When will the day come for real? The Primakov Government takes a step toward implementing the presidentðs ideas about equal rights.

by Elena Kochkina, sociologist, co-chair of EPSI-center, Russian coordinator of the womenðs network program of the Open Society Institute. (trans. Valerie Sperling)

The recent appointment of the former Russian ambassador to Greece, Valentina Matvienko, to the post of vice-premier for social issues gave rise to varied reactions within society. It's clear that those of us who are concerned with the establishment of a Þwomenðs agendaÝ in contemporary politics must be concerned with the question -- is this first appointment of a woman in Russia to such a high position in politics an accident, or does it say something about actual progress toward the equality of rights thatðs declared in our Constitution? In the end, we're also talking about the prestige of the country -- how many times have I had to explain in the lobbies of international conferences why our Þwomen's delegation is headed by a man, and why the corresponding committees have traditionally been headed by men as well? Valentina Matvienko participated in the Supreme Sovietðs adoption, in 1990, of the Concept (kontseptsiia) for a State Program on Improving the Position of Women, the Family, and the Defense of Motherhood and Childhood. The first policies of equal opportunities for men and women in the post-Soviet world were associated with this program; as were questions posed about discrimination on the basis of sex in the labor sphere, in wages, in promotions; about the the conflict in the division of labor for workers with family responsibilities, the link between indicators of birthrates and the declining standards of living; problems of high child mortality were raised, as was the lower potential for womenðs health in comparison with menðs; the low levels of contraceptive culture [familiarity with contraception] and high levels of infant mortailty. But after all, these are issues that weðre still struggling with today! But in any case, Valentina Matvienko will not have to start at ground zero and become informed about these issues when she assumes her automatic position as Chair of the Governmentðs Commission on Women's Affairs, as was the case with the men before her (Victor Iliushin, Gennadii Melikðian, and Oleg Sysuev). Itðs still not clear the extent to which the demands of the Constitution of 1990 (Þthe main thing for raising womenðs participation in the decisionmaking process is the formation of the womenðs movement as an independent political forceÝ) and the appointment in 1998 [of Matvienko] are tied to one another. And is the appointment of Matvienko associated with the womenðs lobby, or was it just diplomatic channels that came into play? However, itðs clear that frequent contact with female ministers of foreign affairs and Secretary of State Madelaine Albright had its effect on Russiaðs former minister of foreign affairs. ... Since 1990, the government of the Russian Federation has changed six times, but no more than two women have held a position there. In the first government (chaired by Ivan Silaev, from June 1990 to July 1991) there were no women; in the second (chaired by Ivan Silaev, from July 1991 - to September 1991; chaired by Oleg Lobov, September-November 1991) there was I. Grebeshkova (from July to December 1991); in the third government, of Yeltsin, Burbulis, and Gaidar (from November 1991-December 1992, the Ministry of Social Welfare was headed by Ella Pamfilova (Nov. 1991-March 1992) who did not enter the government; in the fourth government, under the leadership of Victor Chernomyrdin (December 1992-March 1998), the composition of the government changed several times: after the parliamentary elections in 1993, after the presidential elections in 1996, and in Febrary 1997; L. Beslepkina (May 1994-August 1996) served on the cabinet as Minister of Social Welfare. Tatiana Dmitrieva was appointed to the post of Minister of Healthcare in August of 1996. In Summer 1997, Natalðia Dementðeva was appointed to the position of Minister of Culture. In the fifth government (Chaired by Sergei Kirienko, April - August 1998), Oksana Dmitrieva was appointed to the position of Minister of Labor and Social Development, in May 1998. Thus in Russian politics in the 1990s did a woman rise up to the level of vice-premier. Despite the fact that women dominated in the positions of Minister of Social Welfare, Social Development and Labor, the position of vice-premier did not fall into womenðs hands even once. Moreover, there was a characteristic tie between the sex of the person holding the post of social welfare minister, and the status of that position. As soon as the position of minister of social welfare was combined with the position of vice-premier on social issues, the occupant of the post became male. When a women was appointed to the ministerial position, then the post of vice-premier would be given over to or inherited by one of the men, but over the last 7 years, it was not occupied by a woman. So, for example, when in August of 1996, two ministries were combined (the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Social Welfare), a man was appointed to that position (Gennadii Melikðian). Since February of 1997, when it was decided to raise the status of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, the minister became the vice-premier on social issues. After the retirement of Victor Chernomyrdinðs government in March 1998 and the formation of a new government, the principle of Þno less than one minister of each sexÝ was upheld. The post went again to a woman, however the status of the post was lowered, such that the position of vice-premier on social issues was retained by the former minister, Oleg Sysuev. Such systematization provides a basis for finding confirmation of the thesis about the existence of a gendered qualification in cadre politics, with respect to appointments into high posts in the Russian government. As concerns the general presence of women in the higher echelons of power in the positions of ministers and deputy ministers, chais of state committees and federal services and agencies, it has not changed very much: from 1.5% in 1995, to 4% (14 out of 365) in 1997. The last Soviet government, in the Presidium of the USSR Council of Ministers, also included only one woman -- A. Biriukova -- who held the rank of deputy minister of the USSR Council of Ministers, and headed the Council of Ministersð bureau on social development. Of the 15 chairs of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet republics, only the Lithuanian Council of Ministers was headed by a woman - Kazimira Prunskene. Of 38 ministers of the USSRðs last government, only one -- the State Committee on Light Industry (under Gosplan [the state planning commission]) was headed by a woman -- L. Davletova. In addition to these abovenamed women, women occupied another 3 of 600 ministerial positions, positions of first deputy minister and deputies heading the permanent bodies of the Council of Ministers of the USSR: P. Maeva, who headed the department on the affairs of women, protection of the family, motherhood, and childhood. L. Bezlepkina was the head of the administration on womenðs affairs, and protection of the family, motherhood and childhood in the State Committee of the USSR on labor and social issues. I. Rezenova was the head of the State committee of the USSR on prices. The history of womenðs participation in the highest organs of government of Russia and the USSR is meager. Countess Panina headed the subject of social welfare in the Provisional Government for a short time, starting in February 1917. In the first Soviet government, of 67 Peopleðs Commissars holding various posts, as is well known, there was only one woman -- the first to be a member of the governemnt of revolutionary Russia -- Alexandra Kollontai. She headed the Peopleðs Commissariat of state welfare for all of a half a year (from Nov. 1917 to March 1918). Nor did women govern much more actively between 1923 and 1991 within the Council of Peopleðs Commissars and the Council of Ministers of the USSR. There were only two women trusted to run the Peopleðs Committee on the Fishing Industry, and the Ministry of Culture: Polina Zhemchuzina (Jan.-Nov. 1939) and Ekaterina Furtseva (May 1960-October 1974). Thus, it turns out that among the ministers in Soviet times, women made up .5%. Women appeared more frequently than that even in the Politburo and in other organs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union -- while these organs existed, women made up about 3%. Will Primakovðs government perhaps present a benchmark for raising the representation of women in higher posts, and in federal and regional organs of administrative power, and might it even begin to fulfill the pre-election decrees by the President, made in 1996?