.~ .. these occupat1ons. There were 32 professions 1n agriculture and industry where those new standards had been 1ntroduced. Specif1c measures had been adopted to protect the jobs and health of women and to enable women to combine work with motherhood. 115. With reference to social security, she explained the pension provisions for married and widowed women. Regarding marriage, she explained that the minimum age for marriage for a woman was 18, but that under very exceptional circumstances the court could lower it to 16. When a husband failed to fulfil his parental obligations, the Criminal Code established different measures of penalties. The sharing of household tasks was left entirely to the couple to solve in a friendly manner. There was also flexibility as to whether the children took the surname of the father or of the mother if the marriage was dissolved. In no agreement was possible, the Family Court would decide. The same applied to the domicile of children. Both mother and father had the same rights and duties. Paid leave for caring for a sick child was given to men and women alike. However, only the mother was given paid maternity leave and partially paid leave to take care of a child for up to one year. The Marriage and Family Code stipulated that adult men or women could adopt children. If the parties concerned were married, the consent of both partners was required. 116. When a marriage was dissolved, the Marriage and Family Code stipulated that both the mother and the father retained equal rights and obligations in connection with the raising of children. If no agreement could be reached on custody, the court that had rulea on the dissolution of the marriage determined which parent had custody of the children. Concerning paternity, the same Code stipulated that, in the absence of any j01nt statement on the paternity of a child born out of wedlock, patern1ty was determined by the court. 117. There was no prostitution 1n the USSR and rape was severely punished. The latter carried a penalty of 1mprisonment of up to 10 years in cases of physical violence or threat of murder. Rape of minors or gang rape was punished with 8 to 15 years' imprisonment. 118. There was a clear and upward trend 1n the employment of women at the highest levels although no women are members of the Pol1tburo at the present. There were, however, 487 women in the Soviet Presidium or 33 per cent of the total, and membership of the Central Committee of the Communist party was by election at the Party Congress. An even larger percentage (47 per cent) of women members could be found in the Supreme Sov1ets of Union and autonomous republics and in the local Soviets of people's Deputies. Four thousand two hundred and four women have been elected to serve as jUdges in People's Courts, whereas among court assessors over one half were women. More than half a million women were factory and state farm directors, managers of building sites and collective farms and heads of government departments. There were two women on the Council of Ministers of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and nine women held ministerial positions. Many of the deputy-ministers and chairmen of State committees were women. There were 106,000 women as either directors or deputy d1rectors of secondary schools. Although wonlen were not conscripted for military service, they were employed by the Ministry of Defence in hospital services attached to the military and in other social positions. The representative of the State party explained that secretaries of party organizations were elected political leaders and that 27 per cent of them were women. -19-