Russia and other CIS countries. A break with the past

Approximately half of the more than 200 million people in the ten countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are women. Their situation in these newly independent states may be characterized by some features derived from Soviet society. At the same time, however, women face a reality very different from the past, with noticeable regional differences in their status.

On the whole, at least two distinctively similar features describe the situation of women in the labour market in the CIS countries, following a decade of transition to a democratic society with a market-based economy. As a rule women's rights at the workplace are well addressed in legislation based on the principal ILO Conventions on working women. Nevertheless, due to ineffective law enforcement and insufficient national mechanisms, the laws on women are not adapted to the changed national realities. Nor are women's interests well pursued by those who affect the labour market in terms of appropriate employment opportunities and increasing unemployment. Combined with the dramatic decline in economic welfare in all the transition countries, these aspects have contributed to a decline in the labour market position of women.

In the Soviet period, women enjoyed equal rights which were legally enforced. A vivid embodiment of these rights is the fact that women have reached a high level of education. The Soviet pattern of the women's movement fostered both a high level of education and professional training of women along with their active participation in labour and public life. Even today, in Russia, for example, women in the labour market generally have a higher level of education than men, and they constitute more than 50% of university students. At the same time, the Soviet period was characterized by a blatant violation of women's rights in the form of their heavy load of maternity and household chores coupled with official employment and social activities.

After the collapse of the Soviet regime, the Russian Federation and other new independent CIS countries experienced changes in their political and economic structures, along with a revival of cultural, language and religious traditions. In addition, some of the countries have experienced civil war and violent conflicts over borders or territories. Most of the problems in the labour market are rooted in the economy of the socialist system. In fact, the economies of the Soviet Republics were completely integrated in Soviet state employment policy and economic infrastructure. The collapse of the Soviet system has highly aggravated the employment pressures in all CIS countries.

The situation of women regarding employment and social relations has been significantly influenced by the changes in the basic structures of their society. Therefore, generalizing basic trends and characteristics of the situation of almost 100 million women in the ten countries, must take into account the fact that even within a single CIS country, women may encounter totally different problems in urban and rural areas. Nevertheless, there are some common features underlying the position of women in the labour market of most of the countries:

One of the most acute problems encountered in the transition to the market economy is unemployment, especially the increasing unemployment among women. As a rule women generally constitute a majority of the officially registered unemployed. Registered unemployment figures, however, most often fail to reflect the real scale of the problem. Because of complicated registration procedures and very low unemployment allowances, a substantial number of unemployed are not registered.

Traditionally women are employed primarily in the public sector (health, social welfare, education, government, culture) and state-owned industries. As a rule during the first years of economic transformations and restructuring, employment of women has declined sharply due to the closure of state-owned enterprises and budget deficits in the social field. The level of women's employment in enterprise management has considerably decreased from the Soviet era, when over 60% of the engineers, economists and officials in management and administration were women.

At the Government level, national policy and action plans regarding gender - in particularly regarding the situation of women in the labour market - either have not been developed or do not sufficiently address the actual situation. In particular, unplanned and unregulated changes in employment as a result of economic reforms have significantly influenced women's opportunities in the labour market. Discrimination in the labour market and in employment based on gender has also increased. As a rule women are paid 30% to 50% less than men for the very same work. In addition, late payments for the work or even non-payment have become more common during the past few years, worsening women's situation even more.

Despite the fact that working women in general are highly educated, their representation at economic and political decision-making levels is only marginal. Women tend to occupy the lowest ranks of the power structures within governments, trade unions and other institutions, concentrated primarily at the support staff level with only very few exceptions. Apparently, the "glass ceiling" exists in Russia as elsewhere, but the deteriorating economic situation has worsened women's access to better-paid and more influential jobs.

Current statistical data based on gender is inadequate in all of the CIS countries. A well-developed system of statistical data encompassing all spheres of life of men and women in society is nonexistent. This is usually due to a lack of the financial resources and knowledge required to develop gender statistics. In particular, sufficient statistical data on employment in the private sector - and especially on women engaged in the "shadow economy" or informal sector activities - is lacking. This lack of sufficient statistical information limits opportunities to analyze adequately the actual situation in the labour market and thereby to address its specific features and its most vulnerable groups.

As a rule, national institutions for collective bargaining are not well-developed, due to the lack of effective associations of employers. Workers are represented by trade unions whose experience in bargaining procedures needs to be updated to take into account emerging market pressures including the new situation of women in the labour market. The collective agreements which have been concluded with enterprises contain provisions protecting the interests of women and individuals with families in the sphere of labour, but unfortunately they tend to remain only on paper. Inter-sectoral agreements are signed, though the range of sectors encompassed tends to remain insignificant.

As a result of changes in economic structures and increasing unemployment, the shadow economy or the informal sector is strongly growing. The proportion of women occupied in the totally unregulated and illegal informal business sector is considerable (over 5 million in Russia) and their proportion is increasing. In the existing labour market environment women are often compelled to agree to terms and working conditions which are highly detrimental to both their rights and their health.

Safety and working conditions remain among the most acute social problems in the CIS countries. The higher wage levels and early retirement in some sectors where the work is hazardous or onerous, is partly explained by the compensatory benefits paid for this type of work. This helps to explain why many women are engaged in hazardous industries, preferring these jobs for those reasons. The improvement of safety conditions in the workplace usually depends on updating existing labour legislation to take into account economic changes and to clarify the role of state labour inspection.

In addition to economic and political changes, the revival of old ethnic and cultural traditions and religion, mentioned previously, are also having an effect on the participation of women in the labour market. The influence of the church is growing (Islam in the Central Asian countries, Orthodox and Catholic churches in the Eastern European countries of the region), with their "traditional" views of women. There is an apparently increase in patriarchal relations in CIS society, which is reinforcing the traditional division of labour, with an influence on the lives of women; in particular, their rights and opportunities in the labour market.

Transition to the market economy has profoundly changed the basic political and economic structures of most of the transition countries. An analysis of the situation of working women inevitably shows that, despite some positive indicators, they have been adversely impacted by the economic changes, as compared to men. The primary reasons for changes in the labour market, and the deteriorating situation of working women in particular, may be summarized as follows:

Reasons for the changes

Serious economic difficulties and decreased production

Insufficient or non-existent national policy concerning the situation of women in the labour market, and no planned regulation of resulting changes in employment

Insufficient national mechanisms governing discriminatory practices, and ineffective law enforcement
Unprecedented growth of the unofficial "shadow economy" with involvement of an increasing proportion of women
Increasing patriarchal relations in society together with reinforcement of traditional division of labour, gender-based discrimination in employment, and revival of cultural and religious traditions

Following the Beijing Conference, many new forms of cooperation between women's organizations, state structures and international organizations have emerged and are gaining momentum. Several new women's organizations have been established, and the women's movement per se has been reinvigorated. At the national level, a number of standing commissions or state committees on women and family issues have been established. A legal framework addressing equal rights and opportunities for men and women is also being created in most of the ten CIS countries. It should be noted, however, that these activities are limited to only some of the countries. It is to be hoped that they will be expanded to the others.

Gender! A Partnership of Equals Geneve: International Labour Office, 2000. 115 p.

Gender! A Partnership of Equals
Geneve: International Labour Office, 2000. 115 p.