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I. PREPARATORY WORK FOR THE REGIONAL RESEARCH AND CONDUCTING THE RESAERCH

In 2009 the efforts of the participants of the project were focused on data collection and analyzing information on the current situation in women’s human rights enforcement in ten regions of the Russian Federation approved within the project, such as Moscow, the Republic of Tatarstan, the Krasnodar Territory, the Perm’ Region, the Sverdlovsk Region, the Voronezh Region, the Rostov Region, the Saratov Region, the Samara Region, the Nizhny Novgorod Region.

In January 2009 the federal experts delivered seminars on follow-up of the unified guidelines on gathering and analyzing information. The experts are N.M Rimashevskaya, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; M.E. Baskakova, Ph.D.; L.S. Rzhanitsina, PhD.; N.V. Zubarevich, PhD.; E. B. Mezentseva, PhD.; V.K. Bochkareva, PhD. Unified structure of the guidelines is necessary for comparative analysis of the situation in women’s human rights enforcement in ten regions of Russia.

In February 2009 the guidelines were sent to the regional experts via electronic mail for their initial inspection. They are Dr. E.V. Bazuyeva, the Perm’ Region; A.A. Gnedash, Ph.D., the Krasnodar Region; I.V. Zoroastrova, the Nizhny Novgorod Region; V.V. Kizhikina, Ph.D., the Rostov Region; E.V. Mashkova, Ph.D., Republic of Tatarstan; Dr. E.G. Trubina, the Sverdlovsk Region; L.N. Popkova, Ph.D., the Samara Region; E.I. Yakushkina, Ph.D., the Voronezh Region; Dr. E.R. Yarskaya-Smirnova, the Saratov Region. Alongside with that the Moscow Center for Gender Studies launched forum on their website for online discussion of academic, methodological and practical issues of the project implementation. On 19-20 March two-day methodological seminar “Women’s Human Rights in the regions of Russia” was held in Moscow. On the first day the seminar was held at the Moscow office of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, on the second day the participants of the seminar were hosted at the Moscow Center for Gender Studies. The major focus of the seminar was discussion on the final version of the guidelines, clarifying the ways of collecting information and training on methods of its analysis. Regional experts received the CD with methodological recommendations on collecting and analyzing information. The CD was provided within the framework of the project and contained: (a) the issues to be resolved in the course of the research; (b) recommended qualitative and quantitative indicators of gender equality; (c) recommended resources of obtaining information, including Internet sources; (d) the list of literature; (e) similar analytical reports released by international organizations on women’s discrimination. In the course of the workshop the ways and objectives of studying the enforcement of women’s human rights in the regions of Russia were discussed. In addition, methodological consultations on the following issues were provided:

• National mechanism on gender equalities (consultants O.A. Voronina, E.A. Ballayeva);
• Intergovernmental fiscal relations and social policy (L.A. Migranova and V.K. Bochkareva)
• The experience of the Consortium of Women’s NGOs with the regional ombudsmen (S.G. Aivazova)
• Some aspects of gender inequality in the regions of Russia (N.V. Zubarevich)
• Women’s social rights and gender-based budget of the regions of Russia (L.S. Rzhanitsina)
• Women’s human rights in the context of demographical policy (M.E. Baskakova)
• Women’s human rights and the state support for families (N.M. Rimashevskaya)
• Guarantees for women’ rights in employment and on the labor market (E.B. Mezentseva)

Along with the project participants, experts on social policy and gender equality as well as participants of women’s non-governmental organizations of Moscow attended the workshop. Representatives of UNDP, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Consortium of Women’s Non-Governmental Associations and the Moscow Helsinki Group shared their experiences on the protection of women’s human rights in the regions of Russia.

During the following months regional experts were preparing analytical reports provided with technical/informational/resource assistance of the Moscow Center for Gender Studies via internet forum and face-to-face consultations. The reports were processed according to the following structure:
I. Regional parts of the national mechanism on gender equality (including the issues of political representation of women and cooperation between regional authorities and women’s NGOs).
II. Guarantees of women’s human rights enforcement in employment and on the labor market (assessment of economic activities of women and men; gender unbalance in employment; gender gap in payments; gender aspects of unemployment and job search.
III. Social rights of women and men in the context of social policy of the regions of Russia (gender issues of social welfare, health care and education).
IV. Women’s human rights in the context of population and family policies.
V. Women’s human rights in the agendas of women’s non-governmental organizations.
V. Expert assessment: identifying the most crucial issues in the field of gender discrimination in the particular region.
VI. Conclusions and recommendations on the national mechanism on gender equality and on the developing of the gender balanced social policies.

Selecting the abovementioned issues has been based on the need of focusing attention on the most crucial problems in the field of women’s human rights enforcement in the entire country. Later interregional comparison would help to identify the most significant and effective tools of the regional gender policies as well as the forms of institutional, legislative and financial guarantees of women’s human rights on the regional level.

In the end of 2009 the initial versions of analytical reports were received from Saratov, Moscow and Rostov-on-Don. Reports from the other regions will be provided by the end of January, 2010.

The results of the research of women’s socioeconomic and political rights were presented at the regional seminar on December 16, 2009 in the Moscow House of Non-Governmental Organizations. The goal of the seminar was discussing the crucial issues of gender inequality and the assessment of effectiveness of the current mechanisms of their implementation/resolving. 35 participants attended the seminar. They were experts on women’s human rights, representatives of women’s non-governmental organizations of Moscow and the Moscow Region (Oblast), members of the Board on local self-government of the Chairperson of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation (RF) and the Public Chamber of the RF; representatives of the gender unit of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions as well as of the Moscow Department of the Federation. In addition, the other attendees were the Deputy Chief of the Department of Cooperation with Public Organizations in social protection of the Ministry of Health Care and Social Development of the Russian Federation, representatives of different department of the Moscow Government, such as Department of Labor and Employment, the Department of Family and Youth Policy, the Committee on Public Relations and the Center of Support of Women’s Initiatives.

I.S. Korolyova, Executive Director of the Moscow House of Public Organizations, greeted the participants. In her introductory speech Dr. N.M. Rimashevskaya, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Chairperson of Academic Council on gender relations, identified a range of issues which make an impact on enforcement of gender equality, for instance, undervaluation of women’s human potential as well as gender stereotypes in public consciousness. “We will not resolve the problem of poverty among women until patriarchal mode of society exists in this country”, said Rimashevskaya. She also stressed that gender bias make a negative impact on population development.

The main report “Women’s Human Rights in Moscow: Legislation, Politics and Socioeconomic Analysis” was presented by Dr. M. E. Baskakova, the MCGS expert. While assessing the nature of political and administrative tools used by Moscow authorities for resolving the problem of gender inequality, Dr. Baskakova stated the lack of regular gender policies in the city. However, family and maternal interests of women are taken into consideration in social programs focused on supporting families and vulnerable population groups. Along with that forty p.c. of the city budget is spent on the social needs of the population. It is important to note that funds are spent on the social projects which are not taken into consideration by the federal power. In addition, according to Dr. Baskakova, socioeconomic status of Moscow women is much better than that in the entire country. Gender gap in wages is equal to 20 p.c. in Moscow, while in the other regions of Russia the gap is 40 p.c.

One p.c. of the economically active population is unemployed, men being the majority of this group. In Moscow there are 25 p.c. of the newborn babies are extra marital, 30 p.c. in Russia. Along with that standard of living of Moscow families depends on the number of children and their age; the poverty risk is greater in families with younger children. Therefore most of working women in Moscow do not take maternity leave guaranteed by the law. For instance, in 1998 in Moscow 98 p.c. of women enjoyed their right to maternity leave until the baby turns 18 months old. However, in 2008 over 50 p.c. of the working mothers refused to do that. About 10 p.c. of women do not make use of their regular holidays, 35 p.c. of women do not exercise their guaranteed right to maternity leave. Lack of coordinated and consistent gender policy prevents from introducing interagency approach in institutions and effective cooperation between them. In addition, under the conditions of economic crisis this factor reduces the efficiency of expenditures on social needs.

Other issues of maintenance of women’s human rights were observed in the following presentations. G.M. Mikhlaleva in her report “Political representation of women in power structures of Moscow: results of the recent elections to the City Duma (Parliament)” emphasized that inefficiency of economic and social mechanisms regarding women’s issues is determined by the low number of women in the city government. The only woman on this level is the Vice Mayor of Moscow responsible for social issues; all ministers on the city level are men; there are only five women (14 p.c.) out of 35 deputies of the Moscow City Duma. Along with that, there are up to 70 or 80 p.c. of women among the representatives of power structures of different levels. In addition, women are at the head of 95 p.c. of non-governmental organizations in the city. G. Mikhaleva called on to consolidate public pressure on governmental bodies, to involve men into women’s movement and to encourage efforts on gender education.

T.Pashko, the Secretary of the Continuing Commission of the General Council of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia on the issues of gender equality, presented the report “Role of trade unions of Moscow in the elimination of discrimination of women on the labor market’. The Moscow Department of the Federation functions within the framework of the strategic program “Gender Policy of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia” adopted in 2001. The program has included five issues, such as wages, jobs and unemployment, wage arrears, social support of working women and men who have children, rights of employees and labor conditions. The speaker gave in-depth review of the ways of cooperation of trade unions of with the city government, particularly on the issue of empowerment of the Law on Employment of Moscow, and with the heads of Moscow enterprises. Specific example of cooperation with Moscow enterprises is the contest “The best enterprise for working mothers”. The trade unions also contribute to raising awareness of legal issues among working women.

Conditions and opportunities to combine the maternal and working responsibilities were assessed in the report “Work and family: empowerment of employment strategies of Moscow women with children” presented by O.B. Savinskaya, Ph.D., a senior research associate of the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. O. Savinskaya mentioned women’s attitude for combining their maternal and professional responsibilities. In the data of the research conducted under her guidance only 10 p.c. of respondents expressed their wish to be housewives; 81.6 p.c. of women on their strongly insisted on combining maternal and professional duties. Along with that, O.Savinskaya noted that the latter statement may be not least caused by economic reasons because for most of the respondents salaries are necessary for their family budgets. For that reason 60 p.c. of the responding working mothers do not take a child rearing sick list; 67 p.c. of them cannot take a regular vacation in the summer; 40 p.c. complain of the lack of flexible working hours. The difficulties of preschool institutions is a sever issue in Moscow. 5.8. p.c. of the Moscow families takes into babysitting services; 86.2 p.c. cannot afford those services. Along with that, only two thirds of children in need have an access to kindergarten or other preschool institutions. It is obvious that construction of new kindergartens should be more rapid. Thus, 25 kindergartens for 4,400 children as a whole are to be constructed in 2010 which is insufficient. In addition, unequal access to the services in different districts of the city is obvious. While there is empty queue in one district, there are 5,000 children on the waiting list in Yuzhnoye Butovo, south of Moscow.

Dr. L.S. Rzhanitsina, chief research associate of the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, presented the report “Alimony for child support: situation in Moscow”. Dr. Rzhanitsina observed difficult economic situation in single-parent families, which are mostly families with one mother in Moscow. According to statistics, there are five divorces for eight marriages in the city. Over 200 thousand children should be provided with alimony from their fathers. However, even when fathers provide support for their children, this money is just a minor part of the needed amount. For example, average amount of alimony is 1,500 rubles (about 50 U.S. dollars), while minimum subsistence level in Moscow is equal to 5,200 rubles (about 175 U.S. dollars). There are a lot of men who do not pay alimony, but this is not the only problem. Another one is the lack of women who do not sue alimony. Dr. Rzhanitsina would up her report by suggesting some measures aimed at improvement of legislation and social policy for the protection of single mothers.

N.A. Bychkova, Head of the Center of mass programs and contests of the Moscow House of Public Organizations, spoke about existing opportunities of cooperation between the city government and women’s non-governmental organizations.

In the course of discussion representatives of women’s non-governmental organizations, the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Health Care and Social Development of RF, the Moscow government and municipal authorities, experts and academicians presented their feedback on the reports. Participants of the seminar reached an agreement on the need of renewal of the national mechanism on gender equality at the federal and regional level. They also called upon consolidation of efforts of women’s NGOs, trade unions and governmental bodies in this regard.

II. MONITORING AND ANALYSIS OF NEWLY ADOPTED STATE LAWS AND PROGRAMS IN REGARD OF THEIR IMPACT ON THE SITUATION IN WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS

O.A. Voronina, a member of the Expert Board on the issues of gender equality of the State Duma Committee on family, women and children, took part in the working group session on development of draft of the federal law #284965-3 “On state guarantees of equal rights and freedoms for men and women, and equal opportunities for their enforcement” for consideration of the State Duma . At the working group session E.B. Mizulina, Chairperson of the State Duma Committee on family, women and children immediately suggested not to promote the draft law but to develop and promote a new draft law “On introducing changes to the legislation of RF for the enforcement of equal rights of men and women in the Russian Federation.” The experts’ opinions were not unambiguous. For instance, O.A. Voronina noted that the draft law “On state guarantees ..” had political significance, which the suggested draft law would hardly have. In addition, O.A. Voronina emphasized the significance of reserving the provisions maintaining mandate and status of the national mechanism on gender equality. She also shared her doubts on the new draft law in this regard. Her opinion was supported by S.G. Polenina and N.A. Shvedova, members of the Expert Board. The working group session was completed by the adoption of E.B. Mizulina’s suggestion and planning of events focused on preparation of the draft law “On introducing changes to the legislation of RF for the enforcement of equal rights of men and women in the Russian Federation.” In the following months within the framework of those activities O.A. Voronina performed gender expertise of the federal laws “On Education”, “On Mass Media”, “On Advertising” and prepared recommendations on amendments to those laws.

On December 11, 2009 at the session of the Expert Board on the issues of gender equality of the State Duma Committee on family, women and children the Dr. Mizulina, Chairperson, reported about the decision on promoting the draft law “On state guarantees of equal rights and freedoms for men and women, and equal opportunities for their enforcement” passed in a first reading. According to Mizulina, there is a great demand in serious modification within the framework of contemporary vision of law. This decision was passed by a solid vote of the experts. They also shared their ideas on the improvement of the draft law. O.A. Voronina, member of the Expert Board, Director of the Moscow Center for Gender Studies, emphasized the significance of introducing a specific article on the foundation of national mechanism on the status of women in Russia into the draft law.

On December15, 2009 the State Duma Committee on family, women and children held the round table meeting entitled “Legal equality of men and women: perspectives of the improvement of law”. Dr. Mizulina, Chairperson of the Committee, O.V. Samarina, Head of the Department of social protection of the Ministry of health care and social development of RF; M.A. Viktorova, representative of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; E.F. Lakhova, Deputy Chair of the State Duma Committee on Labor; representatives of the expert community and women’s NGOs, including O.A. Voronina. It is important to note that poverty, discrimination in wages, double workload, obstacles in career progress, low representation of women in politics and in the government, violence against women, strengthening sexism, gender-based bias and prostitution were identified as the most severe issues by Dr. Mizulina. In addition, she stressed that currently in Russia there is no mechanism on the protection of women from discrimination because the Ministry of health care and social development of RF does not have a mandate for that. The government of Russian Federation did not submit the national report on elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) for ten years which was claimed another negative fact. Dr. Mizulina also presented the Committee’s suggestions on amending the draft law “On state guarantees of equal rights and equal opportunities for men and women”.

III. EXPERT AND RESEARCH ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE PROJECT IMPLENEMENTAITON

At the invitation of the State Duma E.A. Ballaeva performed gender expertise of the regional draft law “On equal rights and equal opportunities of men and women in Moscow” and presented the outcomes at the working group session.

Involving the project actors the monograph “Gender Stereotypes in Changing Society was published. The Experience of Social Research” was released with the assistance of Russian Humanitarian Scientific Fund. The edition was prepared by the group headed by N.M Rimashevskaya, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Presentation of the book was held on October 23, 2009 within the framework of the conference entitled “Quality of Human Resources” initiated and held by the Institute for Socio-Economic Studies of Population, Russian Academy of Sciences. The book was also presented at the workshop entitled “Enforcement of equal rights and equal opportunities of men and women in Moscow” held at the Moscow Center for Gender Studies on December 16, 2009.

In the monograph a range of the issues on generation, functioning and replication of gender-based stereotypes in contemporary Russia and based on the vast empirical material was observed. Methodological aspects of studying gender-based stereotypes, developing gender ideology and public consciousness. The main fields of exposing gender unbalance were presented, such as public labor and house work, migratory movements, family and health, reproductive behavior. The target groups are academics, educators, graduate and post-graduate students of socioeconomic institutions, administrative employees at the decision-making level. Dr. O. Voronina is one of the referees of the monograph.

On request of the Center of Support of Women’s Initiatives of the Moscow Government O.A. Voronina and E.A. Ballaeva, the project actors, conducted the research “On the development of civil society and the situation in women’s non-governmental organizations of Moscow”. The results were presented in the Center of Support of Women’s Initiatives.

On April 21, 2009 г. at the session of the Academic Senate of the Institute for Socio-Economic Studies of Population, Russian Academy of Sciences and the research council on gender issues of the Department of social sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences the report “Fifty years in science: directions of research and the main results” was presented by Dr. Rimashevskaya. Inter alia, in her report Dr. Rimashevskaya observed the outcomes of the research on the status of women in Russia and women’s human rights within the framework of the current project and the previous projects of the Moscow Center for Gender Studies. Dr. Rimashevskya was the academic adviser of these projects.

On May 21, 2009 the project participants E.A. Ballaeva, L.G. Lunyakova, N.M. Rimashevskaya attended the round table meeting “Socioeconomic stability of families: factors of well-being and risk zones” initiated and held by the Center of social research of the High Institution of Economics headed by expert of MCGS Dr. M. Baskakova. In their presentations they observed the information on the project, the course of its implementation and intermediate results of the research.

On October 23, 2009 the project participants E.A. Ballaeva, L.G. Lunyakova, M.E. Baskakova presented their reports dedicated to the enforcement of women’s human rights and gender policies in the regions of Russia at the international Conference “Quality of Human Resources” initiated by the Institute for Socio-Economic Studies of Population, Russian Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the research council on gender issues of the Department of social sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

IV. PARTICIPATION IN THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT OF RUSSIA

Within the framework of the project regular working relations with the Center of Support of Women’s Initiatives of the Moscow Government and the House of Public Organizations were established. Cooperation with the following women’s NGOs and public organizations was developing: Consortium of Women's Non-Governmental Associations; Women’s Union of Russia; Information Center of the Independent Women’s Forum; NGO Moscow City Women’s Union; the Gorbachev Non-Governmental Foundation of Socioeconomic Studies; Interregional Public Organization “Women’s Leadership and Partnership”; Secretariat of the Continuing Commission of the General Council of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia; American Bar Association in Russia; Samara Center for Gender Studies.

Along with that, cooperation is developing with the following bodies of the state: the Committee of the State Duma on family, women and children; Department of social protection of the Ministry of Health Care and Social Development of the Russian Federation; the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation; Department of Family and Youth Policy of Moscow; Department of Labor and Employment of Moscow Population; the Council of the Moscow Society of large families of the Department of Family and Youth Policy of Moscow; the Committee on Public Relation of Moscow, etc.

The Project participants attended academic events held by the Moscow State University; the State University the Higher School of Economics; Institute of Sociology; Institute for Socio-Economic Studies of Population, Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences.

On April 22, 2009 the working group session on the draft law # 284965-3 “On state guarantees of equal rights and freedoms for men and women, and equal opportunities for their enforcement” for the consideration of the State Duma took place at the State Duma of the Russian Federation. O.Voronina participated in the session.

On May 19, 2009 the project actors participated in the meeting of Moscow women’s NGOs with the delegation of the US League of women Voters held in the Moscow House of Public Organizations.

On June 25, 2009 О.А.Voronina presented the report «Some aspects of the national mechanism on gender equality in Russia” at the National academic and research conference “Russian Woman under the Circumstances of Economic Crisis”. The conference was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of ratification in Russia of the UN Convention on All Form of Discrimination of Women. The event was organized by the All-Russia organization “Women’s Union of Russia”. Deputy of the State Duma E. Lakhova is the Chair of the organization.

During the period from May to December the project actors participated in the working group on the development of the Charter of the foundation conference of the Moscow women’s “umbrella” non-governmental organization and on holding the conference.

On December 18, 2009 О.А.Voronina and Е.А.Ballaeva participated in the conference of the Women’s Union of Russia. O.A. Voronina shared her opinion in the discussion.

V. INFORMATION AND RESOURCE SUPPORT OF THE EXPERT COMMUNITY ON WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS

In order to provide all project participants with information the information forum was launched on the website of the Moscow Center for Gender Studies on which the current information on enforcement/violations of women’s human rights and gender policy in Russia and worldwide. In addition, consultations on methodological and practical research issues are provided on a regular basis within the framework of the project. On request of the regional experts we have made the informational part of the forum open for other colleagues to get an access to that, not only for the Center for Gender Studies. That made the website of the Moscow Center for Gender Studies available for more visitors, sometimes 200 visitors a day.

Library of the Moscow Center for Gender Studies was provided with new editions. Bibliographical and academic consultations were given to graduate and post-graduate students of institutes of the Moscow institutes and universities of the Russian Academy Sciences as well as to experts from the regions of Russia and the CIS countries. Publications of the Center for Gender Studies were disseminated. New editions are published in the electronic list of the Center every month .
Search of informational internet resources related to the project implementation is performed on a regular basis.
In conclusion we note that the main tasks planned for 2009 have been fulfilled:
Theoretical tools were developed and methods of research were determined;
Qualitative and quantitative indicators of gender equality for the use of the regional experts were determined;
The sources of information and methods of its analysis were adjusted;
3 seminars were held in Moscow;
The first versions of analytical reports were prepared.

However, due to some circumstances we had to cancel seminars in Saratov, Perm’ and Krasnodar planned for the end of the year. That was determined by the following factors. First, the regional experts, initially supposed to have done preparation work, preferred to focus their efforts on writing analytical reports in the regions. In some cases that demanded more time than we both expected. Thus, some statistical information in several regions (Yekaterinburg, Perm’) turned out to be unavailable for the experts. In the other regions (Voronezh, Rostov-on-Don) the experts faced problems in establishing contacts with the governmental authorities in terms of interviews. Second, travel fares were raised significantly, and therefore we could not provide travel fare for the experts from Moscow, Samara, Yekaterinburg and Rostov-on-Don.

For 2010 one-day seminars are planned in the same cities and in other cities as well. Bearing this in mind, we are planning to hold two - day seminars in those cities, and this plan is adjusted by the Fund. Thus, the experts will travel twice to those regions, but not once. As a result we will be able to save funds, to unite our resources of 2009 – 2010 and to hold good seminars in all the regions we had initially planned.