About the status of women in Russia


"Women being a natural and integral part of humanity, the question of their status and place in society has always been on the agenda of human civilization. At a certain stage of the development of civilization in each country, this question has formed as a problem of its sustainability, the presence of freedom and equal conditions of development for all. What has the woman contributed to civilization, what is her role in social life, in the formation of the system of values, especially today, when there is every reason to talk about the complication of social relations and the risks and challenges of modern reality?

We must be ready to understand that we cannot speak in the abstract about a subject without gender of the historical process and that the woman, who has become the executor of many tasks set by the State and society, is the bearer of human life and, by giving life to entire generations, gives them spirituality and meaning. Moreover, its presence in human civilization throughout history has been associated with notions of security, peace and responsibility.

On the other hand, the list of problems that women face, even in long-established democracies, includes lawlessness and poverty, discrimination and violence, the constant feeling of fear for the lives of their children.

The situation of women in modern Russia, the conditions for their inclusion in all spheres of public life and in the political process is one of the most urgent topics for Russian civil society. It should be noted that traditionally in Russia all social problems have always had a "female face". Today, the concept of "family poverty" and "feminization of poverty" has appeared. It should be noted that due to the crisis, the situation of women in the labor market is worsening, despite the special measures taken by the government to support women and their families. In general, it is well known that although equal rights of men and women are guaranteed by the Russian Constitution, gender inequality is more pronounced in government decision-making, law-making and social policy.


There are many examples of the difficult situation of women in Russian society: in Russia, women make up the majority of the unemployed, although 2/3 of them have higher education; their salaries are 50-70% of those of men; in many Russian families, women are exposed to gender-based violence and discrimination.

At the same time, it should be noted that the implementation of the social policy of Russia and the national priority projects increasingly take into account the problems of women's health, maternity and child protection. For example, the special programs "Birth Certificate" and "Maternity Capital" are successfully implemented in the country. They are aimed at improving the quality of medical care on the one hand, and modernizing obstetric care facilities on the other. Over the past five years, a total of 786.1 billion rubles has been spent on the implementation of the "Health" project, of which 90 billion rubles have been allocated to improving medical care for mothers and children. macos/deepLFree.translatedWithDeepL.text

A particularly important aspect of the problem is the participation of women in key governmental decision-making processes. As we know, many discussions in a large number of countries come to the conclusion that the effectiveness of political processes and social policies depends directly on the participation of women. As far as I know, most OSCE countries have quota policies in place to increase women's participation in power structures. As the experience of Norway shows, where the share of women in the upper echelons of power has risen to 40 percent as a result of such measures, the implementation of such a policy requires both state regulation and public support. Many countries have succeeded in increasing the percentage of women in parliament to 30 percent. And while outdated gender stereotypes perpetuate an inappropriate division of roles between women and men, new and modern approaches to the problem require that both sexes be equally represented in government, which should lead to the desired results of a better quality of life, peace and stability.

In the modern type of society, a change in the quality of governance in relation to universal national and global issues is necessary. Therefore, equalizing the gender balance should be a priority, because can there be a democratic society without women and not for life? By the way, just recently a woman was elected as the president of the Upper House of the Parliament of the Russian Federation. In addition, women are fairly well represented in mid-level government positions, including at the municipal level, where they often make up more than 50%.

Today, as humanity is concerned with finding the imperatives and strategies for sustainable development of modern civilization, women, who constitute the majority of humanity, must have access to the decision-making process. Moreover, as the practice of countries where they have this access shows, the decisions made are more informed and have important social perspectives. And it is safe to say that today, gender equality and partnership between men and women strengthen national security, create opportunities for sustainable development, and influence the priority given to human services and human capital development.

Communicability and resilience, self-preservation and the ability to connect everything, and accountability are just a small part of women's positive identity. It seemed that the emergence of new development paradigms, of a new philosophy of peace would put an end to violent civilization, but the subject of domestic violence against women and even children is today a cruel reality in many countries, including our own. The eradication of this problem is a priority task for countries where such phenomena exist, because it is not only a question of image and level of culture of the country, but also a proof of the crisis that brings us closer to the collapse of civilization.

Morality and ethics must acquire real power in state and universal decisions, and a woman, by her nature, is able to unite morality and politics. And only such an approach, taking into account the moral and professional potential of women, can guarantee the possibility of sustainable development. And only such a partnership can guarantee social cohesion as the main objective of European policy and the consequent improvement of the quality of life and the feeling of confidence in the future.