Alena Popova protesting alone against the legislative reforms. Some women, she claimed, deserved to be thrashed.
Vladimir Putin has decriminalized domestic violence.
Critics argue the amendment sends the wrong message in a nation where one woman dies every 40 minutes from domestic violence.
Beatings of spouses or children that result in bruises or blood but not broken bones are now punishable by 15 days in jail or a fine. Previously, they carried a two-year maximum punishment.
Alena Popova, an anti-law activist, suggested the revisions may be enacted if a bill addressing domestic violence was also passed. It is unclear if the proposal, which would give restraining orders and other protections in domestic violence situations, would be enacted.
“Passing these modifications but not the other legislation shows our society’s unwillingness to address the issue,” she added.
Supporters of the measure claim it eliminates a loophole that renders violent acts against family members more punishable than violent acts against strangers.
It is not an issue of hitting or not. Of course not. “The dilemma is how to punish individuals and what to punish them for,” stated MP Olga Batalina.
Others say the measure is meant to defend Russian family values. Priest Dmitry Smirnov, chairman of the Russian Orthodox Patriarchy’s committee on family concerns, stated on television that allowing the state to meddle in family matters constituted a western encroachment. “Some of what is occurring in Northern Europe currently would have surprised even Hitler,” he remarked.
Some of the mainstream gender and domestic violence discourse in Russia is frightening.
An article in last week’s Komsomolskaya Pravda’s scientific section happily advised readers about a “benefit” of wife-beating. “Recent research shows furious men’s spouses have cause to be proud of their injuries,” it claimed. “Bad women have an edge in biology: they give birth to more guys.”
People had abused Popova during her one-woman demonstration outside parliament. Certain people told her she was paid to protest by western countries, while others suggested some women deserved to be beaten.
Women’s marches were place in Washington DC and throughout the globe following Donald Trump’s inauguration, generating a larger conversation about domestic abuse and women’s roles in modern Russia.
No formal march was planned in Moscow, partially owing to lack of enthusiasm and partly due to difficulties obtaining authorization from the Russian government. Authorities repeatedly thwarted a planned protest against the domestic violence measures.
Margarita Grigoryan, a Moscow-born entrepreneur who just returned to launch a firm, organized a brief stroll around Moscow. About 15 individuals came. The fact that someone so blatantly sexist could be elected to the White House made her sad, she added. “I wanted to protest, but there was nothing planned here,” she said.
According to political researcher Maria Lipman, gender roles in Russia are contradictory. “Some of the rights that women in the west fought for were given or even forced on Russian women during the Soviet era,” Lipman added.
So Russian women never had to struggle for their rights since gender relations evolved differently. However, we have more top female editors of major media outlets than the United States, and many top female bankers.
A petition started by Popova to oppose the revisions received over 300,000 signatures, and a recent internet campaign brought the issue of domestic violence to light. #Iamnotscaredtospeak was used by thousands of Russian women on social media to express their feelings. The deluge of horror tales surprised many Russians and sparked debate. But the opinions of Russia’s urban middle class and the circumstances in the provinces are poles apart.
“Interference in family issues is seen as another topic where the west is seeking to impose its values on Russia,” Lipman added.
Maria Alekhina, of the Pussy Riot protest group, said legislative changes were irrelevant, and that Russian culture and attitudes needed to change to address domestic violence.
“They were mainly women who had been beaten up for years, and there was nowhere for them to go,” Alekhina said of the women she met in jail for striking violent spouses. So one day they simply murder their spouses with a knife.
