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Master-S-Thesis-Anna-Wa-Gen.Pdf (1.258Mb) Between the Social and the Political: Russian Women’s Groups’ Response to Ambivalent State Policies A qualitative study of women’s organizing in contemporary Russia Anna Wågen Master’s Thesis Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages (ILOS) University of Oslo September 2019 ii Between the Social and the Political: Russian Women’s Groups’ Response to Ambivalent State Policies A qualitative study of women’s organizing in contemporary Russia Anna Wågen Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages (ILOS) University of Oslo September 2019 Supervisor: Geir Flikke iii © Anna Wågen 2019 Between the Social and the Political: Russian Women’s Groups’ Response to Ambivalent State Policies Anna Wågen http://duo.uio.no Print: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo iv Abstract This thesis sets out to examine women’s organizing in contemporary Russia in the context of ambivalent state policies regarding women’s issues and civil society. With Putin’s return to power after a wave of protests in 2012, the Law on foreign agents was adopted. The biggest branch of organizations affected, were those concerned with human rights. At the same time, the regime favors non-profit organizations that provide social services and remain loyal to the government’s narratives. Since women’s issues have both a rights’ aspect and a social aspect, women’s groups are affected by both sides of this co-optation of civil society. Further, the state’s endorsement of “morality politics” and narratives stressing so-called traditional family values have proved an impediment to women’s rights advocacy. In 2017, a state program was launched which aims to improve women’s situation. The National Action Strategy for Women (NASW) is now in its implementation phase and lasts until 2022. So far, few noticeable effects have come out of the strategy, except from promises to reduce the number of professions banned to women from 456 to 100. There still is no law on domestic violence, and both state and church embrace women’s reproductive roles and responsibility in solving demographic problems. The core of the study is the analysis of 16 qualitative interviews conducted in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Voronezh in February 2019. I explore how women’s groups are affected by policies that on one hand restrict the opportunities of certain civic organizations, but on the other hand seem to benefit others. The thesis’ main argument is that women’s groups stand with one foot in the social sphere and one in the political, and that they strategically frame their activity according to their needs. Although independent women’s organizations are negatively affected by the Law on foreign agents, their work is not infeasible: motivated groups adapt quickly to new restrictive measures and find ways to continue to conduct meaningful work despite difficult times. Their opportunities to impact on policy making are scarce, but increased attention towards women’s issues and feminism in recent years leaves them with hopes for more activism and an increased state focus on women’s issues in the future. Key words: women’s organizing, civil society, foreign agent law, Russia, feminism, co- optation, National Action Strategy for Women v vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Geir Flikke at the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages (ILOS), the University of Oslo, for guidance, constructive comments and helpful advice throughout the writing process. Further, I am grateful to the Fritt Ord Foundation for granting me a generous scholarship, which let me focus fully on the thesis and made the field trip to Russia possible. I also owe a dept of gratitude to Dr. Irina Mersianova at the Centre for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector at Moscow Higher School of Economics (HSE) for inviting me as a research intern and providing me with visa support. A special thanks to manager Elizaveta, who put a lot of time and effort into planning my trip. Last but not least, this study would not have been possible without my respondents, whose everyday work and courage continue to inspire me. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, experiences and worldviews with me. vii Abbreviations and explanations CEDAW Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women CSO civil society organization EU European Union GONGO government-organized non-governmental organization GRO grassroots’ organization HRW Human Rights Watch Ministry of Labor Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation NASW National Action Strategy for Women (2017-2022) NSD Norwegian Center for Research Data NGO non-governmental organization Oblast An administrative entity in Russia and several other former Soviet countries ROC The Russian Orthodox Church Rosstat Federal State Statistics Service SONGO socially oriented non-governmental organization TNGO traditional non-governmental organization VTsIOM Russian Public Opinion Research Center Zhensovet an abbreviation of zhenskii sovet, meaning “women’s council.” A type of state-controlled women’s organizations that was central in the Soviet Union and hold-overs of which are still existing in high numbers today. viii Transliteration from Russian to Latin alphabet For transliterating from Russian to English, I use a modified version of the romanization table provided by American Library Association and Library of Congress (ALA-LC). The soft sign (Ь) and hard sign (Ъ) are transliterated (as ´ and ʺ, respectively), but mainly in the literature list. Other diacritics are not used. Russian names that are known in English with different transliteration rules (such as “Yeltsin”) remain in their most common form. Russian Alphabet Latin alphabet А а a Б б b В в v Г г g Д д d Е е e Ё ё e Ж ж zh З з z И и i Й й i К к k Л л l М м m Н н n О о o П п p Р р r С с s Т т t У у u Ф ф f Х х kh Ц ц ts Ч ч ch Ш ш sh Щ щ shch Ъ ъ ʺ Ы ы y Ь ь ´ Э э e Ю ю iu Я я ia ix Table of contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Research topic: women’s organizing in Russia after 2012 ................................................ 1 1.2 Thesis outline .................................................................................................................. 4 2 Theoretical framework ............................................................................................... 5 2.1 Social movement theory .................................................................................................. 5 2.1.1 External factors: Political, cultural and gendered opportunity structures ...................................... 6 2.1.2 Internal factors: Identity work and framing .................................................................................... 9 2.2 Previous research on women’s organizing in Russia and beyond ...................................... 11 2.2.1 Feminism and women’s organizations: distinctions ..................................................................... 11 2.2.2 Authoritarianism vs. feminism under Putin: framing strategies ................................................... 13 2.2.3 Human rights – whose rights? ...................................................................................................... 14 2.2.4 Emancipation or “NGO-ization”: did NGO work lead anywhere? ................................................. 14 3 Methodology: qualitative interviews ........................................................................ 18 3.1 Thematic analysis .......................................................................................................... 18 3.2 The study: qualitative semi-structured interviews ......................................................... 20 3.2.1 Geographical scope of the study ................................................................................................... 21 3.2.2 Selection of respondents .............................................................................................................. 22 3.2.3 Implementation of the study ........................................................................................................ 25 4 Women’s movements in Russia prior to 2000 ............................................................ 27 4.1 At the turn to the twentieth century ............................................................................. 27 4.2 Communist era from the 1930s ..................................................................................... 30 4.3 Perestroika and the 1990s ............................................................................................. 31 4.4 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 34 5 Russian civil society under pressure .......................................................................... 35 5.1 Co-optation of civil society under Putin ......................................................................... 35 5.1.1 The Law on Foreign Agents ........................................................................................................... 36 5.1.2 Windows of opportunities for the “good” civil society ................................................................. 37 6 The context of women’s organizing in Russia: present .............................................. 39 6.1 Russian women in numbers and statistics ....................................................................
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