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http://csi.sagepub.com War against the Family: Domestic Violence and Human Rights in Russia A View from the Bashkortostan Republic
Venera Zakirova Current Sociology 2005; 53; 75 DOI: 10.1177/0011392105048289 The online version of this article can be found at: http://csi.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/53/1/75
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Venera Zakirova
War against the Family: Domestic Violence and Human Rights in Russia A View from the Bashkortostan Republic
Introduction
lthough the problem of domestic violence existed in the former USSR, it was classied as a private matter, known only to the police. Thus, it was not a topic for public discussion, public opinion, or scientic analysis, with the result that the intimate spheres of friendship, loyalty and sexuality were not affected by Communist ideologies. Even today, the problem of domestic violence is not open for social discussion, and families cover up the crimes within. Since 1993, 15,000 women a year have been killed by their husbands or boyfriends. Domestic violence is also the cause of social orphanhood, with more than 5 million children currently neglected by their parents. There is another widespread form of domestic violence which is clouded in public silence and still remains largely uninvestigated, that of family violence towards elderly family members.
A neighbour called the Hotline, saying that a 45-year-old son an alcoholic and the daughter-in-law were not caring for their paralysed 80-year-old mother and frequently keeping her without food and water and beating her. The caller asked how to help this elderly victim.
In Russian society, domestic violence is still considered a private, family problem, but the role of women is becoming more signicant both in the family and the workforce. Having a better education and working in the paid workforce, while being responsible for housework and the well-being of children, have led to fewer Russian women being willing to tolerate victimization in their own families.
Current Sociology, January 2005, Vol. 53(1): 7591 SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi) www.sagepublications.com DOI: 10.1177/0011392105048289
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Reasons behind this violence are not hard to nd. Russian society is extremely aggressive, with a long history of warfare. Battery is part of a pattern of behaviour that results in a man establishing power over a woman through fear and intimidation. Battery usually occurs when men believe that they are entitled to control their partners. Abuse runs through relationships of all socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnicities. The prevailing mentality is to see victims as somehow deserving their fate, even though most are wives and children.
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between the family and society as systems may have destructive effects within society. Societys stability depends on having a balanced structure. The conict framework views the family from the macrosocial level, along with other institutions, as a site of social conict. Russian society at present is faced with a controversial socioeconomic process. Crises of the administrative system are hindering democratic reforms of society. In the working out of modern social policy attitudes, the family is lagging behind the demands of society and the main reason for this is the low professional level of management personnel, their conservatism with respect to innovation. The Bashkortostan Republic is a well-developed, strategic scienticindustrial centre located in the Urals. Oil, gas and chemical production and rening are the main industry in the region. Yet in spite of that, Bashkortostans socioeconomic crisis is the deepest and most critical within the regions of the Russian Federation. The state of the family in Russia is vividly illustrated by the example of the Bashkortostan Republic. Although ofcial social policy statements support the family, the facts and the realities of life such as comparative death rates and birth rates, and the decrease in longevity overall indicate the opposite (see Tables 1, 2, 3 and 5). The real policy attitude towards the family demonstrates non-professionalism in the state and management spheres and a neglect of patriotic interest in their own peoples fate. In this way, measures carried out in 1998 during the Bashkortostan Republics Year of the Family were populistic, politicized and highly fragmented, doubling expenditure on social care of the population without solving the severe family problems of the region. To compare the claims of the policy and the actual realities see Tables 2, 3 and 6. The mass alcoholization of Russian society is one of its main social characteristics as a modern society and is leading to the rapid degeneration of the population. Russia occupies a leading place among developed countries of the world in alcohol consumption and the Bashkortostan Republic not only has the highest level of drinking but is also one of the leading Russian regions for mass production of alcoholic products. In the following an analysis of some demographic data typifying the family as an institution in Australia, Russia and Bashkortostan1 is given. As we see, over a 10-year period Russia and Bashkortostan experienced a decline with respect to such crucial features of the family as birth rates (Table 2), death rates (Table 3), divorce (Table 4), marriage rates (Table 5) and the average length of human life.2 In Australia, there were no such rapid changes and this reects its goal-directed, professional, social work and family policy.
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Table 1 Domestic Violence in Russia and the USA Russia Women murdered in domestic violence in 2000 Women murdered per million in the population The number of women in prison who killed their husbands as a result of being battered by them The number of women murdered every day by husbands or boyfriends Average economic situation of the family National policy against domestic violence Network of national (state) coalitions against domestic violence, NGOs, shelters, hot-lines Use of restraining orders to protect family members from domestic violence
a
42 Poverty Absent Only at the beginning with just a very few organizations Absent
Present
Table 2 Crude Birth Rate per 1000 Population Australia 1985 1995 15.4 14.1 Russia 16.6 9.3 Bashkortostan 21.0 11.2
Table 3 Crude Death Rate per 1000 Population Australia 1985 1995 7.9 7.1 Russia 11.3 15.0 Bashkortostan 9.9 12.0
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Table 5 Crude Marriage Rate per 1000 Population Australia 1985 1995 7.4 6.1 Russia 10.6 7.3 Bashkortostan 11.4 7.3
Table 6 Life Expectancy at Birth Australia (1991) Male 74.4 Female 80.3 Russia (1995) Male 58 Female 72.0 Bashkortostan (1995) Male 60.1 Female 73.1
Domestic Violence as an Aspect of Discrimination against Women (Comparing Russia and America)
The question of domestic violence inevitably touches intimacy and private life. Much attention has been paid to the public aspects of the transition in the post-Soviet period. Much less attention has been paid to private life. A total of 331,815 cases of violence against women were reported in Russia in 1993; some 14,500 women were killed by their husbands or boyfriends; 57,000 Russian women were severely injured or permanently handicapped by domestic violence. In 1994, there were 565,000 crimes reported against women, nearly a 70 percent increase since 1993. These statistics refer of course only to the cases that went to court.3 Every day, 36,000 women are beaten by their husbands or partners.4 Spouse assault would not happen without the tacit agreement of society that women are owned by men. More than 15,000 women were killed by their husbands in Russia in 1999. Family violence kills as many women each
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year as the total number of Russians who died during the 10 years of war in Afghanistan. In Russia, 100 women per million are murdered by boyfriends or husbands, as compared to ve women per million in the US, that is 20 times less than in Russia. Every day, 42 women are murdered by boyfriends or husbands in Russia (Table 1). The differences between these countries is a result of long-time public and governmental activity against domestic violence in the USA. From the 1960s onwards, the womens movement radically changed the attitudes of the public and authorities towards domestic violence issues in the US, shifting them from patriarchal to gender equality. The result is a well-developed, state-supported network of different agencies working on preventing domestic violence, rehabilitating victims and educating abusers. In Russian society, domestic violence is still a private problem for private families. But the role of women is becoming more and more signicant as an equal partner in labour and in the family. Nowadays, being better educated,5 working in a paid labour force as well as being responsible for the well-being of children and housework, women in Russia can no longer tolerate being victims in their own families. Recent studies show that one in ve women is the victim of such violence as the threat of being hit or injured by something thrown at her (Bodrova and David, 2001). According to the family survey carried out in 1999 in Bashkortostan, every fth family experiences violence, usually caused by a man. A lot of families experience verbal and physical child abuse, rape in marriage, marital murder and incest. Recent data show the increase in the number of women committed to prison for having killed their violent husband in order to protect themselves and their children. In Russian society, domestic violence has common roots with such abuse within other male-dominated societies as well as features specic to contemporary socioeconomic crises in the country. Russian tolerance of domestic violence comes from the lack of men compared to women within the population. Many men died in the Second World War, Stalins repression and the Chechnya War. Also, Russian men die much earlier than women. Nevertheless, slogans such as Even though he beats me, does not work, and is an alcoholic, he is a husband of mine, and If he beats me it means he loves me are prevalent. Here is a characteristic example of that mentality.
A 35-year-old woman called the Hotline. She was crying. Her story. She has been married for ve years. This is her second marriage. She has a seven-yearold son from her rst marriage. The reason for her calling the Hotline was her husbands behaviour. Since the beginning of their marriage he has not worked, has abused alcohol, had a sexual relationship with another woman, and after meeting up with this woman he comes home and beats his wife. The question was Why does he behave in this way? Does he love me?
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In most cases police do not interfere in domestic violence situations, counting them as private family business. We have also heard stories where police ofcers are themselves family abusers and where women have been raped by police ofcers investigating their rape call. These facts are also conrmed by other publications (Bodrova and David, 2001). Russian men who are prone to violence often refuse to see their actions as criminal and they receive more understanding than condemnation from the police, who regularly fail to le complaints about what they call these private family affairs. Victims of domestic violence remain alone with their problems.
An 18-year-old girl called the Hotline. She had been raped by a group of her peers. She had done all that is ofcially required in such a case: she had reported it to the police, and had a medical examination. But the police ofcer suggested she should take back her allegation because she could get into bigger trouble. After that suggestion the girl committed suicide.
Studies show that 80 percent of female victims of rape who commit suicide do it during the police or judicial investigation (Rossiya: nasilie v seme nasilie v obshestve, 2002: 8). Among all the calls to the Hotline, those relating to domestic violence were the third largest group, after alcoholism and adultery. The proportion of those ringing the Hotline in Ufa over a six-year period (19942000) complaining about domestic violence was 6 percent (1800). Most of these callers were women (87 percent) and 13 percent were men. Thirty-two percent of the callers were young girls and boys, 1019 years old, suffering physical abuse from parents. Thirty percent were women suffering violent abuse from their partners; 22 percent were calling about violence in youth peer groups; 12 percent said that they had been raped; 7 percent were elderly people being physically abused by adult children. In most cases, we Hotline counsellors felt helpless, unable to give any real aid to the victims. At the moment there is no system of rendering assistance to family members injured by various forms of violence. No model training manuals exist for social workers. Only six shelters exist in the whole of Russia. There are no shelters yet in Moscow and Ufa. As the saying goes, slowly but surely public understanding about the destructive and discriminative nature of domestic violence is emerging We can see it in the growth of the womens movement, womens NGOs, crisis centres and governmental support in some cities, for example Sergiev Posad and Nizhny Tagil (Barker, n.d). But despite these positive signs, governmental conservatism is the main obstacle to the process of eliminating domestic violence. Recent governmental actions in Bashkortostan prove that in spite of positive tendencies in Moscow and other central Russian regions, the process of recognition of the domestic violence problem is very far behind. The rst Hotline in Ufa was closed
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down by the regional authorities in 1999, as was the rst and only Family Centre in 2003.6 The reason for this was a lack of nancial resources; so said ofcials of the richest oil-gas industrial region in Russia.
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are traumatized by this and suffer severe, long-term psychological consequences. The pilot federal project The Formation of the Childrens Rights Commissioner Institution in the Russian Federation has been underway since 1998 in six Russian regions, under the initiative of the Ministry of Labour and Social Development of the Russian Federation. The main result of the project is to conclude that a Regional Institution of the Childrens Rights Commissioner needs to be established in the member entities of the Russian Federation, including Bashkortostan as a pressing requirement.
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nourishment in Russia was 52 percent of consumer expenditure, in Bashkortostan, 50.7 percent. According to international indices, if expenditure on nourishment is 50 percent or higher, this means an extremely low level of living wages. According to research conducted under TACIS,8 more than one-half of households in the republic (62.4 percent) save money on food, and try to feed themselves frugally and often very poorly; 47 percent of incomes in Bashkortostan households in 1996 were categorized as below a living wage, and poverty is especially typical for homes with children. In most cases, poverty affects the women and children, and most of all oneparent families. The average salary in Bashkortostan in 1999 was the second lowest among states in the Urals region, while food prices were at the highest level. Eighty percent of unemployment related to women aged 3550 years. The average salary of a woman is 3040 percent less than men earn. Economic dependency is a main reason why women must put up with an abusive partner. Among the women who called the Hotline concerning domestic violence, half of them (50 percent) indicated that the reason they do not leave the abuser is their economic dependency and lack of housing. We need to point out that the economical subject should be studied in more detail. There is a lack of such studies in Russia.
According to recent investigations, one out of every seven women declared that her partner was physically abusing her (had pushed, kicked or slapped
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her), the bitter truth that He hits you because he loves you is being conrmed (Bodrova and David, 2001: 12; Lambroschini, n.d.).
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Russian poverty displays itself rst of all by a lack of housing. Studies show that there are a lot of former spouses who continue to live together because they have an apartment that they cannot exchange (for two separate ones). They are already divorced but they cannot separate. Such a situation can even exacerbate violence. The ex-husband actually feels that he is beyond the law since he is not a husband anymore.11
A 38-year-old woman is calling the Hotline. She is explaining her problem. A year ago she got divorced from her abusive, alcoholic husband. Since then the relationship with the former spouse is much worse. They live in a one-room apartment with their 17-year-old son and still cannot split up because of this small apartment. The former husband since the divorce feels himself free of responsibility and started going out with other women, inviting them to visit his apartment as he is a single man and has no any obligations towards his former family.
Domestic violence is one of the factors which inuence relationships between couples, reproductive behaviours and, nally, fertility. It is important to establish and support centres where women can obtain assistance if they are victims of domestic violence and to ensure that womens health providers are aware of the problem and know how to handle cases when they encounter victims. Women stay in an abusive relationship for the following reasons: fear of retaliation or death; desire to preserve their family, fear of losing custody of the children; nancial dependence; and emotional dependence.
Domestic Violence Legislation and Social Intolerance as Mechanisms for Reducing Domestic Violence
Domestic violence victims face indifference from the police. We always ask our callers if they have applied to the police for help, and they often say that the police usually reply that only when the family quarrel ends in murder will they intervene and start an investigation. Recent studies show that in spite of recognizing the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Duma has still not passed a law against domestic violence a law which would dene the responsibilities of teachers, doctors and legal institutions. The Russian authorities acknowledge the level of violence against women but have done little to address the problem. Russian law still does not recognize domestic violence as a crime. Researchers say that it is no secret that situations like the following can and do occur: a battered woman calls [the] police and hears Im not going to deal with small stuff between your and your husband. I have more serious business than yours a few murders on my hands. The police fail to understand that the action of non-interference
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might result in the next murder they are called to investigate.12 In addition, existing Russian legislation usually favours the mans side in domestic violence. Even in cases where divorce is sought by the wife because of domestic violence, the law does not provide for her to receive any alimony. Because there is no place for woman to live, shortage of housing is a major factor as to why leaving a violent husband is often impossible. What family is completely free of domestic violence? If both sides are equal any disputes can be settled peacefully by argument and persuasion. Among the 1800 callers who rang the Ufa Hotline concerning domestic violence, only a few of them had the strength to start court proceedings. The others do not believe in court protection. Home violators who beat or rape their family members are unlikely to face prosecution. The crimes of child beating and sexual molestation of infants, young children and teenagers in the home would not take place if children were not seen as the property of their parents. In the US, a core component of societys activity against domestic violence is legislation and social intolerance. The restriction order (the order for protecting family members from domestic violence) has a signicant impact in protecting victims against abusers. This approach has altered the polices philosophy towards community-oriented activity. Thus American society is intolerant toward acts of violence and the police make a great contribution by working against domestic violence. American police are well trained in responding to domestic violence. As has been seen, one result is that the number of murdered women is 20 times less than that in Russia. The number of men murdered by their wife in cases where the wives have defended themselves and their children is rapidly decreasing in the US. Compare Russia, where the number of women in prison for killing their abusive husband in order to protect their children and themselves is steadily increasing.
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4. These acts of violence would be regarded as serious crimes but because they occur within the family and usually in the privacy of the home, people are reluctant to interfere. 5. The Russian womens liberation movement has swept aside the hypocrisy that previously enveloped the family unit and covered up the crimes within it. 6. Until recently, the discussion of domestic violence problems has been anathema in Russia. Domestic violence in Russian society is a little secret which needs to be told. 7. Domestic violence (beating, rape and murder of wives, the battering and sexual molestation of children) is faced with the apathy of friends, family, police and the courts. 8. The home is the most dangerous place in Bashkortostan for members of a family. A person of any age and either sex is far more likely to be subject to physical attack in the home than on the street. 9. Western societies have achieved greater success in dealing with domestic violence and now there is a system of state help for children psychologically harmed by their experiences of violence and sexual abuse. 10. The role of the woman in the Bashkir family has been changing. The process of emancipation destroys the patriarchal ethos which decrees that women belong to the family and housework. But the Muslim tradition of the Bashkirs and Tartars, major ethnic groups in the region, still has an impact and shapes male behaviour oriented to domination within the family. 11. Men initiate the violence most of the time. Violence on the part of women occurs in acts of self-protection or in retaliation. 12. Violence within the family reects broader patterns of violent behaviour. Most of the oppressors were violent with others and had episodes of violence of a non-domestic kind. 13. The situation is much worse because a large number of domestic violence episodes go unreported. 14. Domestic violence involves children, spouses, siblings and the elderly. 15. Domestic violence is a dominant factor in social orphanhood, causing children to leave their families. 16. There is an urgent need for legislative reforms and implementation at the national level in accordance with international instruments (CEDAW and its Protocol, the Declaration and the Action Programme of the Vienna Conference on Human Rights [section II, para. 38], the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) to ensure that personal, civil, family and criminal legislation provides protection to victims of family violence. The social histories of Bashkir and Russian families have common roots. In spite of the differences in ethnic, cultural and religious features, there has
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been an interpenetration of their respective cultures. It can be observed in the language and behaviour in intermarriages. The Russian family, including that of Bashkortostan, is deeply rooted in traditional culture and historical conservatism. A way forward to reduce social aggression and thus family violence could be provided by improving family life, stabilizing the socioeconomic situation and supporting the womens movement. We can dene these activities taken together as being actions for human rights in Russia, reducing aggression within our society as a necessary and inevitable part of democracy building.
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1 Australian data are given because this country is one of the worlds leading countries in terms of the level of development of its social policy, including its family policies. The author visited Australia in 19967 on a scientic/practical business trip and is considering the possibility of doing comparative analysis on the family in Russia and Australia. 2 The sources of the statistical data were as follows: the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Goskomstat Rossiskoy Federatsyi, Goskomstat Respubliky Bashkortostan. 3 See data at: www.isar.org/isar/archive/ST/RUdviolence461.html 4 See data at: www.hrea.org/lists/hr-headlines/markup/msg00897.html 5 According to ofcial data the number of women with university and college education is 15 percent higher than men. 6 As mentioned earlier, the author was a director and family counsellor at the Family Centre and Hotline in Bashkortostan. 7 Data from the Family Centre in Ufa, where the author was director. 8 Created in 1991, the TACIS programme is the European Communitys main instrument to establish cooperation with the countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, i.e. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The programme, consisting mainly of technical assistance, is based on Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No. 99/2000, which sets out the objectives of promoting the transition to a market economy and reinforcing democracy and the rule of law in partner states (see europa.eu.int). 9 See www.jewishwomen.org/relationship-abuse/ 10 See www.geocities.com/Athens/2533/crises.com 11 See www.rferl.org 12 See Domestic Violence in Russia, at: amnesty.org.uk/justiceforallimrussia/ action/iwd/action/domestic.shtml; and SOS against a Background of Love, at: www.geosities.com/athens/2533/crises.html
References
BARKER, Adele (n.d.) Growing Pains: Domestic Violence in the New Russia; at: www.isar.org/isar/archive/ST/RUdviolence461.html BODROVA, V. and DAVID, Patricia H. (2001) Domestic Violence in Russias Families: Demographic Connection, paper presented at the EAPS Population Conference, Helsinki, 79 June. BRUTMAN, V. (1994) Ranee sotsialmoe sirotstvo [Young Social Orphans]. Moscow: Izdatelstvo ASORIP. INFORMATSIYA O SOSTOYANII I PROFILACTICI BEZNDAZORNOSTI NESOVERSHENNOLETNIKH [Information on Conditions and Prevention Programme for Homeless Children] (2002) Moscow: Ministry of Labour and Social Relations. LAMBROSCHINI, Sophie (n.d.) Russia: Domestic Violence Persists, at: www.rferl.org/nca
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NATIONAL REPORT ON THE PROGRESS MADE BY THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION IN IMPLEMENTING THE GOALS OF THE WORLD DECLARATION AND PLAN OF ACTION OF THE WORLD SUMMIT FOR CHILDREN (2001) Moscow: Human Rights Publisher. ROSSIYA: NASILIE V SEME NASILIE V OBSHESTVE [Russia: Violence in the Family Violence in Society] (2002) Moscow. V OTVETE SA BUDUSHEE [Responsibility for the Future] (2001) Komsomolsksya Pravda 18 December.
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