Fwd: Russian women: never had it so bad

["Charles Brown" <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

[from Johnson's Russia List]

Russia's women say they have never had it so bad
By Elizabeth Piper

MOSCOW, May 22 (Reuters) - Russian women have never had it so bad,
politicians and women's groups said on Monday, decrying post-Soviet reforms
for eating away at wages and turning politics into a "men-only club."

Russia's top female politicians unveiled measures designed to restore the
position of women, which they said had plummeted since Communist times, hit
by punishing reforms and a pervasive belief among men that women were better
off at home.

"We have thankfully watched the fall of the Berlin Wall, but unfortunately
the wall fell on women's heads," one speaker said.

First Deputy Speaker Lyubov Sliska told the meeting in parliament, attended
by dozens of women and four men, that women's pay fell way short of men's and
discrimination between the sexes ensured that women rarely made it to the
top.

"Women were the victims of the reform years," Sliska told the meeting, which
included representatives of over 100 groups.

"They have fallen into the most economically vulnerable groups of the
population. Women form the majority among the unemployed, pensioners and
among those who work in the state sector of the economy."

Sliska, one of a handful of women in the State Duma lower house, said market
reforms and high inflation had forced more women than men out of the
workplace despite an often superior standard of education.

"We teach the children, cure the sick but we receive nothing in return," said
Yekaterina Lakhova, head of the Women of Russia political party, proposing
that some form of minimum wage and positive discrimination should become law.

"Women work even in heavy industry but we are not allowed in the halls of
power," she said, adding that women fought in the front-lines during World
War Two but were still treated by many men as if they were "a special sex
which cannot make decisions."

Out of 450 seats in the Duma, women occupy only 29 compared with the
Communist quota system when up to a third of deputies in the Supreme Soviet
were women.

Two women have penetrated what Lakhova called "a closed shop" at the top of
Russian politics -- Valentina Matviyenko has a seat in the cabinet as a
deputy prime minister and Tatyana Paramonova is first deputy head of the
central bank.

But women at the top are few and many at the meeting blamed male politicians
for failing to warm to a new culture.

"We are not against men, we just want to use our experience," Lakhova said,
adding that hundreds of male deputies had been invited but had failed to take
part in the discussion.

One male deputy after being told what the dozens of women were debating may
have summed up some of the men's thoughts.

"It's dangerous in there," he said. "There's no way I'm going in."

--- Begin Message ---

• To: lbo-talk <lbo-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Subject: Russian women: never had it so bad
• From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx>
• Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 18:06:24 -0400

[from Johnson's Russia List]

Russia's women say they have never had it so bad
By Elizabeth Piper

MOSCOW, May 22 (Reuters) - Russian women have never had it so bad,
politicians and women's groups said on Monday, decrying post-Soviet reforms
for eating away at wages and turning politics into a "men-only club."

Russia's top female politicians unveiled measures designed to restore the
position of women, which they said had plummeted since Communist times, hit
by punishing reforms and a pervasive belief among men that women were better
off at home.

"We have thankfully watched the fall of the Berlin Wall, but unfortunately
the wall fell on women's heads," one speaker said.

First Deputy Speaker Lyubov Sliska told the meeting in parliament, attended
by dozens of women and four men, that women's pay fell way short of men's and
discrimination between the sexes ensured that women rarely made it to the
top.

"Women were the victims of the reform years," Sliska told the meeting, which
included representatives of over 100 groups.

"They have fallen into the most economically vulnerable groups of the
population. Women form the majority among the unemployed, pensioners and
among those who work in the state sector of the economy."

Sliska, one of a handful of women in the State Duma lower house, said market
reforms and high inflation had forced more women than men out of the
workplace despite an often superior standard of education.

"We teach the children, cure the sick but we receive nothing in return," said
Yekaterina Lakhova, head of the Women of Russia political party, proposing
that some form of minimum wage and positive discrimination should become law.

"Women work even in heavy industry but we are not allowed in the halls of
power," she said, adding that women fought in the front-lines during World
War Two but were still treated by many men as if they were "a special sex
which cannot make decisions."

Out of 450 seats in the Duma, women occupy only 29 compared with the
Communist quota system when up to a third of deputies in the Supreme Soviet
were women.

Two women have penetrated what Lakhova called "a closed shop" at the top of
Russian politics -- Valentina Matviyenko has a seat in the cabinet as a
deputy prime minister and Tatyana Paramonova is first deputy head of the
central bank.

But women at the top are few and many at the meeting blamed male politicians
for failing to warm to a new culture.

"We are not against men, we just want to use our experience," Lakhova said,
adding that hundreds of male deputies had been invited but had failed to take
part in the discussion.

One male deputy after being told what the dozens of women were debating may
have summed up some of the men's thoughts.

"It's dangerous in there," he said. "There's no way I'm going in."
--- End Message ---