rape and violence as a consequence of displaying their free love' attitudes.
In the early years of the NEP communal dining came to be celebrated by party activists who shouted with pride over the governments ability to feed over 90% of the people in Moscow and Petrograd . This policy seemed to a brilliant stepping-stone on the way to emancipating women from labour of housewifery. However it did not last for long and by 1921 the food halls began to close forcing women back into the wretched house. Life was hectic for women in the towns of Soviet Russia for when she returned home from the factory she faced, on average, five more hours of housework, only two hours and twenty minutes relaxation time (compared to three and a half for her husband), and only six hours and 45 minutes sleep (while her husband would sleep for eight) . Clearly Soviet Gender policies did not manage to alleviate the chaotic and miserable life experienced by housewives. .
One of the most prominent examples of emancipating legislation was the Family Code of 1918, which made the process of divorce so easy (P. Zagarin, a writer on the family said in 1927, "the act of dissolving a marriage can be completed in fifteen minutes- ).
