Regional Ombudsmen, Human Rights and Women – Gender Aspects of the Social and Legal Transformation in North-West Russia (Based on Ombudsman Reports)

Abstract

In the center of the article is the new regional ombudsman institution in Russia and its activities vis-à-vis the protection of women’s rights. The article seeks to analyze how complaints filed by women are presented and how the status of women’s rights within the context of human rights is described in the ombudsmen’s annual reports. The analysis of the reports proves ambiguities of interpretations of human rights; it also shows that many of those filing complaints do it because of the violations of social and civil rights, and that the majority of those experiencing discrimination are women. However, in most of the cases the ombudspersons do not pay attention to the gender-specific dimensions of the discrimination nor have they identified this as an important problem in contemporary Russian society. This situation is connected with the absence of a legal or political mechanism for gender equality in Russia as well as a displacement of women’s rights issues in favor of a focus on family issues and demography in the Russian public discourse of the late 2000s.