The law on equal rights for men and women is rejected

Statement by Yabloko’s Gender Faction, 11.07.2018

On 11 July, deputies of the lower house of the Russian parliament in the second reading rejected the bill “On the state guarantees of equal rights and freedoms and equal opportunities for men and women in the Russian Federation”. Work on the law began in 1995, in 2003 his second variant of the bill was introduced.

The refusal of the State Duma of the Russian Federation to pass a law on gender equality runs counter to world practice and contradicts to one of the development goals of the third millennium declared by the United Nations – elimination of discrimination against women.

So far, in Russia there have been no legislative acts that would guarantee compliance with the provisions of Article 19 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation on equal rights and opportunities for men and women, there is not a single institution that would ensure gender equality: neither a commissioner for women’s rights, nor a profile committee of the State Duma, nor a government’s body or at least a Presidential Council.

Meanwhile, discrimination against women has not decreased, but, on the contrary, increased. There is a significant gap in the salaries of men and women (women’s wages amount to 60-70% of men’s wages for equal jobs), the “glass ceiling” in the workplace, in business and politics is practically impenetrable, the upbringing and caring for children completely lies on the shoulders of women, children’s allowances are mockingly low, the state alimony support fund has not yet been introduced. Moreover, there is an attack on existing rights: the right to abortion is limited, and family violence is decriminalised. Violence, harassment and sexist statements by deputies not only go unpunished, but even are pictured as valor. With the help of the Russian Orthodox Church, the idea of ​​the need to return to the traditional role of women – exclusively as mothers and wives – is being introduced.

The Yabloko party’s Gender Faction, like women’s organisations, insists on the speedy adoption of the following laws aimed at ensuring gender equality: on the state mechanism for ensuring equal rights and opportunities for men and women, on countering family violence, and on the inadmissibility of sexual harassment.

Deputies who obstruct the adoption of these laws commit a crime not only before society, but before future generations.

Galina Mikhaleva, Chair of the Gender Faction

Olga Radayeva, First Deputy Chair of the Gender Faction

Nikolai Kavkazsky, Deputy Chair of the Gender Faction