Russian Women’s Perceptions of Human Rights and Rights-based Approaches in Everyday Life

Abstract

The protracted political, economic and social transformations in former communist states have shown that while formal political rights and freedoms have expanded, this has not necessarily led to the realisation of other fundamental rights.¹ Living conditions for many Russian citizens have worsened since the collapse of the Soviet regime, and criticisms of Russia’s human rights record continue to be highlighted by international non-governmental organisations.² Although these social and economic changes have affected many people living in Russia, regardless of gender, it has been argued that liberalisation and marketisation created ‘two mutually repelling poles — a male dominated pole of wealth, integrated into the hypermodern flow of finance and commodities, and a female dominated (working class) underworld, retreating into subsistence and kin networks.’³ Thus, the transformation process has arguably had a more negative impact on the lives of women. Women’s lack of political representation, discrimination in the labour market as well as chauvinistic attitudes displayed towards women have been identified as the main areas of discrimination against women.⁴ In addition, increased rates of domestic violence and the trafficking of women and girls into the sex industry have recently attracted attention as some of the major threats to Russian women’s human rights.⁵