MISCHIEVOUS DATA
Women constitute 53% of the Russian population.
On average, they live 12 years longer than men do. However, these data
witness not of women's relative well-being, because they say nothing about
the most essential feature -- quality of their life. A dozen years of women's
life expectancy excess over men's fall in joyless closing phase of life
when a woman usually faces lonely widowhood, copious health problems, hopelessness
and poverty. So Russian women's longevity is no subject for admiration.
The same is true for quality of their life.
Women suffer double if not triple strain being employed both at their
regular job (and today, "jobs" should be the word) and at home.
Strains resulting from day-to-day overwork are being complicated today
by mental distresses caused by constantly dropping standards of living.
A woman is more vulnerable to these distresses then a man, since it is
the woman who is responsible for her family and children (in every fourth
Russian family, a mother is the only worker), and a prospect of unemployment
looks more than frightening to her. It is this fear of losing job as the
only source of sustenance drives scores of women into deeply depressed
state of mind and forces them to grab at every job at hand. Irrespective
of enacted ban on employing women in hazardous industrial environments
and manpower jobs, today we have 3.5 million women working in hostile environments,
and 285 thousand women at hard and/or hazardous jobs. Mentally distressed,
physically exhausted, women seem utterly negligent of their health. Women
would usually turn to medical services when it is too late and their health
problems have become chronic or irreversible. Probably, that is one reason
why women's life expectancy after AIDS or cancer diagnosis has been set
is shorter than men's. Statistical data also demonstrate that average health
status of female patients is worse than this of male patients.
FRIGHTENING DATA
Malignant tumors resulted in 4.6 million
life years lost in Russia. On average, cancer shortens men's lives by 7.4
years, and women's lives -- by 9.8 years. Mortality rates in female population
are highest for breast cancer (18%), skin cancer (13.3%), and stomach cancer
(11.1%). Women's health is known to suffer most in period of pregnancy,
delivery and post-delivery. It is in this period when blood, cardiac, ventricular,
renal and other diseases develop. Thus, from 1991 to 1995 anemia rate in
female population increased twofold (34.4% against 16.6%). Renal diseases
rate increased by half (12.9% against 8.0%). Heart and vessel diseases
rate increased from 5.5% to 7.7%; detected cases of intoxications in third
phase of pregnancy increased from 11.1% to 15.7%. Septicemia rate increased
five times (1.79% against .33%). In 1995, maternal mortality rate was as
high as 53.3 cases per 100,000 births. Mortality rate in complicated cases
of artificial abortions was 23.3%.
The figures above demonstrate most negative trends in reproductive
health of Russian women. We must not forget that reproductive health status
along with medical has great social impact. Woman Plus repeatedly discusses
such issues as contraception, family planning, and birth control. Our standpoint
is that any woman must have right of reproductive choice and opportunities
for its realization. In this issue we would like to bring our readers in
course of ongoing discussions concerning governmental Family Planning program
and a legislative draft, "Reproductive Rights of Citizens and their
Enforcement".
HISTORY OF THE DRAFT
Drafting process was initiated by the Russian
Academy of Family Planning. Work team was convened by parliamentary Committee
on women, family, and youth of the 5th State Duma. The draft is based on
presidential Family Planning program financed from governmental budget.
The draft includes provisions on family interests and rights protection
compliant with international family law. The draft confirms the right of
individuals to choose number of children in their families, time and periodicity
of their birth, and the right of children to be born wanted and healthy.
Despite its statements on continuation of every activity in competence
of the Committee on Women, Family and Youth, the new State Duma has excluded
"Reproductive Rights of Citizens and their Enforcement" draft
from the agenda of its spring session. Deputies justify it by draft's incompleteness
and other priorities among social problems. Oh yes, we have many social
problems! Nonetheless, the funniest thing is that one more reason for putting
the draft aside is that neither deputies, nor wide public have clear understanding
of what the term, 'reproductive rights' means.
 |
|
After fervent debates in the State Duma,
hot public disputes on the draft itself and on its relevancy to societal
needs followed. For instance, the Orthodox Health Promotion Center "Life"
states in its bulletin that the draft of "Reproductive Rights of Citizens
and their Enforcement" provides for "one-way family planning
that would lead to reduced birth rate."Authors of the bulletin believe
that the only mission of the draft is consistent promotion of abortions,
contraception and sterilization in order to reduce Russian population.
And once a birth control program is included into compulsory health insurance
plan, financing "infanticide, sterilization and children molestation"
from public money will offend orthodox Christians as tax-payers.
The Family Planning program also received hard critique. The "Appeal
of Ministers of the Orthodox Church against 'sexual education' in schools"
is undergoing active public endorsement process supported by congregations
of most local orthodox churches. In the appeal, family planning classes
are called no less than "fornication promotion" and "the
new step on the way of nationwide degeneration, corruption, and making
Russian people extinct."
Disapproval on behalf of the Orthodox Church organization is understandable.
A surprising fact is that many newspaper writers who may disagree in everything
else seem totally consolidated in their rejection of the draft. V.Goryachev,
in his "RHAPSody1 of the alien score" in Pravda, 4(181), states
his solidarity with orthodox church writers: "Our feminists act
under supervision of the International Federation of Family Planning known
for its adherence to Third Reich concept of more babies of valuable parents,
less babies of those invaluable."
S.Kolosovskaya in her "Dolls and Prophylactics", in Tverskaya
13 daily, emphasizes: "The Russian Association of Family Planning
is liable to court prosecution for its projects and booklets as containing
practices of sexual molestation of immature."
Magadan community appeal to the State Duma seems more weighed: "No
doubt that such a legislation on civil rights should be adopted."
However, this reasonable proposition is followed by calling the existing
draft "antisocial in its essence as providing for economic solutions
through decreasing birth-rates by all means and with government resources."
Participants of the inter-regional workshop "Social Policy: New
Opportunities for Women?" supported the draft vigorously. They issued
an appeal to the Federal Assembly of the RF and mass media subsequently
presented at round table discussion in Duma on February 10.
"Being representatives of women's public organizations
of 20 Russian communities, we state our anxiety and concern with recent
mass media campaign against the Family planning Program and the draft of
"Reproductive Rights of Citizens and their Enforcement" legislation.
The program has nothing to do with compulsory birth
control and "reducing number of newborn" as many journalists
state. The Family Planning programs objectives are to reduce artificial
abortions rate, prevent unwanted impregnations, reduce mortality rate both
with mothers and newborn, improve people's fertility functions, and to
set barriers to AIDS and STD spread.
We feel deep indignation with mass media approach to
the program when -- irrespective of their political priorities -- various
communication sources jointly promote the idea of canceling implementation
of the Family Planning program as "serving for molestation of immature."
In this connection, we should remind that, in its educational component,
the program aims at improving reproductive health and enhancing young people's
responsibility and consideration to issues of parenthood.
The draft "Reproductive Rights of Citizens and
their Enforcement" contains provisions that recommended school programs
of education in gender, reproductive health and family issues should be
developed by governmental departments of education and health. By now,
not a single program has been approved. To our opinion it is unethical
to associate the Family Planning program with pornography and state that
funds allocated to pay for school lunches have been spent on procuring
foreign prophylactics for teenagers; scare readers with the "Reproductive
Rights of Citizens and their Enforcement" draft calling it "a
gateway for corruption, masturbation and homosexuality promotion in schools.'
(S.Kolosovskaya)
We state our support to the Family Planning program
and the draft of "Reproductive Rights of Citizens and their Enforcement".
We are not in position to voice the opinion of all Russian women, but we
suggest that if the Federal Assembly and the President of the RF being
a guarantor of the Constitution want to learn actual opinion of their electorate
in issue of family planning, they will conduct a national referendum. Let
us have in this country at least one referendum not on political, but on
human rights issue."
The editorial board is indebted to M.Liborakina of the Information
Center of the Independent Women's Forum who gratefully provided us copious
materials and Dr. Ilya Khudaitov, active member of the Russian Academy
of Medical Technologies, for permission to use data published in Information
and Analytic Newsletter of ASI, 18 (44).
