This article draws on three pieces of qualitative research conducted with women in provincial Russia over the last 10 years. The first section analyses women's discussions of their everyday rights claims and their engagement in... more
This article draws on three pieces of qualitative research conducted with women in provincial Russia over the last 10 years. The first section analyses women's discussions of their everyday rights claims and their engagement in “consentful” forms of contention. The second section uses the Pussy Riot case as an example of women's human rights activism coded as “contentious”. Finally, the article highlights the blurred boundaries between contentious and consentful contention that can occur when women engage in online spaces. The article suggests a spectrum of contentious politics for women's rights claims that vary depending on the political opportunity structures available.
This chapter explores women’s mobilisation of the law in the event of family breakdown in provincial Russia and considers the ways in which gendered and class positionalities and subjectivities might impact on access and outcomes.
Women’s political activism in Russia has come under renewed focus as a result of the high profile ‘Punk Prayer’ protest against the politics of the third Putin Presidency performed in Christ the Saviour’s Cathedral in Moscow in February... more
Women’s political activism in Russia has come under renewed focus as a result of the high profile ‘Punk Prayer’ protest against the politics of the third Putin Presidency performed in Christ the Saviour’s Cathedral in Moscow in February 2012 by the self-proclaimed radical feminist collective ‘Pussy Riot’. While this protest gained widespread international attention as an example of human rights activism, until the recent activism against the violations of LGBTQ citizens rights in Russia, there has been little in-depth discussion of the wider gender politics that shape the context in which women can engage politically in Russia.
