The political exclusion and commodification of women - Environmental and Human Security in the Arctic - page 259

In order to avoid going too deeply into the discussion of the nature of
democracy in Russia, I will adopt the following approach. The situation in
Russia is complicated and ambiguous. There is no clear answer to whether
Russia has a democracy or not. This question remains disputed in the existing
literature on democratization. Defining democracy in terms of elections (pro-
cedural approach) leads us to conclude that Russia is a democratic country.
'Governments produced by elections may be inefficient, corrupt, shortsighted,
irresponsible, dominated by special interests, and incapable of adopting poli-
cies demanded by public good. These qualities may make such governments
undesirable but they do not make them undemocratic' (Huntington 1991:10).
The changes that have happened in Russia for the past fifteen years are signifi-
cant and drastic, and researchers agree on this. But Russia must follow its own
road to democracy. It is largely impossible in a short period of time to get rid
of all the old problems and to successfully solve new ones. It is in this context
that Russian attitudes towards prostitution and trafficking have developed.
These developments have also had a significant impact upon women.
Women's issues: from the USSR to
contemporary Russia
In the Soviet Union, women were in an ambiguous position: equality
between men and women was formally proclaimed, but in reality women
had a secondary position compared with men. Thus, the Russian researcher
on gender issues, Voronina, states: 'formal equal rights for men and women,
enshrined in the constitution and in a number of other laws, certainly do not
ensure equal rights in practice' (Voronina 1994:39). The issue of the 'dou-
ble burden' of domestic duties and public life was largely ignored by the
state. 'Feminism was denounced as a luxury of bourgeois Western women'
(Sundstrom 2002:224). Soviet women were hardly aware of their problems
of inequity. There was no active women's movement to aid in articulating
these difficulties. Zhensovety (Women's Councils) were the only women's
organizations during the Soviet Union time. They were set up only in 1986
with the aim of establishing a contact between the state and women in
order to help them to carry this 'double burden'. There was otherwise no
effort to facilitate women's political consciousness and to develop grassroots
movements . 5 A t the same time, however, the situation was not completely
catastrophic. The level of unemployment was low, and basic social needs
were being met. Existing inequality was not taken into consideration by
communist ideology since the society was implementing the goal of stabil-
ity and happiness.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, changes in Russia have significantly
modified the situation. Democratization began with the move to the mar-
ket economy. The need for economic development dominated all spheres of
life: political, social and cultural. The impact of the economic reforms on the