Women have long had a special place in Russian culture. Feted on International Women´s Day and exalted - sometimes hypocritically - in her role as wife and mother, the Russian woman has historically held a place of honor in society.

However, this special position has not always, to say the least, meant that women occupy a privileged or even satisfactory position in society as a whole. Women, for the most part, are still expected to fulfil the traditional roles of wife and mother before all else - in addition to the other requisite tasks she may be required to carry out by necessity or desire, such as working outside of the home. A double standard for men and women exists that some women claim interferes with their ability to live and act as they wish. Unlike other countries, Russia has no real feminist tradition to speak of - with a few notable exceptions - and has yet to break out of most of the stereotypes and cliched societal expectations that have been passed down from previous years.

Lidia Anaikina, founder and president of the Institute of the Modern Woman, which, among other things, publishes the magazine Sovremenaya Zhenshchina (Modern Women), does not agree with this point of view, that a woman´s life should be circumscribed by and in the end reduced to the spheres of home, family and looking good. Instead, she says she feels the need to be active in her fight to agitate for the idea that women have the ability, and every right, to have independent lives of their own. Though it has not been in existence long, the Institute now has 15 branch offices scattered throughout Russia, with its main office being located, not surprisingly, in Moscow. In addition to publishing Sovremenaya Zhenshchina, the Institute also organizes master classes and programs of various sorts for women.

Opening the pages of Sovremenaya Zhenshchina, you will see a wide variety of stories, from career advice, discussions of art and contemporary politics, interviews with a variety of notables, health, educating children and so forth. It covers a wide gamut of subjects that Anaikina. feels are essential to being a "modern woman": pieces on women´s psychology, interviews with celebrities both greater and lesser, advice on relationships and how to be a woman in what is, from many points of view, still very much a man´s world.

She has had a quite varied background. With a Ph.D. in history, she worked as a teacher for 15 years and then began doing business in the city of Surgut - but says it was difficult to conduct business as a woman working among men. Two-and-a-half years ago, she ran for and won a seat on the State Duma in Khanty-Mansiisk, becoming, she says, the first woman in the history of Russia ever to hold that post. She is also the author of several books, including an autobiography and a volume on great women of the 20th century, and, in 1999, was elected leader of the All-Russian social movement For Civil Rights.. She says that a woman, upon reaching the age at which she becomes a pensioner - as Anaikina has - has to make a choice between a quiet retirement and an active life, and she has certainly chosen the latter option.

The idea of doing something like forming the Institute first came to her about a decade ago, she said, while visiting the United States (where one of her sons is currently studying). She was astonished, she related, at how women there seemed far more independent and at ease with themselves that the ones she had been used to associating with in Russia. Then, she decided to work for creating the conditions for the kind of life for women she saw in the United States here in Russia. And now, since establishing the Institute and beginning publication of the magazine, she is devoting herself to this goal the best of her ability.

The magazine, Anaikina says, targets professional women between the ages of 25 and 50 who, while not wanting to be neglectful of their femininity as traditionally understood, want to get more out of life than what tradition would allot them. They want a family, yes, but also a career, personal ambition and a life outside of the home. As such, it is different from other women´s magazines such as Cosmo, Elle and so forth. Anaikina says she believes her magazine has no analogues in Russian women´s magazines. (Considering the usual flavor and content of such magazines internationally, this is not hard to believe.)

Has the work of the Institute been successful? Anaikina says it has been so far. She reports that she has received much positive feedback from readers of the magazine, and others, who say it provides them with an eye on the world they find useful and relevant to their lives.

And the Institute´s ultimate goals? Anaikina says she wants to help Russian women to be able to live in the way she feels Western women do in the modern age - feeling herself capable and secure in making her own choices and setting ambitious goals, even non-traditional ones, for herself.

The work of the Institute of the Modern Woman is not exhausted simply by its publishing work. The Institute does not stop at propagating the its view that woman have a right to live their lives in the way they see fit. It has also worked with other organizations in a variety of programs, for instance, providing assistance to teenagers.

Moreover, the Institute is open to working with a variety of different other organizations and welcomes cooperation with anyone who feels willing to cooperate with it in mutually constructive ways.

Organizations of this sort may not at present have a long pedigree in Russia, but, if Anaikina and those like her continue to apply the energy and broadness of vision they have been, it is likely that they have quite a history ahead of them.