Gender equality in Soviet Union was largely a consequence of HUGE loses of Red Army in 1941-42 (we are talking over a million killed / imprisoned soldiers- all men)- so, lot of women found themselves overnight in necessity to fulfill lot of positions, from assembly line workers ( a LOT of those was drafted to the armed forces as well, to make up for the losses mentioned) to combat pilots- whole demographics was thrown overnight out of kilter, and as a result of insistence of Soviet government to maintain, and even increase production of military goods, almost a "crash courses" in education were pushed onto the women population, until that time largely marginalized; of course, after the war, situation simply couldn't reverse- women made their place in all aspects of society that being previously excluded from.