Russian Women Are Leading the Underground Protest Against Putin’s War Europe

In today’s Russia, feminist activism varies depending on organization type and how the different organizations deploy technology to achieve their goals. Newer forms of activism are more adaptable and make full use of social media, while some of the long-standing organizations are disappearing as a result of the country’s conservative turn and loss of international funding. There is significant modern public sentiment that opposes the presence of women in Russian politics. The findings of a 2017 independent research study reveal a culture ”not ready” for female leaders. In 2017, one in three Russians ”do not approve of women in the political sphere.” In 2016, only twenty percent of respondents felt this way. The same study also concluded that the 2017 response against gender equality among the ”high echelons of power” was stronger (38%), comparatively, than in 2016, when only 28% of respondents submitted these sentiments.

• Despite crackdowns on NGOs under Putin’s “foreign agents” law, organizations are doing their best to get the word out about the situation in Russia.
• Vladimir Putin’s call-up of hundreds of thousands of military reservists may have added to the trend.
• Pekurova herself gave birth last year in Buenos Aires, and her “positive” experience further strengthened her desire to offer trips to the country.
• Unlike their male counterparts who had to flee quickly, Russian women have the luxury of time.

Pamfilova has gained particular stature as an advocate on behalf of women and elderly people. The ending of Soviet assurance of the right to work caused severe unemployment among both men and women. After the 1991 fall of the USSR, many women who had previously worked as engineers, scientists and teachers, had to resort to prostitution in order to feed themselves and their families. The most frequently-offered job in new businesses is that of sekretarsha (secretary/receptionist), and advertisements for such positions in private-sector companies often specify physical attractiveness as a primary requirement . Russian law provides for as much as three years’ imprisonment for sexual harassment, but the law is rarely enforced. Although the Fund for Protection from Sexual Harassment has blacklisted 300 Moscow firms where sexual harassment is known[by whom? ] to have taken place, demands for sex and even rape are still common on-the-job occurrences.

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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Arguably the most important legal change that affected women’s lives was the Law of Single Inheritance instituted by Peter the Great in 1714. The law was supposed to help the tax revenue for Russia by banning the allowance of noble families to divide their land and wealth among multiple children. This law effectively ended the practice of excluding women from inheriting patrimonial estates.

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On the other hand, foreign men tend to respect their love from abroad more and that makes their wives happier. Moreover it’s always a great experience to build an intercultural family in which two people can interchange not only their personal experiences but also the heritage of their countries.

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In Russia, civil society may have “a woman’s face” and the authorities may have “a man’s face,” but protecting women is a job for everyone, and ensuring numerical gender equality does not immediately resolve the human rights violations. Because of time constraints, the conference discussions had to omit a variety of problems existing within feminism and activism, but did touch on the complicated relationship between the two. It is no secret that despite a recent resurgence of interest in feminism, the word itself has negative connotations in Russia, and female activists often shy away from that label, even if their practical work reflects feminist ideas. Still, as many of the conference participants emphasized, the key to success lies in solidarity, including solidarity across gender divides and ideological lines. One can argue that it is time for female activists to embrace feminism, for men to become true allies in pursuit of women’s rights, and for feminists to join the fight for wider social change. This article concerns the analysis of court practices for criminal cases relating to female victims of domestic violence who have been charged with murder or intentional infliction of grievous bodily injuries of their partners.

While the pursuit of women’s rights should not be reduced to a fight against specific government policies and legislative initiatives, Russia offers an interesting case for exploring the motivations and strategies of activism and social change in an authoritarian regime. In January 2017, the lower house of the Russian legislature decriminalized first time domestic violence. This applies to first offenses which do not cause serious injury, decreasing from a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment to a maximum of fifteen days in police custody. It became an administrative offense, with the penalty for first offenses falling under the Administrative Code, these usually being fines or suspended sentences if the accused is a family member, which constitutes the vast majority of domestic violence cases.

In the few cases where women have served as pilots or in other restricted roles, they have had to petition the government for special permission, even sending hand-written notes to Shoygu. At the same time, it seems these women are disproportionately highlighted in Russian media, inflating the perception that female representation is robust and unrestricted. Fears of gender-based violence may also play a role, as reports of rape and sexual assault even against men in the Russian military are common. An extreme practice of violence, bullying, and hazing, known as dedovshchina is acknowledged as a severe issue in the Russian military.

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 reed about russian women at https://thegirlcanwrite.net/russian-women/ 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.