In Russia international women’s day was traditionally a holiday. Initially it emerged as a symbol of the struggle, but in the days of Stalin has become a day when women were just allowed to relax, while the men, armed with bouquets and chocolates, telling them in a condescending “thank you” for their heroic work in the remaining 364 days.
But now even this holiday is under threat.
It is symbolic that in honor of women’s day, established one output, and the defender of the Fatherland Day — men’s day, 23 February, lasted for four days dedicated to the Patriotic celebrations which fueled all the more sexist and Patriarchal statements and projects of the regime of President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church.
Most recently, through the Duma (Russian Parliament) just held a new bill, and that domestic violence is no longer a criminal offence, and punished it just fine.
The newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda” with appreciation wrote that “angry wives of husbands in part can be proud of their bruises, broken because wives have a valuable advantage — they are more likely to give birth to boys.”
Prime Minister Medvedev sprinkled salt on the wound, saying that women by March 8 will receive a gift — a new strategy of the government “to protect the rights of women.”
Even the Ministry of labour, which will be responsible for this new strategy recognizes the magnitude of discrimination against women.
Although women represent 49% of all workers in the country, their salaries are just 72% of the salaries of men. It is also evident how hard it is for women to achieve high positions of responsibility: only 18% of the elected representatives of the ruling party “United Russia” — women, and among opposition politicians, women less than 6 %.
But the so-called new strategy contains no serious proposals on how to correct this injustice.
On the contrary, the government has worsened the living conditions of the working class in General and women in particular.
Throughout the country close schools and hospitals and the money given to police and military. Now almost half of the unemployed are women, and it is possible that this figure is greatly underestimated, since many are not formally registered as unemployed.
But, despite attempts to prevent protests against these latest attacks, among other things, women advocating peaceful protests, under the new law, can be detained for up to 14 days — the regime was unable to prevent a demonstration. The organizers managed to get permission to carry it out on a limited land area on the outskirts of the city, which came a couple hundred people. The mood was serious and determined.
The speaker from the group “socialist alternative” in Russia, said:
“It is necessary not only to introduce the real law to protect victims of domestic violence and anti-sexism and Patriarchal reaction. You need to create a number of crisis centres and shelters providing psychological, legal and social assistance”.
According to him, the roots of this disease go not only in the division of society by gender, but in generated by capitalism poverty, from which it follows that we need to unite and fight for decent wages and living conditions for all.
