Gender equality and extension of women rights in Russia
within millennium development goals

7. Gender equality and health

The population health is one of the most important characteristics of human development. Its parameters are included in the human development index. One of the integral health indices is the expected life time of the population. In Russia, an influential gender inequality of this index has been formed in the recent decades. The men's expected life time is 12-13 years shorter than women's life time, and amounts 58-59 years. Meanwhile, the biologically explained gap in the favour of the women amounts about 5 years. Life time difference is connected with the Russian phenomenon of "super-high" death rate, which was formed in the 1990s.

Among the factors which essentially influence the differences of the expected men's and women's life time and a high men's death rate, the following ones may be emphasized: accident death rate, death rate of the diseases of blood circulatory system, high level of alcohol dependence, infectious diseases, and, first of all, the tuberculosis. In this connection, the main death rate differences between men and women fall at the working age. In the age group of 15-59 years, the men's death rate is 2,75 times higher than that of the women. As for the children and the aged persons, there are no significant differences. High men's death rate is a result of the integrated effect of many factors. It may also be connected with the difference of men's and women's social roles and their different stress susceptibility under the influence of economic, social and political collapses. The men's greater involvement into the political and economic activities turns out to make them assume, in a greater degree, the risks connected with this activity³⁵. Gender segregation on the labour market also contributes to the fact that men are employed in the types of activity with a high injury risk and mortality risk (army, law-enforcement authorities, mine workers and so on)

Thus, a complicated image of the social gender inequality is being created. From the economical point of view, men live better but significantly shorter. Women, otherwise, live longer, but the level of their living is worse. The structure of the social gainings and losses turns out to be reflection symmetric according to the gender groups. This does not allow to speak about categorial benefits of any gender group's position.

However, it should be taken into consideration that the passage to the healthy lifetime indices shows that health decrease equally influences both men and women, but among the men the negative influences bring more frequently to death, while among the women it only brings to a break-down of the health.³⁶

The super-high death rate of the men in working ages also brings to the negative consequences for women. The super-high death rate of the men increases the widowhood probability, constricts the matrimonial markets for repeated marriages, contributes to the formation of the incomplete parent colonies. Thus, the problems of unfavourable social-economic position of the women turn out to be the results of the men's health problems.

At the same time, a series of the reasons of men's high death rate is socially controllable and manageable, which allows to consider them as the removable ones and make them an object of the policy. Among such reasons the following two should be underlined: tuberculosis disease and industrial injuries.

Men are the first of all to suffer the tuberculosis disease. Tuberculosis is classified as a social disease, it is connected with way of living and living conditions. Gender disproportions are significantly influenced by the fact that tuberculosis is actively spread in the penal system, and the major part of the prisoners is the men. Besides, as it has already been noticed, the marginal groups, i.e. the groups of the society bottom where the tuberculosis does not meet any serious limitations, are at 70% composed of men.

The solution of this problem in the context of the millennium goals may be foreseen while defining the specific targets considering the Russian specificity in order to achieve the sixth goal of this millennium - struggle with HIV/AIDS and other diseases. But the evident gender disproportions of the social diseases and the complexivity of the problems require the coordinated actions, oriented on health increase and on achievement of gender equality.

The industrial injuries are the consequence of a violence of the technological discipline, disregarding of the job safety rules and disregarding of the fact that there still remains a significant number of workers engaged at the work positions with harmful and hazardous labour conditions. For instance, in industry, these workplaces are occupied by 26,5% of men and 15,1% of women, in construction industry - 11,3% and 6,1%, in transport industry – 15,0% and 6,8%. In this connection, no statistical recording is being conducted in regard to the service rendering enterprises, commerce enterprises, which significantly underscores the estimation of employment rate at the harmful workplaces. Since the women are in a greater degree occupy the working positions in service business, we can suppose that the women's share at the workplaces with harmful and hazardous labour conditions is even larger.

While analyzing these parameters, the researchers have generally underlined the problems of the harmful influence of labour conditions on women's health. But the relative women's wealth against men in this question should not lead one into error. The gender approach assumes the reduction of the unfavourable disproportions for both gender groups, by means of reduction of the number of workplaces with harmful and dangerous labour conditions, their removal from the economic life.

In spite of the fact that the number of victims of industrial accidents keeps reducing, the tendency of fatal accidents is alarming, their number does not decrease or even increases.

The problem of production accidents' reduction requires a complex approach and participation of different social forces, both of the state and the employers, and the trade unions. The goal is the development of a program, oriented on a significant reduction and removal of the workplaces with harmful labour conditions, and taking the effective actions, oriented on providing for the labour safety.

A significant negative contribute to the health condition is caused by the alcohol dependence and drug addiction. This is more a male problem, but the death rate dynamics due to alcohol dependence is not favourable for women neither. Women, becoming equal to men in the employment activities, adopt their lifestyle. They work a lot, have serious stresses and relax themselves by means of the alcohol.

The problems of alcohol dependence and drug addiction are classified as the social problems, but due to the complexity of this problem, it is in a lesser degree under social control. Nevertheless, the extremely high parameters of the negative consequences of alcohol dependence require the development and implementation of a state policy, oriented on the reduction of these consequences and overcoming the reasons which contribute to a high level of alcohol dependence and drug addiction.

There is noted a very high level of suicides in Russia, it occupies 1-2 place in the world by this parameter. The suicides, first of all, are a male problem. They are noted to happen 6 times more often among the men than among the women. A very high level of suicides among men reflects simultaneously a big social and psychological stress for them, and their minor readiness to adapt to critical events. The greater ability of women to overcome the crisis and adopt themselves to it is also reflected by the gender structure of parasuicides (attempted suicides), they are registered more often among women (60%).

Alcohol consumption is one of the most essential suicide factors. It is ascertained that an increase of 1 litter of the average alcohol consumption per capita adds 8 male and 1 female suicide per each 100 000 men and 100 000 women. For alcohol addicted persons, the suicide risk is 9 times higher³⁸.

The presence of multiple risks and critical situations which negatively influence the men's health and life time, is currently co-existing with an opinion, which is well spread in the society, that a man as a representative of the "stronger sex" must be able to overcome the critical situations himself, and that here he needs far less support than a woman. At the present time in Russia there are 18 state and 40 non-state centers of women's support in critical situations, and only 1 state and 2 non-state centers of men's support in critical situations. This ratio involuntarily reflects the set priorities and the grade of society's comprehension of how actual the women's support is as compared with men. But it should be noted once again that many problems relative to the women's position are the consequence of the problems of men's position.