**************************************************************
The material posted here was provided to the Division for the 
Advancement of Women by the Government in response to a note 
verbale. It is being made available in electronic format in
the form received. In cases where it was not possible at this 
time to reproduce charts and tables supplied, these can be 
obtained by contacting the Division for the Advancement of 
Women directly.
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Translated from Russian

CONCEPT FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN THE
RUSSIAN FEDERATION

     The concept for the improvement of the status of women in
the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as "the
concept") determines the overall strategy and the priority
orientations of State policy with respect to women, and is
aimed at giving effect to the principle of equal rights and
freedoms and the attainment of equal opportunities for women
and men in accordance with the constitution of the Russian
Federation, the Russian Federation's international obligations
and the recommendations of the Fourth World Conference on
Women: Equality, Development and Peace (Beijing, September
1995), taking into account the situation currently prevailing
in the Russian Federation.

     The concept was discussed and approved at the National
Conference on Women and Development: Rights, Reality, Prospects
(Moscow, 13-14 December 1994).

     The concept is based on the fact that the rights of women
are an inseparable part of human rights as a whole. The full
and equitable participation of women in political, economic,
social and cultural life at the federal, regional and
international levels must be the principal aim of State policy
in the sphere of improving the status of women in the Russian
Federation.

     Lack of representation in political life, discrimination
in employment, the deterioration in women's health and the
growth of violence directed against them arouse the strongest
concern of society in the context of the radical reforms
currently taking place in the Russian Federation.

In this connection, it is necessary in the first place:

-    To promote respect for the rights of women as an integral
part of human rights and fundamental freedoms;

-    To ensure conditions for the equitable role participation
of women in decision-making at all levels of management;

-    To promote the guaranteeing of equal rights in the labour
market;

-    To ensure protection of the health of women;

-    To seek to prohibit and halt violence against women.

To solve these problems, there is a need:

-    To seek to create the conditions and legislative
provisions necessary for the practical application of the
constitutional principle of equal rights and equal
opportunities;

-    To make use of the experience accumulated in the various
regions of the Russian Federation;

-    To ensure coordination of activities at the federal,
regional and international levels.

I. THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF THE STATUS OF WOMEN WHICH GIVE
PARTICULAR GROUNDS FOR CONCERN IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

                       Respect for the rights of women as an
integral part
                           of human rights and fundamental
freedoms

     In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian
Federation, men and women have equal rights and freedoms and
equal opportunities for exercising them. However, these
constitutional provisions are as yet frequently only
declaratory in nature, in that the system of measures to ensure
that they are exercised is insufficiently developed and
effective.

     The shaping of State social policy with regard to women is
frequently narrowly departmental in nature and does not take
into account the acuteness and seriousness of the problems that
exist in relation to the status of women.

                  Participation of women in decision-making at
all levels

     Decree No. 337 of the President of the Russian Federation
of 4 March 1993 on the primary tasks of State policy with
respect to women emphasized the need to ensure conditions for
the genuine participation of women in the activity of State
organs and public organizations.

     Commissions and committees on issues relating to women,
the family and children have been established in the Office of
the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the
Russian Federation and the Federal Assembly, at the level of
subjects of the Russian Federation and in the organs of local
self-government.

     In accordance with the legislation of the Russian
Federation, women are guaranteed equal access with men to State
service and participation in foreign policy activities. In
fact, however, the representation of women in the higher levels
of State service, in responsible positions in the production
and financial spheres and in business associations is extremely
low.

     At the end of 1995, the number of women among the deputies
in the Federal Assembly was 11.4 per cent, including 5.6 per
cent in the Assembly of the Federation, and in the State Duma
13.6 per cent; among the heads of federal executive organs
there were 3 women, and among the deputy heads, 12, while out
of the heads of administration of subjects of the Russian
Federation and of major cities, about 22 per cent were women.

     While there is a clear predominance of women specialists
with higher and intermediate special education, they account
for only an insignificant proportion of heads of enterprises.
Among heads of economic organs, the proportion of women is 8-11
per cent, and among deputy heads 8 per cent, while in a number
of sectors (construction, transport), the figure is less than 1
per cent.

     An increase in the civic activity of women is taking place
in the Russian Federation. The process of establishing mass
women's organizations is undergoing dynamic development. At the
beginning of 1995 more than 400 different women's organizations
were registered in the Russian Federation, of which 5 had
federal status and 17 international status, while the remainder
were active at the interregional, urban and district levels.

     The organizational structure of the managerial pyramid
that has emerged over the course of history, predominantly
male-oriented, does not reflect the balance of social forces
that is currently emerging, the new roles of men and women or
the possibility of women influencing the affairs of society,
the State and the family, and does not make it possible to
ensure the proper social orientation of the development of
society and its democratization.

                     Ensuring equal rights in the labour market

     In 1994, 34.9 million women were employed in the national
economy, or approximately half of the total population employed
in the national economy. According to forecasts, by the year
2000 the number of working women will rise by 1.6 million.

     In the course of formation of the labour market,
discriminatory trends against women are on the increase, and
their competitiveness is declining. The risk of their losing
their jobs is rising, they are becoming less protected in the
employment sphere, and the possibilities of their finding new
jobs, having a professional career, improving their
qualifications or retraining are decreasing, largely because of
the need for special labour protection and the impact of the
social benefits associated with performance of the reproductive
function.

     The concentration of women in traditional sectors of the
economy, in relatively low-paid work, leads to the maintenance
and in some cases the widening of the wage gap between men and
women. On average, the wages of women are almost one third
lower than those of men.

     The number of unemployed women is increasing. According to
data from the Federal Employment Service of the Russian
Federation, on 1 June 1995 there were 1,247,500 unemployed
women, or 62.2 per cent of the total number of unemployed.
Unemployment among women lasts longer: while the average
duration of unemployment in the case of officially registered
unemployed citizens is 6.10 months, the average duration of
unemployment for women is 6.29 months. It is expected that by
the end of 1995 the average annual numbers of officially
registered unemployed in the Russian Federation (not including
those in non-optional part-time employment) will amount to a
total of 4 million, 2.2-2.4 million of them women.

     The adaptation of women to market economy conditions
incurs considerable costs, and the process of lowering of the
professional status of women is continuing. The number of women
workers performing unskilled work is more than twice as high as
the comparable figure for men.

     The breakdown of the traditional social infrastructure,
the decrease in the number of pre-school and out-of-school
institutions for children and the rise in the cost of domestic
services is leading to an increase in the domestic work which
was traditionally the task of women. The dual burden (at work
and at home) causes stress and fatigue and negatively affects
the health of women.

                             Protection of the health of women

     In the 1990s, an unfavourable demographic situation is
taking shape in the Russian Federation: life expectancy is
decreasing, the birth rate is falling and levels of maternal
and infant mortality are high.

     The population's health indicators are deteriorating, and
disabilities and the incidence of diseases associated with
social problems - tuberculosis, venereal diseases, AIDS, etc. -
are on the increase.

     Because of inadequate financing, obstetric institutions
frequently charge for the services they provide to pregnant
women or women in childbirth, are not modernizing their
equipment and have no supplies of essential medicines, with the
result that many women, including women in childbirth, and
newborn children have no access to qualified medical care.

     The deterioration in food product consumption patterns
gives cause for concern, in that it has negative consequences
for the health of girls, pregnant women and nursing mothers.

     The large number of abortions, in terms of which the
Russian Federation occupies one of the leading places in the
world, continues to constitute a serious problem. In 1994
3,100,000 officially recorded abortions were performed, or
almost double the number of births. In 1994, on average, 83.4
abortions took place for every 1,000 women of child-bearing
age.

     The inadequate social and legal protection in the
employment sphere and the absence of adequate monitoring of
compliance with labour protection rules and standards and
safety technology (particularly in the non-State sector) have a
negative impact on the health of working women. Every year
about 90,000 women (3 out of every 1,000 working women) are
injured at work, and about 500 die.

     At the beginning of 1995 the number of workers in
industry, construction, transport and communications employed
at workplaces not in compliance with health and hygiene
requirements and regulations amounted to 4.03 million people,
1.2 million of them women. In agriculture, because of the low
level of mechanization of labour-intensive processes, a high
percentage of women are engaged in heavy physical labour (60-70
per cent in livestock farming and 80 per cent in industrial
poultry farming).
.
     One of the reasons for women's deteriorating health status
is also the absence from the national mentality of attitudes
that promote interest in staying healthy and maintaining a
healthy lifestyle.

                                          Violence against
women

     To date, the problem of violence against women has not yet
been properly appraised or appropriately resolved.

     Violence against women takes place in all spheres of
activity, including at work and in the family.

     Violence against women is most clearly expressed in such
forms as forced cohabitation, prostitution, rape, domestic
violence and murder resulting from alcoholism or drug
addiction, sadism, systematic beating and psychological
violence. Almost half of all especially brutal domestic murders
are preceded by a prolonged conflict situation in the family.

     According to data from the Office of the
Procurator-General of the Russian Federation, in 1994 565,300
crimes were recorded in which women were the victims. This
figure is 70 per cent higher than for 1993. In 39,600 cases, or
more than twice the corresponding figure for 1993, the crimes
were committed as a result of jealousy, disputes or other
domestic reasons. The statistics bear witness to an increase in
tension in intra-family relations and in the number of conflict
situations within families.

     In 1994 13,900 cases of rape or attempted rape were
recorded, or 3.5 per cent less than in 1993. Of these crimes,
84 per cent were solved by the police (the 1993 figure was 85
per cent).

     The official statistics do not reflect the true picture of
crimes against women. For various reasons, the victims often
refrain from reporting such crimes to the authorities.

     The recorded number of convictions for forcing women to
engage in sexual relations where the guilty party was a person
on whom a woman was materially dependent or in an employee
relationship, and also for forcing women into marriage, does
not exceed 20 or 30 per year (although in actuality the number
of such cases is higher). Girls and young women are
increasingly frequently being kidnapped and sold into dens of
vice or subjected to sexual harassment at the workplace.

     The situation of women in the extreme conditions of
inter-ethnic and military conflicts, as well as of women
refugees and forcibly displaced women, is still a problem.
Difficulties in finding work or obtaining accommodation, or the
risk of breakdown of the family, especially in mixed marriages,
as a result of the death of the husband deprive them of the
means of subsistence and compel them to seek sources of income
that are often illegal. Frequently they become the victims of
crimes, including sexual violence and exploitation.

     The increase in violence against women is caused by the
deterioration in the crime situation.

     Moral upbringing in the family, the schools, the community
and society at large has been weakened. The mass media
publicize the exploitation of female sexuality and the bodies
of naked women.

     The absence of relevant legislation, the ineffectiveness
of police action and the absence of State statistics make it
impossible to obtain a realistic estimate of the scale of the
phenomenon of prostitution. The inadequate moral assessment of
this phenomenon, especially in the mass media, is leading to a
growth in the number of women engaging in prostitution, despite
its immorality.

II. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES AND MAIN APPROACHES TO ATTAINING THEM

To solve the problems specified in the concept, there is a
need:

     (a) In the area of exercise of women's rights as an
integral part of human rights and fundamental freedoms:

     - To conduct a survey of the legislation of the Russian
Federation and develop proposals to ensure conformity of the
women's rights legislation of the Russian Federation with
international human rights standards;

     - To develop criteria and approaches to assessing
discrimination against women;

     - To conduct an analysis of the existing mechanism for
monitoring compliance with the United Nations Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and
other international instruments and with the women's rights
legislation of the Russian Federation;

     - To ensure full implementation of the recommendations
contained in the United Nations Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the United
Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against
Women and the relevant conventions of the International Labour
Organization;

     (b) In the area of promoting participation of women in
decision-making at all levels

     - To organize a broad information and publicity campaign
in the mass media aimed at stepping up the participation of
women in the socio-economic transformations and increasing the
number of women in the organs of power;

     - To secure the participation of women in decision-making
at all levels and the establishment of new moral standards
aimed at the broad involvement of women in social movements and
their participation in representative and executive organs of
power at all levels;

     - To organize training of women for participation in
political and State activity and management; to develop
relevant programmes for training and retraining women and also
to establish a reserve of women personnel to work in
administrative organs at various levels;

     - To conduct on a regular basis the compilation, analysis
and dissemination of statistical data on the participation of
men and women in State and public life, at the federal,
regional and international levels;

     - To ensure the access of women to all forms of activity
in the service of the State, not restricting it to sectors in
which women have traditionally been employed (education,
health, social services);

     - To involve women diplomats more widely in the work of
the foreign service, including in the permanent missions of the
Russian Federation to the United Nations and other
international organizations, and to consider the question of
increasing the number of women ambassadors of the Russian
Federation;

     - To ensure support for the activity of women's, youth,
trade union and other organizations that come forward with
initiatives for improving the status of women and nominate
capable and professionally competent women to posts in the
various organs of power at all levels;

     - To develop and implement legal education programmes for
women to explain to them the rights and fundamental freedoms
afforded to them both by legislation of the Russian Federation
and by the international treaties acknowledged by the Russian
Federation;

     - To ensure that objective coverage is given in the mass
media to the true role of women in economic, social and
political life and to give broad publicity to the progress of
the implementation in the Russian Federation of the United
Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women and other instruments on women's
rights, as well as to the experience of foreign countries in
this field;

     (c) In the area of promoting equal rights and equal
treatment in the labour market:

     - To achieve the establishment of genuine equality of
rights and opportunities for women and men in the labour market
by ensuring conditions for increased competitiveness of the
female labour force and the adaptation of women to the new
economic relations;

     - To analyse the position of women in the labour market in
the current socio-economic crisis situation;

     - To evaluate the results of the application of the ILO
conventions on the problems of working women ratified by the
Russian Federation;

     - To bring the legislation of the Russian Federation into
line with international legal agreements on equality of
opportunities and treatment in the employment sphere, and to
conduct an assessment of the policy of equal rights and
opportunities for men and women in the labour market and the
existing regulatory instruments (hiring, dismissal, career
development); to develop mechanisms for their effective
application;

     - To develop legislative instruments that make provision
for economic incentives and benefits designed to increase the
interest of employers in giving employment to citizens with
family obligations, including on a part-time basis, on a
flexible timetable or at home;

     - To strengthen State supervision and control of
compliance with the legislation on the rights and guarantees of
working women; to make provision for a system of penalties for
violating the legislation and permitting discrimination against
women;

     - To improve the mechanisms for maintaining existing and
creating new jobs for women through the broad attraction of
State and private investment in projects. To take into account
in developing the State's socio-economic policy the development
of and support for sectors that predominantly employ women
(light industry, the textile industry, instrument-making). To
promote the creation of additional jobs in the area of social
services and services for the population;

     - To improve the forms and methods of social support for
guaranteeing employment for various categories of women,
including the development of active forms oriented towards
independent solution of the problems. To seek to develop
systems for promoting and monitoring the increased
participation of women in small and family enterprises,
including the provision of tax rebates, loans and insurance in
these fields;

     - To develop federal and regional programmes for the
development of small and family businesses and various forms of
self-employment. To create a system of "business incubators" in
which study of business principles is combined with
psychological preparation, conduct of an analysis of projects
for the organization of independent businesses and subsequent
assistance in the form of temporary tax exemptions, favourable
credit terms, supply of equipment and raw material, provision
of premises, etc. To expand the system of advisory services and
vocational guidance for women wishing to establish their own
business, and to provide support for the practical
implementation of programmes which have received favourable
comment from experts;

     - To strengthen the system of vocational training, further
training retraining for women to improve their qualifications;
to create conditions for vocational readaptation and
improvement of qualifications or retraining for women whose
employment has been interrupted, including when they return
from maternity and child-care leave;

     - To institute an ongoing gender analysis of the legal
provisions governing labour relations and prohibiting
discrimination on grounds of sex and age; to develop measures
for implementing the principle of equal pay for equal work and
work of equal value, eliminating the wage gap between sectors
of the economy in which either men or women are predominantly
employed. To provide State support for scientific developments
in the field of gender studies, and also publicity for
scientific knowledge of problems of the role and status of
women in society and the relationships between women and men;

     - To extend all possible support to the maintenance and
development of the network of preschool and out-of-school
institutions and social service facilities accessible to all
types of families;

     - To conduct constant monitoring of the position of women
in the labour market;

     - To develop criteria for assessing the impact of
environmental factors and working conditions on the health
(including the reproductive function) of women working in
enterprises and organizations, regardless of their form of
ownership. To implement measures to strengthen labour
protection for women, especially women employed in agriculture;

     - To create conditions for ensuring the employment of
women who are less competitive (the handicapped, mothers of
large families, heads of incomplete families, wives of military
personnel and others). To develop a system of measures to
encourage employers to use the labour of and give employment to
poorly protected categories of the population. To guarantee
equal protection to these categories in the event that their
labour rights are infringed;

     (d) In the area of health care for women:

     - To seek to improve the health of women by creating
conditions for their exercise of their reproductive rights and
safe maternity, including under the federal "Safe Maternity"
programme. To develop a system of reproductive health care for
women and a system of basic medical and health services that
takes into account the characteristics of the state of health
of women of various ages. To expand specialized medical care
for women and girls;

     - To ensure the necessary minimum level of consumption of
food products, including for pregnant women and nursing
mothers, at accessible prices;

     - To ensure that the State guarantees free medical care
for women and children;

     - To promote the development and introduction of modern
medical technologies that ensure the birth of healthy children,
the prevention of illness, the survival of premature babies,
and safe abortions. To develop programmes on the problems of
prevention, early diagnosis and cure of oncological diseases
affecting the reproductive system;

     - To secure a reduction in the number of abortions through
the implementation of the State "Family Planning" programme. To
provide high-quality health education, especially among young
people, on questions of sex education, safe maternity and
prevention of sexually transmissible diseases;

     - To ensure the development of the national medical
industry on the basis of conversion programmes, and the
production of medical equipment and products for the mother and
child care service;

     - To support the conduct of scientific research work in
the field of women's health, including the development of
criteria for the quality and effectiveness of medical care,
monitoring the state of the foetus and developing methods for
correction of defects, diagnosis and cure of intra-uterine
infections and prenatal diagnosis of congenital and inherited
pathological conditions. To support the conduct of
prophylactic, epidemiological and medical research on issues
relating to the protection of women's health;

     - To improve all forms of prenatal diagnosis,
medical-genetic care, revival, intensive therapy and nursing of
premature babies;

     - To ensure the regionalization of expensive specialized
forms of medical care for women and children on the basis of
guaranteed basic medical services;

     - To draw up information and education programmes aimed at
informing women and girls of the harm caused by misuse of
alcohol and narcotics, and also programmes for the development
of rehabilitation and remedial care for alcoholics and drug
addicts;

     - To provide support for non-governmental organizations
dealing with women's health problems;

     (e) In the area of halting violence against women:

     - To seek to prevent violence against women in all aspects
of their lives, in accordance with the Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence against Women adopted by the United
Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1993;

     - To develop criminal, civil, labour-law and
administrative penalties to punish violation of the rights of
women and compensate for the harm caused to them by violence,
including violence in the family;

     - To develop a mechanism for interaction with
non-governmental organizations dealing with problems of
rehabilitation of women victims of violence; to develop a broad
network of services for providing assistance to victims of
violence;

     - To ensure the social rehabilitation of women who have
suffered in inter-ethnic and military conflicts, and also of
women refugees and forcibly displaced women;

     - To organize comprehensive training for social workers
and the relevant personnel of health care, educational and
rights protection institutions on working with citizens who
have suffered from violence, and to develop advisory services
for the population on problems of preventing violence against
women;

     - To improve statistical reporting, including on crimes
against women, for the purpose of obtaining full and objective
information on al forms of violence against women, and also to
encourage studies of causes, nature, degree and consequences of
violence and on the effectiveness of measures for preventing
and eliminating violence against women;

     - To conduct an information and education campaign
designed to change traditional stereotypes based on the
supremacy of one sex over the other, with the compulsory
inclusion in school curricula of special psychological and
physical training on the prevention of possible violence
against women;

     - To develop measures, including legislative measures,
aimed at eliminating the sexual exploitation of women,
including measures to reduce the scale of prostitution.

III. COORDINATION OF ACTIVITIES TO IMPLEMENT THE BASIC
PROVISIONS OF THE CONCEPT

     For purposes of implementing the concept, it should be
ensured that groups of issues relating to the improvement of
the status of women in the Russian Federation are included in
draft legislation and in federal, sectoral and regional
programmes.

     In implementing the concept, there is a need to provide
for coordination of the activities of all federal and regional
mechanisms for improving the status of women and ensuring their
equal rights in society, through provision of appropriate
financing, establishment of implementation deadlines,
designation of responsibilities for execution and monitoring of
the implementation of the measures conducted.

     Implementation of the provisions of the concept is
conducted in close cooperation with non-governmental
organizations and social institutions for the purpose of their
broad involvement in the implementation of the State measures
associated with the improvement of the status of women.