Unlike in the majority of Westerncountries, women’s organisations in Russia have neither a long historysnor strong traditions. In the Soviet times, there was one party, whichclaimed to represent all strata of society and both sexes. Back in Khrushchev’s-era,a Committee of Soviet Women was established in order to fill the vacuumfor women’s organisations. The role of this organisation was limited torepresentative functions and to some extent - to charity.

Women’s activism first began to blossomshortly after the beginning of perestroika. Activism did not grow intofully-fledged feminism however; there have never been any influential feministparties or organisations in Russia in the past or currently. This is notsurprising since the majority of Russian women, especially those who livein provinces, cannot imagine any way of life other than keeping a home.The first Russian women’s organisations were received with mixed feelings.Some said that it was shameful and unbecoming of a woman to be a memberof a party formed along gender lines. The fact is that women do have specificproblems that require legislative solutions.

The Women of Russia movement wasregistered in 1993 and with eight percent of the vote, made a fairly strongshowing in the first Duma elections in December of that year. This successis quite easy to explain. The elections were held shortly after the bloodyevents of October 1993 which claimed many lives. While others were busyhurling accusations at each other, Women of Russia laid aside politicalslogans and placed their emphasis on humanitarian values.

They appealed more to the heartsand souls of women as mothers and wives, the source of life and guardiansof the home, rather than to cold logic. Moreover, they drew attention tothe injustices and shortcomings of a country in which almost all postsin the government are held by men.

Maybe it is because there are toofew women at the top that there is no proper order in the country? Suchwas the question they raised, and it found an echo not only with women,but with many men as well.

The Women of Russia movement failedto follow-up its electoral success with a strong presence in the Duma however.This can be explained first by the difficulties in holding one’s own inthe Duma without a clear political platform on which to stand. Then, runninga country is not the same as running a household; it is a job that requiresparticular knowledge and skills. Finally, it soon became apparent thatalthough the specific problems of their sex can unite women, they are noless subject to differences over ideology than their male counterparts,and indeed, can often prove more stubborn and less compromising. Some womendeputies really did attempt to cook up solutions for the country’s manyproblems using recipes for running a good home. But Women of Russia nevermanaged to put together any clear platform. By the second Duma electionsof 1995, their unsteady centrist position, with vacillations to the rightand to the left, collapsed underneath them. As a result, the movement receivedonly 4.6 percent of the votes in the election, failing to overcome thefive percent barrier, and only three representatives managed to win seatsin the second Duma by running in single-member electoral districts.

The electorate had become more politicised,and the vague centrist position of Women of Russia attracted neither thosewho feared a return of the communists to power nor those who welcomed it.The movement came to a point where it had to make its political orientationclear, and it is that which brought latent tensions to the surface, ultimatelycausing a split. The movement’s more conservative faction, led by AlevtinaFedulova, broke away to form the Women’s Union of Russia, while the democraticfaction led by Ekaterina Lakhova, went on to establish the All-RussianSocio-Political Movement of Women.

Although there are substantial differencesin ideology and political orientation, the two organisations have similarprogrammes. Their principle is "to promote greater involvement of womenin the country’s social and political life and to increase their proportionin power structures to achieve a genuine realisation of the constitutionalprinciple of equal rights and opportunities for women and men in all spheresof public life."

The two new organisations stand lesschance of success in the upcoming State Duma elections than the unitedWomen of Russia movement would have had. Neither organisation has builtup enough political weight that would enable them to break the five percentbarrier on their own. Back in 1995, Women of Russia was quite an influentialpolitical movement, sufficiently so to attract potential sponsors.

The movement’s budget during thelast election was 3,809 million roubles (about $750,000), most of thiswas contributions from legal entities.

Women of Russia counted the thirdlargest number of legal sector sponsors. All were disappointed when themovement wound up with only three representatives in the Duma.

Certainly, the two women’s organisationcan still peg their hopes on candidates running in single-member districts.In this case, it is Lakhova’s organisation that stands a better chanceof success. Lakhova successfully combines the efficiency of a businesswomanwith the attentiveness and conscientiousness of a doctor.

Alevtina Fedulova has taken her flockinto the People’s Patriotic Union of Russia, led by Gennadii Zyuganov.Fedulova represents the nostalgia for the Soviet past, while Lakhova comesacross as a more modern style politician, though not a radical one. Lakhovawill probably join forces with the Otechestvo movement led by Moscow Mayor,Yuri Luzhkov.

The Women’s Union of Russia then,will be pinning all its hopes on Zyuganov’s electorate alone, while theAll-Russian Socio-political Movement of Women has a chance to receive sponsoraid and can concentrate on elections in single-member districts.

All in all, the experience of Russia’sfirst women’s movement, so influential at its beginning, proves one thing:no matter how independent today’s woman may be, in big time politics, justas in any family, both men and women are essential ingredients for success.