Press Release, June 14, 2013

On June 11, YABLOKO’s Gender faction held a round table on “Women’s rights and opportunities. European experience and Russia’s problems” with Caecilia van Peski, representative of the Dutch Democratic party D66.

Caecillia van Peski

Caecilia van Peski is a recipient of the ‘Ambassador for Peace’ Award granted by the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Education in 2010, and she is regarded as being among the most influential women of her generation in the Netherlands – listed as one of the top 400 by Women’s Magazine ‘Viva’ and among the top 50 of ‘Opzij’. In 2010 she was appointed United Nations Special Representative for her country, addressing the 65th United Nations General Assembly in New York with her statement ‘Deepening Democracy’. Subsequently, she stood for elections at the 2012 Parliamentary Elections in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Caecilia van Peski is member of Democraten 66 (D66). The party was founded in 1966 by a group of young intellectuals who supported social-liberalism. According to Caecilia van Peski, D66 is one of most progressive parties in Europe. “We work to achieve the harmonic development of the society and uphold our civil rights”, she said.

Olga Radayeva, YABLOKO’s International Secretary

She believes that the society taking women’s interests into account can achieve better results than the one where women’s freedoms are restricted.

“The GDP is higher, the society is more educated, the crime, the child mortality and the unemployment rates are lower in the countries where women and men are equal”, explained Caecillia van Peski.

According to the politician, the main problems of the Dutch women are financial vulnerability, especially in the period of crisis, difficulties in maintaining a balance between household duties, bringing up children and a career, as well as inequality on the labour market.

“It is important for women to be ready for a new job and financial independence,” concluded Caecillia van Peski.

Galina Mikhaleva, Doctor of Political Science and Co-Chair of the Council for the Consolidation of the Women’s Movement in Russia, made a presentation on the situation with women’s rights in Russia which demonstrated discrimination in all the fields: labour, social, cultural and humanitarian spheres. The situation with women’s rights in Russia is much worse than in Russia’s neighbour countries as Russia does not have a law on protection of women’s rights or a state institution specialising in this sphere. And the situation has been getting worse every year as rapid clericalisation affects public moods and Russia’s legislators initiatives. The state concept for family policy of the Russian Federation until 2025 presented by the Elena Mizulina, deputy of the State Duma, is an example of pushing women back into patriarchal roles.

Galina Mikhaleva, Chair of the Gender faction

The participants of the round table were members of YABLOKO’s Gender faction, members of the Council for the Consolidation of the Women’s Movement in Russia and YABLOKO’s supporters. They were very active at the discussion, asked questions and expressed their opinions on various topics from state guarantees for women and family policies in the Netherlands to conflicts and possibilities of harmony between men and women.