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PROGRAM “THE YEAR 2006: ONE THOUSAND WOMEN’S TESTIMONIES AND STORIES. PROPOSALS FOR IMPROVING THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN RUSSIA”
Women’s Testimonies and Stories. Proposals for Improving the Status of Women in Russia”[1] was launched by the ISGP Foundation because two reports have been prepared by the Russian Federation in 2006: a National Report for the UN Committee on performance in the Russian Federation the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, CEDAW, (taking into account the remarks and comments made by the Committee with regard to the previous report by the Government of the Russian Federation) and a Report on the Observance of Women’s Human Rights in Russia by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Russian Federation.
The goal of the program is to visualize the status of women in the Russian Federation and the observance of the rights of Russian women in a society in transition, focusing on discrimination of women in labor relations, including the aggravation of the conflict between the professional activities of a woman and her role as mother, the implications of commercialized social services for women and children, and women’s poverty and to bring these issues to the attention of the general public and the government with the view of advancing policies aimed at protecting women’s rights and broadening opportunities for women.
The program have been implemented in collaboration with the UN Gender Thematic Group and was aimed at actualizing women’s problems in the public consciousness through combining monitoring with a public campaign for strengthening the women’s movement.
The program had the following components:
2006 – ISGP Foundation
1. Conducting an open competition of projects under the title “The Year 2006: One Thousand Women’s Testimonies and Stories. Proposals for Improving the Status of Women in Russia”[2], aimed at a targeted collection of women’s stories that require urgent attention on the part of the public and the government.
2007 – The UN Gender Thematic Group
1. Preparation of expert analytical reports while monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women on the materials received within the limits of the Competition.
2. Holding a conference on the outcome of the program (with the invitation of representatives from the Government of the Russian Federation).
3. Publication of the proceedings of the conference “The Year 2006: One Thousand Women’s Testimonies and Stories. Proposals for Improving the Status of Women in Russia” to include presentations on the following subjects:
- Social status, equality in rights and opportunities;
- Work, entrepreneurship, and professional and career growth;
- Maternity, family problems, and health issues;
- Women’s poverty.
The ISGP Foundation allocated U.S. $30,000 for the implementation of the program and U.S. $10,000 was allocated by the UN Gender Thematic Group. In addition, we have agreed to joint efforts with the UN Gender Thematic Group in attracting additional funds from donors so that the budget of the program could be increased.
In June 2006, we announced the results of the Competition. There was keen interest in the Competition conducted: we received applications for participation in the Competition from 87 cities representing all regions of the Russian Federation. However, we could support only 15 best projects from the 167 project applications received from women’s groups[3]. These fifteen projects focus on revealing incidents of violation of women’s human rights with regard to the following categories of women: migrant women; disabled women; HIV-positive women; women from rural areas; women with babies and infants; women engaged in the informal sector; working women; and women engaged in politics.
A working meeting with the winners[4] of the Competition was held in Moscow on June 29, 2006, at which the winning projects were presented and their goals and objectives discussed within the framework of the program “The year 2006: One Thousand Women’s Testimonies and Stories. Proposals for Improving the Status of Women in Russia”. Also, general guidelines and individual recommendations on each of the winning projects were worked out and grant agreements were signed with the winners of the Competition.
Analytic notes on project activities were placed in open access on the ISGP Foundation website and transmitted to experts of the UN Inter Agency Theme Group on Women and Gender Issues for further study.
ISGP Foundation continues to take part in expert meetings for discussing the analytic report. In March 2007, experts completed work on the thematic parts of the CEDAW compliance report in the following areas:
- labor and material status of women
- health and public health
- functioning of national mechanisms
Funds for the publication of the analytic report were raised through joint efforts, and the printed version began to be prepared in March 2007. Talks were held with UNIFEM, which provided support for an international conference held in Moscow for CIS countries on compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Directors of 15 partner organizations that have implemented projects through the ISGP Foundation Contest will take part in the conference, and the analytic report will be presented. Representatives of the two organizations recognized as the best executors of the Contest’s projects will be sent by the UN Inter Agency Theme
Group on Women and Gender Issues to the UN Committee meeting at which the Official Russian Federation Report on CEDAW Compliance will be examined.
Journalists have already begun to take great interest in the resulting materials that were obtained through the Contest.
The analytic report will be widely circulated among state structures that have an impact on the status of women in the Russian Federation: Public Chamber, Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Russian Federation, and Interdepartmental Commission on Gender Equality of the Russian Federation.
[1] The concept of the program is given in Annex II.1.1.
[2] Annexes II.1.2 – II.1.4., respectively, contain:
- Announcement of the competition “The Year 2006: One Thousand Women’s Testimonies and Stories. Proposals for Improving the Status of Women in Russia” (supplemented by the List of Priority Subjects).
- List of Members of the Evaluation Committee.
Application form for participation in the Competition.
[3] The list of supported projects is given in Annex II.1.5.
[4] See Annex II.1.6. Program for the agenda of the meeting.
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