Yekaterina Budanova claimed an estimated total of 11 kills (5 of which were solo) in her career as a combat pilot, making her one of the war’s two female fighter aces. She was twice awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, and although she was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the war, she never received it. She was instead posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1993.
Although Budanova’s accomplishments were celebrated, most of the work done by women was quietly dismissed at the end of the war. Those who served in the military were forced to turn in their uniforms and take up more traditional roles, and Soviet paper Pravda wrote that the women soldiers should not “forget about their primary duty to nation and state—that of motherhood.”
In the 1960s and onward, women took on workforce roles in engineering and medicine, although men continued to dominate supervisory and leadership roles. Today, women are allowed to serve in the Russian military, but still confront various forms of sexism, including being encouraged to participate in state-sponsored military beauty pageants.
Sources:
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/soviet-ace-shot-down-nazi-pilots-with-great-skill-but-her-feats-are-mostly-forgotten-today-180969698/
- https://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=645
- https://www.rbth.com/history/326811-two-young-soviet-top-guns