Институт социальной и гендерной политики

The traditional Azerbaijani wedding wish serves as the title to this film and appears to be just a flowery ritual formula. Yet the colorful ethnographic scenes reveal a tragedy that has lasted for ages. In this patriarchal society, girls are unwanted and "useless." In the past, new-born girls were often simply killed; yet, since the development of ultrasound, women have been compelled to seek abortions. Such an attitude towards women occasionally results in terrible family tragedies, one of which shookAzerbaijan a few years ago.

2. Invisible

Georgia 2003

This film, which borders on a sociological study and/or ethnographic report, focuses on the lives of women in such closed and patriarchal communities as Azerbaijani villages in Georgia. Women are "invisible" here and experience double stigma: as minorities and as women. Girls seldom attend high school. Some have already been married off or abducted, others are engaged. It is considered improper for engaged girls to go to school. As to the outside world, it pays just as little attention to gender problems in Azerbaijani communities, as the latter is indifferent to the outside world.

3. Red Butterflies Where Two Springs Merge

Kyrgyzstan 2002

A lyrical portrait of the 64-year-old Janyl Alibekova, who lives in the border mountain village of Achy-Kaindy. Janyl continues the age-old tradition of making felt carpets into which she creatively incorporates national motifs. She never relied on anyone, least of all on the government and modern industrial technologies. As history would have it, after the break-up of the Soviet Union and in a period of general economic decline, Janyl became famous in Europe, a star of the magazine Elle, and the director of her own workshop. Yet she didn't change her lifestyle or her independent anti-patriarchal views.

4. Tomorrow Will Be Better?

Lithuania 2003

The stories of four women from different sectors of society are woven together to make a collective portrait of the Lithuanian woman, who has had to adapt to radically new conditions since transition. An unemployed actress fights against depressions after losing her beloved work. A resilient saleswoman takes up any job from selling items purchased abroad to organizing a dating service. A woman farmer courageously tries to keep her farm afloat. A political scientist from Vilnius is apparently the only one who's had no trouble making the transition from being a part of the Soviet elite to being a part of the elite of an independent Lithuania.

5. Silk Patterns

Mongolia 2003

The film's leitmotif is the deli – the traditional women's costume that not only gives a distinctive color to everyday life in Mongolia but also tells something about the women wearing it by its color and the way it is fashioned. One of the most common types of deli today is that sewn for women college graduates. Eighty percent of students are women. It would seem that such a statistic would represent positive change for women. However, Urchanimeg Nansalmaa presents the accounts of people from all levels of Mongolian society to show its reverse side. After graduating from college, women have only two paths open to them: returning to the steppe, becoming housewives and marrying livestock farmers or truck drivers or, their diplomas notwithstanding, to earn their living as unskilled workers in Eastern Asian countries.

6. Live Containers

Tajikistan 2002

This report from a women's prison tells about the economic hardship and political chaos which have led many Tajik women to become out of sheer necessity "live containers", smuggling heroin inside themselves. These women, who led ordinary lives yesterday, could not possibly be called criminals. The government recognizes this and occasionally amnesties those women who were caught with a relatively "small" (by Tajik standards) amount of drugs. Yet, despite their sincere repentance and their joy at being liberated, there is no guarantee that life will not make them go down this terrible path again.

7. Hack Workers

Uzbekistan 2002

Thrown out of their homes by their husbands, separated from their children and forced (against all Uzbek customs) to earn their living, women find themselves in the hellish world of markets for women hack workers, unprotected by law and subject to violence, rape and murder.

8. Power: Feminine Gender

Ukraine 2003

The authors of this film, resembling a TV collage, assert that matriarchy is the natural form of social organization in the Ukraine, as women traditionally play a major role in villages, local government and business. Unfortunately, the political history of the second half of the nineties – especially, election campaigns – leads us to make a sad conclusion: "female" political projects are used by the ruling class for making a semblance of European-style democracy and only serve to banish women to the periphery of political life.

9. Beauty of the Fatherland

Estonia 2001

The film's main characters – Anne Eenpalu, creator of the girlscout troupe Daughters of Estonia, and ex-Miss Estonia Tiina Jantson, organizer of beauty contests for women and children – would seem to embody opposing values and viewpoints. Yet the film, which takes the rare form of a documentary satire, leads the viewer to make a different conclusion. Its main characters have more in common than it may first appear. They are brought together by their very conservative notions about the role of women in society.

21.04.2008
Приглашаем Вас на просмотр документального фильма "Мать" с последующей дискуссией, которые состоится в рамках занятий Гендерной школы «Яблоко».

21.04.2008
Дорогие коллеги! Институт социальной и гендерной политики приглашает вас на презентацию "Если вам нужно взыскать алименты: простые ответы на ваши вопросы" / презентация сайта ИСГП "Алименты-инфо"

16.04.2008
ПРООН и ЛШЭ приглашают на страницы информационного бюллетеня «Переходный период: проблемы развития»! http://www.developmentandtransition.net/index.cfm?NewLanguageID=ru

03.04.2008
На сайте Общественной палаты РФ: http://www.oprf.ru/feedback/675/ открылась юридическая консультация для НКО.

01.04.2008
В понедельник, 24 марта, Минэкономразвития опубликовало "Концепцию долгосрочного социально-экономического развития РФ до 2020 года". Работа над проектом Концепции продолжается...