Ekaterina Lakhova: regions benefit from women in power

A member of the Federation Council Committee for the Federal System, Regional Policy, Local Governance and Affairs of the North, the representative of the legislative (representative) body of the Bryansk Region, the chairwoman of the Women’s Union of Russia, Ekaterina Lakhova, visited the studio of Vestnik Kavkaza today. During the program Tribune she spoke about the current activities of the Union.

For example, she noted that the number one direction for today is the elimination of discrimination against women in terms of wages. "I have new statistics, which we follow, according to which, on average, we have 30% less wages for women of men's wages. There are some sectors where this figure even reaches 50%. This also applies to other countries, including European countries, but there the difference is smaller, it's about 10%," Ekaterina Lakhova stressed.

The second direction is the participation of women in the apolitics and governance of the country. "We are doing a promotion of women at the decision-making level. Now it is argued how we can participate in political activities, influence decision-making. It is clear that basically we are talking about power structures - executive, legislative and judicial power. But if in the judicial power women are represented quite well, representation of women in the executive and legislative branches is still insufficient," the chairwoman of the Women’s Union of Russia noted.

At the same time, Ekaterina Lakhova stressed that regions where women are well represented in the government only benefit from it. For example, the law on domestic violence, which is difficult, was introduced by a women's organization, but it is torpedoed. So if there were more women in the structures of power, then there would probably be more understanding," the senator assured.

In general, according to her, there is a need for better staffing policy. "Two sexes - male and female - should be represented during the considering of positions, in a professional manner. The business should be socially responsible. In this connection I would like to name two major enterprises, the Novokuznetsk Metallurgy Factory and Surgutneftegaz, which are our members, the Women’s Union of Russia is working very closely with them. If I am not mistaken, there are about 50 women's councils in Surgutneftegaz and about 100 in the Novokuznetsk Metallurgy Factory. They take part in discussions of collective agreements. These councils represent and protect the position of women, they protect the maternal health at the level of business," Ekaterina Lakhova added.

One of the programs of the Women’s Union of Russia is aimed to support mothers - a retraining of women returning from the decree. "When women return from maternity leave they, of course, loses their qualifications. And it is very important that the Employment Service may organize a training for them. We believe that today the employment service's work is very weak. That's why we talk about an active development of women's councils at the regional federal and municipal levels," the chairwoman of the Women’s Union of Russia added.

"Why is it so necessary? These NGOs will pose questions, raise issues, thus accelerating their decision. In this regard, women's literacy is needed. For example, we have trained about 200 students in Crimea last year. The heads of our regional offices shared their experiences and talked about the projects. We gave them the legal literacy as well, we told them about laws on social services for Russian citizens, on public control, explained why a public control is needed. It is necessary to engage in dialogue with the Public Chamber and public councils, only then the progress is possible," Ekaterina Lakhova expressed confidence.

She also called for the unification of public organizations around the presidency. "At our last conference, which was attended by representatives of 75 regions, we were just talking that now everyone should unite around the institution of presidency, because they try to beat the institute both internationally and inside. Very much depends on the president's policy," a member of the Federation Council Committee for the Federal System, Regional Policy, Local Governance and Affairs of the North concluded.

The full version of the interview with Ekaterina Lakhova you can see in the ‘Interviews’ section of the site.