Men’s family roles are rewarded publicly and privately, while women are effectively penalized through the doubled workload at home and in a career, in addition to facing employment discrimination and limited career prospects. The trend toward retraditionalization and remasculinization has affected women’s employment options, but public opinion polls offer grounds for cautious optimism that Russian society has not supported a complete return to traditionalism in the workforce.

• Were Russia to offer equal resources in agriculture to all genders, it could raise food production by 30%.
• In 1999, there were only four women named as part of the Nezavisimaya gazeta’s monthly ranking of influential Russian politicians, the highest-ranking being Tatyana Dyachenko, Boris Yeltsin’s daughter.
• Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the author.
• She spent nine of those days at a police station where she slept on the bare floor in a dark cell.
• The findings of a 2017 independent research study reveal a culture „not ready” for female leaders.

It also needs feminists as allies in pursuit of the social change agenda. In public talks aimed at dismantling stereotypes, feminist speakers often find that women themselves tend to shy away from using the word “feminism” and from conversations about discrimination. Domestic violence has moved to a prominent place on the public agenda, but now feminists tend to focus on this problem overlooking other social issues. Among other critiques, the discourse is noticeably heterocentric, even though the LGBTQ+ community faces similar issues related to abuse in relationships. In addition, the fight against the so-called “gay propaganda law” of 2013, which criminalizes “propagandizing nontraditional sexual relationships” to minors, thus effectively criminalizing the public promotion of LGBTQ+ rights in Russia, remains outside the feminist agenda. Some conference participants voiced the need for intersectionality, although another participant later objected, arguing that it dilutes the feminist agenda.

Furthermore, only 33% of respondents would welcome a female president. Sociological surveys show that sexual harassment and violence against women increased at all levels of society in the 1990s. In 1993 an estimated 14,000 women were murdered by their husbands or lovers, about twenty times the figure in the United States and several times the figure in Russia five years earlier. More than 300,000 other types of crimes, including spousal abuse, were committed against women in 1994; in 1996 the State Duma (the lower house of the Federal Assembly, Russia’s parliament) drafted a law against domestic violence.

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Outside of the military, too, an order from Vladimir Putin currently prohibits women from more than 450 professions across a number of industries—the fear being that overly strenuous activity might interfere with one’s ability to https://gardeniaweddingcinema.com/european-women/russian-women/ bear children. Though the Labor Ministry is reportedly working to reduce this number to 100 by 2021, restricted jobs will still include mining, construction, metalwork, firefighting, or jobs that involve heavy-lifting, diving, handling hazardous chemicals, welding, or aircraft repair. Law enforcement officers do not consider domestic violence against charged women as a significant circumstance relevant to the criminal case of the murder or causing bodily injuries to their partners or other male relatives. You can learn how to date and even get into a romantic relationship with a Russian woman from abroad and create a new family. There is an extensive number of sites where you can not only look for your future partner, you can also maintain constant and instant correspondence. Unfortunately, very often there misunderstanding can occur, which sometimes cannot be avoided because of language and cultural differences.

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The evolution of Russian feminism over the past thirty years and the transformation of feminism into nonfeminism and postfeminism are as interesting as the deeper historical roots of today’s agenda. In the Russian case, it is also vital to look beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg and engage the wide variety of regional experiences and perspectives on women’s issues from across the country. The Kennan Institute’s conference included participants from Ivanovo, Makhachkala, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Smolensk, Tomsk, and Tver, but wider geographic representation would enrich the conversation. Furthermore, as one participant noted, it might also be helpful to learn from the work of Holocaust studies and supplement the picture with the voices of direct participants and witnesses, such as clients of crisis centers or former inmates who became activists. There are multiple centers across Russia that offer assistance to victims of gender-based violence, and there are projects, like Nasiliu.net, that focus on educating the public and spreading the word to prevent violence.

Women in Russia

Socialist realist art glorified ordinary workers, and women were often not depicted in a traditionally feminine manner. Offer your seat in transport to elderly people and save a kitten from stray dogs. Once I saw a man jump into sewage to save tiny ducklings that fell down a hatch – in the eyes of his girlfriend he was a real hero. A Russian woman will be very independent in a relationship, and very stubborn, too. But on the other hand, expect bravery in danger and trouble, and the strength that will help both of you overcome the most difficult times. Our systems have detected unusual traffic activity from your network. Please complete this reCAPTCHA to demonstrate that it’s you making the requests and not a robot.

At the same time, women’s achievements are absent from public spaces, and many female professionals are in constant search of legitimation and visibility. Hence it is important to “decolonize” the discourse and create platforms, such as the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s “She Is an Expert” project, to help achieve true gender parity, which is not about political correctness but about the quality of work and expertise and the visibility thereof. One of the kickoff speakers presented a study that analyzed the representation of women in Russian political bodies at different levels. The speaker described quantitative variations between different regions and municipalities and showed the positive effect of the mixed electoral system, wherein seats are filled both from party lists and from single-mandate districts.

Articles advising men on how to avoid mobilization proliferate in Russian media. “Legal and not so legal lifehacks” include not opening the door when someone knocks, staying off social media, undergoing a surgery, adopting a child as a single father, faking a physical or mental illness, and checking yourself into rehab for drug addiction.

Despite facing arrests and threats, activists and organizations are persisting in getting the message of gender equality out to the public. Innovations in technology and social media make information more accessible to the Russian people and change the perception of feminism from a dirty, Western word to something necessary to Russian society. For example, Cafe Simona in Saint Petersburg is a woman-only workspace and event space that allows women to go about their days without experiencing harassment. NGOs like Human Rights Watch also strive to inform both the domestic and international communities of the issues facing Russian women.