Women in Russian Culture and Society, 1700-1825 examines women in Russian history in three themed sections. It opens with a section on women and the arts which examines the active role of female artists in cultural production: noblewomen writing fiction, lower-class women in the theatre, journals for women and women's travel writing. The second section on women's history shows the procedures used by lower-class women to circumvent the ban on divorce by the Orthodox Church, the early effect of Westernisation on the dress of women at court, and reveals the commerical activities of merchant widows who took over their husbands' businesses. The final section is devoted to femininity and the Chruch, and covers the religious argument in defence of female rulership, the experience of women in religious houses, and the missionary activity of British women in the Russian Empire.

Women in Russian Culture and Society, 1700-1825 is a collection of essays by leading researchers shedding new light on women as writers, actresses, nuns and missionaries. It illuminates the lives of merchant and serf women as well as noblewomen and focuses on women's culture in Russia during this period.