RUSSIA: Women Look for Greater Representation

By Kester Kenn Klomegah Reprint | | Print |

Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW, Nov 5 2007 (IPS) - Several women leaders are hoping for a higher representation in parliament after the Dec. 2 elections than the present 10 percent.

“If we judge by the selection list of influential parties, then the future parliament can have almost twice as many women deputies,” Yelena Panina, a member of the United Russia party backed by the Kremlin told IPS. There are at present 45 women in the 450-seat Duma.

“This means the party operatives are aware of the gross under-representation of women in the mainstream of politics,” Panina said. “Apparently, understanding the level of women participation now points to a change in men’s perception about governing in Russia; it’s no longer as rigid as it was earlier. That makes way for progress.”

Some women say they should at least partly blame themselves for under-representation in politics so far.

“If a hardworking woman wants to represent her people, people will definitely support her,” representative of the conservative-leaning Soviet-era Communist Party Tamara Pletnjeva told IPS.

But that still offers only limited possibilities, she added. As long as women do not have quotas in legislative and executive bodies, little can improve, she said.

According to the polling agency the Levada Centre, 60 percent of Russians support quotas to boost women’s participation in politics.

The Duma refused to discuss a bill in spring for a 30 percent quota for women on party lists. The bill was brought by Yekaterina Lakhova, a parliamentarian since the Soviet collapse in 1991 and chairperson of the Women of Russia movement.

Lakhova’s movement was founded in 1996 to change women’s social and economic life for the better especially where the government has failed, and to raise women’s political awareness and participation in policy formulation and its implementation.

“It has been our primary aim to change attitudes and fight discrimination by men in certain areas where women have to work, especially in politics that is men-dominated,” Lakhova told IPS. “We strongly feel that women’s involvement could make managing national affairs better.”

Russian women have “lagged behind western colleagues,” Irina Gorbulina, president of the Russian Academy of Business and Enterprise, a group that supports women’s awareness programmes in politics and business told IPS. “But I hope the next parliamentary elections will bring to Russian women more benefits than before.”

She said that after the political and economic reforms in the 1990s, most women had to deal with financial problems in their families, and so have had to focus on home and family matters. As these problems get solved, more Russian women will venture into politics.

“In the meantime we should understand that it is a long process. In a historical perspective, such changes don’t happen instantly,” Gorbulina said.

The appointment of Elvira Nabiullina as economic development and trade minister, and of Tatyana Golikova as public health and social development minister to cabinet posts last month is seen as indication by President Vladimir Putin of an eagerness to encourage women in politics.

Statistics show that at the regional level women are more prominent in political life, except in strategic development areas.

An academic researcher on gender issues at the Russian Academy of Science Olga Savinskaya told IPS that women have been denied challenging positions also in the fields of military and defence, the aviation industry and space exploration, and in other technological spheres.

And more needs to be done in the government and political sphere, she said. “Whereas Kremlin authorities have acknowledged gender imbalances and wanted more women to serve in government positions, many are offered only less demanding responsibilities in the provinces,” Savinskaya said. “By proportionally voting for more women, the electorate could help ensure the principle of equal rights and opportunities enshrined in the constitution.”