Demographic policy in Russia in context of the gender transition

Irina E. Kalabikhina, Moscow State University

The roots of the gender transition concept come from the phenomenon of the stability of the patriarchal relations in family in comparison with the growth of egalitarianism in the public sphere (female representation in labour market, system of education and policy circle). This idea is a driver in the explanation of role of gender equity in fertility transition (McDonald, 2000). Gender transition contains its three stages of the transition and the degree of the egalitarianism of institutions is determined by the system of distribution of material and time resources between the genders (Kalabikhina, 2009). According to this staging Russia is on the tense third stage, whish is characterized by a significant decrease in fertility. Since the growth of gender equality (especially in the household institutes) promotes the growth of fertility (Olah, 1998; McDonald, 2006; and others), it is logical to assume that the population policy should include measures to promote gender equality. We offer the analysis of demographic policy in Russia (it consists of the three stages: 2007-2010, 2011-2015, 2016-2025) for the presence of gender measures. The main conclusion of our analysis is the lack of gender action in Russia, which reduces the potential of the effectiveness of the policy. We describe why in context of population structure dynamic we especially need to shift the focus of the current demographic policy with material support for families with children on the harmonization of parenthood and employment. If preschools and friendly labor market (with respect only to women who are mothers) is becoming to the only second phase of the demographic policy, the development of the institution of fatherhood is not on the agenda, which jeopardizes the implementation of the idea of work-family balance in modern Russian society.