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Who Cares about Women's Problems? Female Legislators in the 1995 and 1999 Russian State Dumas

THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION deeply affected virtually all norms regulating Russia's social life, including the law. In the new context, women have become a marginalised social group1 the interests of whom are especially in need of protection. By examining roll call votes2 for the 1995 and 1999 Dumas (the Lower House of Russia's Federal Assembly) this study assesses whether female deputies to the Duma are better suited to handle women's concerns than male legislators are. I will also analyse the legislative contexts that facilitate female legislators' ability to band together to vote in favour of women's goals. In Russia women tend to be under-represented within elected bodies.3 In the State Duma elected in 1995 only 46 of 450 deputies were women (10.2%). In the current Duma elected in 1999 the number of women dropped to 34 (7.7%).4 Therefore, at present, women legislators' impact upon the outcomes of roll call votes dealing with women's questions may be very limited. But if the number of women in the Duma increases, will they be able to induce policy change in accordance with their particular goals and priorities? While much of the early empirical research on women and politics worked to counter the image of women as different from men, new research challenges political scientists to think once again about gender difference.5 It is often argued that women as a constituency group are considerably more important to female elected officials than they are to male elected officials. In a comparative perspective, the political priorities of female legislators are found to differ from or even conflict with those of male legislators.6 Women sponsor more legislation dealing with women's concerns than do their male colleagues.7 Women express greater concern about social policy issues and give higher priority to constituency casework8 and stronger support for issues of women's rights.9 It has been found that women in legislatures with higher percentages of female representation pass more bills pertaining to women's issues than do men in these legislatures.10 Others argue that greater numbers of women do not necessarily help to over-ride gender-related problems in a legislature."1 Although women legislators can band together to promote shared interests, in many instances gender differences should not be exaggerated. There are a number of claimants for the vote of legislators. In particular, constituency connection is important. To cultivate his or her personal vote,