The Russian women's movement: Activists' strategies and identities

Seminars for developing women's political activism in Russia provided the b asis for field observations and surveys of participants and leaders in the emergent Russian women's movement. The seminars provided an elite sample of activists, including those who were long-term participants in the zhensove ty, those newly mobilized in Western-influenced, explicitly feminist groups , and the majority, who were engaged in women's NGOs with a variety of spec ific goals. Activists of all three types had both a "pragmatic" orientation to specific, local needs as well as a holistic, strategic analysis. Activi sts differed, however, in the extent to which they saw women in politics as more moral than men, as reliable advocates for women's interests, and as b asing their politics on their roles as mothers. Activists also differed in their willingness to define themselves as feminists, although they criticiz ed Sender discrimination and valued consciousness-raising about gender issu es. We conclude that the weakness of democratic institutions in Russia lead s these activists to a greater concern with building a civil society and ac countable democratic government, goals that Western feminists may see as al ready accomplished in their societies.