Press releases, photos, video, 8.03.2015

On 8 March, International Women’s Day, the YABLOKO party held a rally in the centre of Moscow in defence of women’s rights in Russia. The rally was held under the slogan: “Women to Power!”, “The Ability to Give Birth Is Not an Excuse to Oppress!” and “For Equal Rights of Men and Women!”.

The participants of the rally stated that discrimination against women had been going on in many aspects of public life, so women had to, regardless of the circumstances, defend their rights.

Galina Mikhaleva

Dr.Galina Mikhaleva, Chair of the Gender Faction and First Deputy Chair of the Moscow regional branch of YABLOKO, conducted the rally.

At the beginning of the rally she recalled that the action was a traditional YABLOKO’s action held for the fifth year already. “We turned 8 March into a reminder that there is no gender equality in our country,” Mikhaleva said.

According to Mikhaleva, despite the fact that women activists managed to somewhat raise attention to the topic of gender equality, the situation of women’s rights did not get better.

“The laws on gender equality and domestic violence have not been adopted and are still in the State Duma. The parliament has been preparing a law stipulating that only husband, wife and several children should be considered a “traditional family”. That is, if you are only mother and child, then you are not a family. This means that child benefits will not apply in your case, ” Mikhaleva noted with indignation.

Marina Karavayeva

“We have gathered here so that to remind women about the true meaning of the holiday, about the fact that the Russian Constitution provides for equal rights and opportunities for men and women,” said YABLOKO activist Marina Karavayeva.

Olga Radayeva, Deputy Chair of YABLOKO’s Gender Faction, spoke about discrimination of women on the labour market. “Even the official statistics can not hide these figures: women earn only 60-65 per cent men’s wages for the same work. Employers do not like to recruit both young women and women over 35, ” she said.

Olga Radayeva

According to Radayeva, women should go on asserting their rights, focusing on the experiences of women from Western countries. Western women demonstrate better progress in the representation of women in government. “The more women are in the government, the more socially oriented the policy of the state is”, the politician noted.

Nikolai Kavkazsky, activist of the Youth Yabloko, said that 8 March had been virtually turning into a sexsists’ day, because the state had been reducing women’s rights, instead of helping women and increasing child benefits.

Nikolai Kavkazsky

“Recently, Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirill, speaking in the State Duma, proposed to remove abortion from the list of services provided free of charge. This may be a blow in the first place on poor women, ” said the former prisoner of the Bolotnaya rally case.

Maria Efimova, activist of Youth Yabloko and member of the Regional Council of YABLOKO’s Gender Faction, also spoke about sexism “lying in the foundations of the state policies”.

Maria Efimova

“Sexism is our state policy. This is when pupils are taught in school, “The 8th March 8 is a day when your Mom can afford to sleep and Dad will cook the breakfast”. This is when the State Duma refuses to adopt a law against domestic violence, but on the opposite adopts laws restricting women’s rights,” she said. the activist.

It was stressed in the rally that women should unite, and to become involved in politics so that to oppose such actions of the state.

“We need to be together, we must be bold, we have nothing to fear,” Galina Mikhaleva once again reminded to the participants at the end of the rally.