Gender equality and extension of women rights in Russia
within millennium development goals

9. Political representation and equality of women's and men's rights

Very often the inequality of men's and women's possibilities is judged by on the basis of the gender asymmetry of the political representation, considering the achievement of equality in this question as one of the necessary conditions to overcome the accumulated inequality. The more so, because gender differences in the region of policy are extremely illustrative.

In the system of state service, women prevail on positions which do not imply the taking of responsible decisions. Among the total number of workers who occupy the public positions in public authorities, women amount 71%; men - 29%. In the highest echelon of authorities - part of the active government of the country - one woman. In the number of the heads of constituents of the Russian Federation - governors, heads of national autonomies - one woman (St. Petersburg). At the recent election of the governor of St. Petersburg one of candidates for governor, in his election campaign, used the slogan «Governor is a work for men», which reflects the gender patterns of the political power.

Among the deputies of the lower Chamber of the State Duma of the Russian federation, the parameter of women's presence steadily declines. Among the deputies of the State Duma of the first convocation (years 1993-1995) there were 13,6% of women. Among the deputies of the State Duma of the second convocation (years 1995-1999) there were 10 % of women. Among the deputies of the State Duma of the third convocation, elected in December of 1999 there were only 7,7% of women. In the composition of the upper Chamber - Soviet of the Federation, which amounts 178 members, there were 7 women in 2002 (in 2001 - 1 woman).

Among the deputies of the legislative assemblies of constituents of the Russian Federation, that is in the legislative assembly of the regions, there are nearly 9% of women. And this parameter varies significantly from region to region. In some of them, for instance in the legislative assemblies of regions of Novosibirsk and Chelyabinsk there are no women at all. At the same time in the legislative assembly of Republic of Karelia there are 32% of women among the number of deputies. There are23% of women in the composition of Moscow municipal duma.

Women head only 3 of 89 regional legislative assemblies of Russia.

There are almost no women in the upper echelons of the party organizations, which have their fractions in the parliament and really influence the acceptance of the significant policy decisions. Nearly the unique exception is I. Khakamada - co-chairman of «Union of Right Forces Party».

At the last parliament elections which here held in 1999, female names were only 10% of the names in the list of candidates for deputies from Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF); in the list of association «Edinstvo» (Unity) - 10% of women; in the list of association «Yabloko» (Apple) -11% of women; in the list of the block «Otechestvo-Vsya Rossija» (Motherland-the Whole Russia) - 12% of women; in the list of the Union of Right Forces Party - 17% of women. There were also 10-12% of women among those who these associations made their bet on in the single member constituencies. On the whole, the deputy authority was received by the following parties in the block:

• Otechestvo-Vsya Rossija - 7 women;
• Communist Party of the Russian Federation - 11 women;
• «Edinstvo» - 7 women;
• «Yabloko» - 2 women;
• Union of Right Forces Party - 4 women.
• 3 women passed as independent deputies.

In the governing composition of the State Duma of the third collocation the representation of women is as follows: among the heads of parliamentary factions there are no women. Among 9 vice chairmen there are two women. Among the chairmen of 29 Committees there are two women. Automatically, in the main parliamentary body - Council of State Duma, which includes Duma Chairman and his vices, heads of fractions and Committees, there were only 4 women (nearly 8% of its composition). Meanwhile, the Council of State Duma decides the most important questions of its activities: forms the agenda, set the priorities of lawmaking activity, sequence of acceptance of the prepared draft laws.

So it is evident that the gender structure of the current State Duma proves the exact «male» profile of the Russian legislative power.

But such gender differences in the composition of the political and state authority are in many aspects not a cause, but a result of all other gender disproportions, first of all of economical ones. The political representation is only the tip of the iceberg, in which base there are inequalities on the labour market, concerning the access to economic resources, the possession of immovable property. The modern political process in Russia is arranged in the manner that no decrees will make it possible to obtain the gender equation of the political representation until the political and economical forces which determine the results of electoral processes can see that women are able to express and protect their interests. Or until the women's economic independence creates the conditions and does not require the political representation.

At the same time the problem of gender equality of the political representation should be and can be in the list of state priorities. The methods of the positive discrimination, quotation, directed to increase the women's share in the political institutions, may be used to mark the orientation point of the state policy which is directed to the achievement of gender equality. This way, the change of providing for the equality of the women's possibilities in the political life should not be only declared, but also confirmed by the changes in the women's economic position and active state policy to correct the accumulated discrimination.

And all the more so, the subject of the state policy should be the obstruction of the vertical segregation at the state service. The programs of support of women's promotion to more higher public positions should reflect the real, and not only the declared, orientation points and priorities of the gender state strategy and policy.