In the former Soviet Union gender policy and gender studies in the liberal arts become more and more important. Until now, it was a cultural science of humanity as a community of individuals whose differences were considered to be insignificant.Of course, the humanities meant that actorsof history were both men and women. However, this intention has not led to certain principal conclusions that have ideological and methodological value for understanding the evolution of culture. As the G.F. Budde marks «social history and the history of society are still written without " gender "dimension"»[1, p. 143]. It was only with the twentieth century when gender aspect was taken into attention. A kind of push in debunking maskulinocentrizm (or otherwise: androcentrism) was the appearance of such a social and cultural phenomenon, as feminism. Representatives of feminism started a large-scale critic of external culture and its history as a field of unchallenged male dominance and came to the understanding of sex differences, that is expressed through concept of "gender", indicating the existence of a socio-cultural way of sex. It is easy to see that feminist research were built and keep being built, first, emphasizing the role of women and the feminine in culture, and secondly, axiologically contrasting feminine as a supposedly higher compared with the male.

These distortions have been largely overcome appeared in the 1980s - 1990s gender studies. G. G.Soloveva rightly speaks of a kind of "gender-turn" in social, cultural and human studies [2, p. 6-15].

Gender studies have been actively developed in the 80s of the past twentieth century and from the next decade actually took shape in a particular research and teaching discipline. But their appearance was preceded by a long history of the existence of another kind of research and social movements.Logically and historically gender studies preceded the feminist discourses that emerged in the second half of the 70s of the XVIII century. on the basis of the philosophical, political, and socio-anthropological ideas of the Enlightenment. A reference point of feminism can be considered the publication of the book in 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft, "In Defense of the Rights of Woman" [3, p. 24 - 39]. After this book was followed by many other publications on the problems posed M. Wollstonecraft.

In the twentieth century a two-volume work of Simone de Beauvoir's "The Second Sex" has become a philosophic bestseller [4, p. 24 - 39]. During the Soviet period gender issues were considered mainly from the perspective of a marriage and the family, as well as in demographic aspect. More general character were also published devoted to such topics as "Women and Socialism," "Women in the Modern World," "Women of the East", "Women of the East and the Present", "Women in Asia and Africa", etc. For example, on the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union was published in German language book Vardiman E. "Women in the ancient world" [5].

Currently, gender topics are broadly presented in the scientific community. In this case, gender studies are divided into: 1) general theoretical, which from different perspectives with the problems of gender and general methodological issues, and 2) studies that can be called applied or disciplinary (they analyzed gender in a variety of disciplines and areas of life.

The leading Western theorists, considering the general theoretical problems of gender include: L. Auslander, J. Butler, S. de Beauvoir, R. Braidotti, G. Buddе, E. Goldman, L. Irigaray, J.Kristeva, T. de Lauretis, N. Mendell, J.S. Mill, D. Moore, D. Rubin, E. Cixous, J.Skott, E. Spencer, B. Friedan, J. Evola and others.

From the former Soviet Specialists in gender studies can identify the most productive: N. Abubikirova, J. Baymukhametov, G. Brant, O. Voronin, S. Zherebkin, I. Zherebkina, S. Kasymova, T. Klimenkova, A. Kodar, Z. Kodar, I. Cohn, M. Malysheva, N Pushkareva, A. Temkina, S.A Oushakin etc.

Positive beginning that is present in many gender studies consists in that they concluded the initial impulse for the development of the idea of man as the bearer of a particular gender, identity and adequate ways of its existence.

2. Solovyov G.G. On “Gender turn” in modern Humanitarian sciences / / Adam alemi - The world of man. - 2007. - № 3.

3. Wollstonecraft M. In Defense of the Rights of Woman / / In.: Feminism: prose, memoirs, letters. - Moscow: Progress Publishers, Letter, 1992.

4. Bovoir S. de. Second sex / / In the 2 tons - St. Petersburg.: Progress, M.: Aletheia, 1997. - T. 1. Facts and myths. - Volume 2. A woman's life. - 832 sec.

5.Vardiman E. Women in the ancient world. - Moscow: Nauka, 1990. - 335 p.