Slides from workshop, 11 Feb 2014
Presenter: Jessica Mason
E-mail: jfmason@wisc.edu
I also mentioned a video series put
together by some Russian LGBT activists,
which you can find on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/GaletkiR
u/videos
(if you press the CC button at the bottom
of the video, you’ll get subtitle options)
Families and the health of the nation
Health and family policy in post-Soviet Russia
What is public health?
Smoking?
http://www.boiseweekly.com/binary/ea5d/smoking.jpg
Infrastructure and water access?
Viral image via http://blacksportsonline.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/water-300x300.jpg
Environmental damage?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Aral_Sea_1989-2008.jpg
HIV/AIDS? Drug addiction?
Politics and public health
Economic context has significant health effects
Political interests shape decisions about policy
neoliberalism
Reaction to mid-20th century liberal welfare state
Market provides best mechanism for distributing goods and services
Government regulation should be minimal, including worker rights
Free movement of international capital and trade
Social policy: individuals should be responsible for own well-being
Common form: Structural Adjustment Programs required by World
Bank and IMF to receive loans
“shock therapy” in Russia (1990s)
 Privatization of state-owned property
 Release of price controls
 Devalue currency and end restrictions on international trade
 Slash public budgets, especially subsidies to households (food,
housing, utilities, etc) and pension funds
 Further: currency devaluation in 1998, wide bank failures
Immediate effects
 1989-1996: 508,010% inflation; 2,500% in 1992 alone
 Wages often not paid for months
 Many people lost entire savings twice in one decade
 1989: Less than 2% of Russian population in poverty (<$2/day)
 1998: 23.8% living under $2/day, 40% under $4/day
 Crumbling public health sector with lack of funding
Percentage of Labor Force
Unemployment Rate in Russia
Unemployment
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Russiaunemployment.png/350pxRussiaunemployment.png
Life expectancy
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(00)04212-4/fulltext
Births and deaths per year, 1960-2006
http://www.voxeu.org/article/explaining-fertility-trends-russia, based on data from Rosstat
Total fertility rate (replacement ~2.1)
http://www.voxeu.org/article/explaining-fertility-trends-russia, based on data from Rosstat
2000s: Basic welfare state
Re-nationalization of energy sector (oil and gas) and funding of basic
social services, pensions
In recent years, pension reform, raising utility costs, closing
preschools, raising costs for education
And yet. . .
demographic concerns, or political use of
demography
“Family is one of the masterpieces of nature.”
“Love for the Motherland starts in the family.”
Official pronatalism
“Demographers say that the choice for a second child is a potential
choice to have a third. It’s important that the family took such a step.
And, despite the doubts of some experts, and I relate to them with
respect, I am convinced that the norm in Russia nevertheless needs
to become a family with three children.” President Vladimir Putin, 12
December 2012
They had a third… Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin.
“Life in your hands.”
“Pregnancy Interrupt/Save”
Pronatalism and the “traditional
family”
 Maternity capital (2006-2016?)
 Housing, child’s education, mother’s pension
 Official statements
 State officials and public figures work closely with Orthodox
Church (Day of Family, Love, and Faith)
 New restrictions on abortion (2011)
 Limited to first 12 weeks in general (except “medical
necessity”)
 Up to 22 weeks in cases of rape
 Mandatory waiting period
 Little sex education available to youth
this should never again be a surgical instrument
we won’t return to the past!
Pronatalism and the “traditional
family”
 Violence in the family versus protecting the family
 Prevalence of domestic violence
 Little legal protection
 Estimates 10,000-14,000 women/year killed; data lacking
 Бьёт, значит любит!
 Rights of children poorly protected
 Common norm of corporal punishment
Before you strike your child, think about how
much longer you’re prepared to suffer your own
social disenfranchisement.
If you are being beaten in your family. Helpline.
Pronatalism and the “traditional
family”
 Official talk about “traditional values” ramped up further in
wake of mass anti-Putin protests in 2011
 New fines for “offending religious sensibilities”
 High-profile prosecution of Pussy Riot for protesting
Church-state links
 As of 2013, federal ban on “propaganda of non-traditional
sexual orientations to minors”
 Increasing violence to LGBT individuals; high suicide rates
among LGBT youth
The sickness is homophobia, not
homosexuality!
Some questions
 Why is “the family” such a potent political symbol?
 Where does action for public health happen?
 What are the prospects for political change?
 Can outside countries (for example, the US) play a role in
improving public health in Russia?