Women in local politics in Russia: Coping with poverty and strategies for development

Abstract

In historical continuation from the Soviet Union, social policy is predominantly a female responsibility. The present article focuses on women in local politics, who have an important role in local change, and who; among others, cope with poverty and try to solve reasons and consequences of poverty. Based on interviews and observations, the article shows how women's entrepreneurial skills of handling various shortcomings in the Soviet system are reflected in their present strategies for social development in local contexts in Russia. While the state leadership decides about reforms, setting new formal rules, local politicians develop their own routines and strategies. Being responsible for organising social welfare, interviewed female politicians told about how they use different strategies. This means that adopted practices are likely to be more heterogeneous than before. It seems important to both rely on useful norms inherited from the Soviet time, while also developing strategies based on new possibilities, arising as a result of reforms. The empirical data is based on interviews from three minor communities in one Russian region, conducted in 2002 to 2012.