Human security and women’s security reality in Northwest Russia - Environmental and Human Security in the Arctic - page 236

book illustrate, one can probably safely argue that the combination of the
terms 'Russia' and 'security' seldom generates thoughts about violence against
women. Instead, Russian territorial security (traditional), and ethno-national
disputes in Chechnya and elsewhere in the Russian Caucasus, are dominant
Russian security images, closely followed by energy security and protection
of energy resources. In Russia, Moscow defines the agenda, and less is known
about both the regional and local experiences within the diverse peripheries of
the world's largest country - or this is not considered relevant to the dominant
image or narrative of Russian security internationally. To push the argument -
this focus on top-down, central perspectives (Moscow) - means that definitions
of security are derived from incomplete information and experience.
The work of women's groups in Northwest Russia was initiated during
the 1990s, and their experience is about a struggle for the institutionalization
and recognition of their work as contributing to the security of women and
stability of the overall society. In my work I have focused on three regions
of the Russian Northwest: Murmansk oblast, Archangelsk oblast, and the
Republic of Karelia (see Stuvøy 2009, 2010a, b). The first non-state crisis
centre in the region was established in Murmansk in 1997, and institutional
responses to the issue of violence against women have therefore been estab-
lished only during the last 15 years in Northwest Russia. In an interview with
a representative of one of the most recently established crisis centres in the
region, the 'Severodvinsk city societal organization for women - Cabinet of
psychological help for women in crisis situations' (Cabinet), the interviewee
spoke about this recent recognition of the issue of violence against women:
When we [in 2001] began to work on this programme [on the improve-
ment of women's situation], we were the first in the city to address the
problem of violence against women. Because, in principle, earlier no one
ever talked about it.
(Informant 7/2006)
Although the first crisis centre in the Northwest region was established in
1997, the Cabinet in Severodvinsk exemplifies that the work on violence
against women in the region was established even more recently. This does
not mean that the problem is unacknowledged. Citing a Russian study of
violence in the family and society, Janet E. Johnson (2007:40) noted that,
according to a 2001-2002 survey, 87 per cent of men and 93 per cent of
women agreed that violence against women in the family is a problem . 6
Recognition of the issue is, however, not synonymous with institutionaliza-
tion of an assistance structure for women. The establishment of non-state
crisis centres in Russia in the 1990s changed the field of security for women
because they gave women a place to seek help and support (beyond family and
friends). They therefore represent a new agent within the field of security for
women in Russia, an agent of change.