Feminism in modern Russia...Do women suffer?

Gender has become a central component of every subject, and it has become necessary to take it into account in the study of sexuality, race, class, religion, nationality and other social categories. Some universities have opened specializations in African-American women's studies. Teachers of history, social and cultural anthropology, literature, psychology, sociology and many other disciplines decided to “add” courses on women to their programs, thereby integrating women's and gender studies into education. As an example, we can consider the program “Critical studies of sexuality” of the Department of women's and gender studies of Rutgers state research University of the United States [3, C 383]. This program includes compulsory courses aimed at the study of sexuality and interdisciplinary courses of choice, studying the position of men and women in society in historical and modern contexts, in multicultural and multi-racial perspectives. The result of the course is an introduction to both gender studies and the theory concerning the realities of feminist activities around the world.

The “infrastructure” of gender studies by the end of the twentieth century is becoming more than global. The new branch of Humanities has become a recognized academic discipline not only in America and Western Europe, but also in Russia [3, C 385]. In general, scientific research projects related to the analysis of human society from the point of view of gender, with the study of sexuality, racial problems, problems related to inequality, in particular, attention is paid to the work aimed at uniting representatives of different communities. Gender is not considered by these centers as a synonym to the words “man” and “woman”, but is thought as a concept that considers the experience of all mankind as a whole, regardless of how each member of society identifies himself.

The women's movement was mainly associated with charity, an attempt to achieve economic independence and the struggle for women's access to higher education. This is what Russian feminists saw as the way to enter new spheres of activity, the assimilation of new social roles and generally improving the status in society.

The theme of feminism is still highly relevant in the 21st century. Previously, women did not even dream of emancipation, but now they have the opportunity to learn and work on an equal footing with men.

The French utopian socialist Charles Fourier constructed the word “ feminism ” for the first time in the late 18th century. He called feminists supporters of women's equality rights and believed that the empowerment of women is the main source of social progress [1].

According to Rai, “many interpret feminism as man-hating practices or the desire of women to take control. But the consideration of this phenomenon as a radical movement of the female sex, seeking to establish matriarchy, took a back seat. It is a simple desire-to be on an equal footing with men, to have an equal chance of getting a job, to create a family, appearance and other attributes of gender division” [4, C. 4].

American researcher E. Klein in her book “Gender policy from consciousness to mass politics” characterizes feminism as a political ideology that advocates equal roles of men and women in society and claims that women do not receive support in the family, do not have access to the market because of discrimination in society and inadequate attitude to this problem of social institutions [2].

Materials and Methods

The survey was attended by N=100 respondents (F=60; M=40) aged from 15 to 20 years old. The participants were asked to complete the form (Table 1). The first part of the questionnaire is aimed at clarifying the basic notion of feminism. Other scales serve to identify discrimination or infringement of the rights of women in society.

Table 1. “Feminism questionnaire”

Discussion

According to the results obtained, 70% of the respondents correctly understand the meaning of the term ‘ feminism ’; more than 60% express either neutral or positive attitude to this movement. Furthermore, more than half of the respondents believe that women and men have equal opportunities to exercise their rights. This suggests that they did not encounter any infringement of the rights of women in their surroundings.

Conclusion

Thus, the target audience has demonstrated an understanding of feminism, its purpose and the essence of this movement. However, most respondents noted the equality of women and men in different spheres of society, since the majority did not face any violation of women's rights.