Political Empowerment of Women in Soviet Union and Russia

Abstract

The Marxist–Leninist ideology on the “women question” and the Soviet legal guarantees created the gender paradox which despite high levels of achievement in education and employment reflected lower representation of women in political institutions. This is a legacy of the Soviet system which contemporary Russia needs to address while meeting the challenges of political empowerment as part of the democratic transition. Due to international interventions and the globalization of gender mainstreaming, the Russian Government introduced measures for empowering women politically. Notably, however, the changes brought in by the democratic transition in Russia have had a negative impact on aspects of gender equality. Given the cultural/structural attitudinal changes and the problems of daily lives and the male dominated political culture, the success of these policies partly depends on the capability of Russian women to meet challenges through new forms of struggles for transforming the political process in their favour.