Gender representation and political potential of women in public policy

In Russian society, women make up the majority, but their share in the Russian parliament as of 2023 is 19.6 %, which indicates a persistent gender imbalance. The article is based on the results of quantitative biographical analysis and data on the presence of women in both chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. In total, the positions of 383 women who used to be or are currently deputies of the State Duma or the Federation Council (from 1993 to the present) were analyzed. The authors analyzed not only the fact of the presence of women in legislatures but also their place in the parliamentary hierarchy, their political habitat, their legislative activity and its orientation. The data showed a slow increase in the presence of women in legislative bodies, which is explained, in the opinion of the authors, by the presence of a «glass ceiling», which has not yet been overcome. One of the possible reasons is the policy of «gender tithing», which is when the political system allows an increase in the representation of women to a certain limit (at the level of 10-15 %). There are still political zones that are practically inaccessible to women (these are issues of foreign and defense policy), and the influence of the «weaker sex» on politics, although expanding, still remains within the traditional roles associated with the regulation of social policy, issues of motherhood, childhood, ecology, tourism, sports. Such an approach hinders the integration of women into the political process and needs to be adjusted in the interests of gender equality.