Where do women live well in Russia? A ranking of Russian women's quality of life

Contents

Chapter 1. Prosperity and poverty: how geography shapes Russian women's lives
Chapter 2. The economics of inequality: Russian women earn 31% less than men on average
Chapter 3. Statistics of survival: official data fails to reflect the true scale of violence against women
Chapter 4. The later, the fewer, the better: why women are delaying childbirth
Chapter 5. Obstetric violence, the state's blind spot: only 12 convictions in eight years
Chapter 6. Support beyond the state: grassroots feminist initiatives as a means of protecting women's rights

Prosperity and poverty: how geography shapes Russian women's lives

Hover over a region to see what its score is based on. You can zoom in using the buttons in the lower right corner.

High-risk zone

The Republic of Tuva ranked last in 7x7's rating. It was joined in the "Very poor" category by Zabaykalsky Krai, the Republic of Buryatia, and Amur Oblast.

Compared with the Russian average, women in these regions are more likely to give birth during their teenage years (6–10 births per 1,000 girls aged 15–17, compared with 4 nationwide), are less likely to complete lower secondary education (3–5% versus 2%), and have shorter life expectancies (73–76 years, compared with the national average of 78).

The main factor that pushed these four regions to the bottom of the ranking was their high level of violence. The overall crime rate also had a direct impact on women's safety. The rape rate in these regions was well above the national average, ranging from 55 cases per 100,000 men in Amur Oblast to 206 in Tuva, compared with the national average of 47. The number of women who became victims of any crime was also around one and a half times higher than the national average, ranging from 1,249 in Tuva to 1,493 in Buryatia, compared with 866 victims per 100,000 women nationwide.

At the same time, the regions at the bottom of the ranking differ little from the rest of the country in terms of spending on basic necessities or the domestic burden placed on women. For example, in Buryatia, the consumer basket accounts for 40% of the average woman's salary. The same proportion is spent by women in Yaroslavl Oblast, which is rated "Average." In Bryansk Oblast, rated "Good," the figure is even higher, at 47%.

The situation regarding household responsibilities in the lowest-ranked regions is also broadly similar to that in the rest of the country. The share of women engaged in daily childcare ranges from 39% to 47%. In regions rated "Good," the figure is almost the same, ranging from 31% to 46%.

The gender pay gap is above the national average in all regions in the “Very poor” group, ranging from 20% in Tuva to 41% in Zabaykalsky Krai. However, these are not the highest figures: in Murmansk Oblast and Kamchatka Krai, both ranked in the “Average” group, men earn 45% more than women.

Women's well-being is shaped not only by gender norms but also by the economic and social conditions of the regions in which they live. Tuva is one example of how regional inequality is compounded by gender inequality. The republic has been struggling with a prolonged economic crisis for years and is considered one of Russia's poorest regions. It has one of the country's highest shares of people living below the poverty line and one of the highest levels of alcohol consumption, according to the To Be Precise project. Women are particularly affected by these problems. They are often the primary caregivers for children and other family members, and in the absence of adequate support, they face greater difficulties escaping crisis situations, including abusive relationships and economic dependence.

The contrasts within the “Good” group

Twenty-one Russian regions received a “Good” rating. The group is highly diverse, ranging from Ryazan Oblast, which came close to joining the “Excellent” category, to the Republic of Sakha, which ranks at the bottom of the group.

These regions are not characterized by high incomes. Women earn an average of 49,000 rubles per month in the “Good” group, compared with 51,400 rubles in the “Average” category. At the same time, women in the “Good” regions live one year longer on average and are less likely to experience sexualized violence or become victims of crime than women in the “Average” regions. However, these patterns vary significantly from one region to another.

For example, the Republic of Sakha earned its “Good” rating because of high wages rather than a high level of safety. On average, women there earn more than women in two of the “Excellent” regions, Moscow Oblast and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. At the same time, Sakha ranks fifth among all Russian regions in the number of reported rapes per 100,000 men.

Mordovia also received a “Good” rating. It is one of the safest regions in the country, ranking first in our safety indicator, and teenage girls there rarely become mothers. At the same time, 3% of women in Mordovia have not completed lower secondary education, while the republic ranks sixth from the bottom in terms of women's earnings.

Oases for women

Moscow tops the 7x7 ranking, followed by St. Petersburg, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug (KhMAO), Moscow Oblast, and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (YaNAO).

Compared with the national average, women living in these regions have a longer life expectancy (79 to 83 years), are less likely to become teenage mothers (1.3 to 2.9 births per 1,000 girls aged 15–17), and are more likely to complete lower secondary education (only 1–2% do not). They also spend a smaller share of their income on food, clothing, and services, between 21% and 26% of the average monthly salary. Thanks to their strong economic performance, the gender pay gap in these five regions is comparable to, or smaller than, that in the better half of Russia's regions, with women earning 20% to 30% less than men. 

This group also includes the regions with the highest average monthly earnings for women: Moscow (124,700 rubles) and YaNAO (114,200 rubles). Women's earnings in Moscow are one and a half times higher than in Sakha (81,200 rubles), which records the top average salary for women among the “Good” regions, and nearly four times higher than in Kalmykia (31,800 rubles), where women earn the least. KhMAO and YaNAO are resource-rich regions whose economies are largely based on the extractive industries. As a result, wages are also high there: women in KhMAO earn an average of 77,300 rubles per month.

The economic prosperity of the “Excellent” regions is directly reflected in income equality. The gender pay gap ranges from 20% to 31%, placing these regions among the better-performing half of the country.

Four of the top five regions are significantly safer than most other Russian regions. The only exception is YaNAO, where the rape rate is 1.6 times higher than the national median. However, the region ranks only 37th nationwide in terms of the absolute number of such crimes. The high rate of rapes per 100,000 men can largely be explained by YaNAO's small population: in less populous regions, isolated cases have a much greater impact on the overall picture and can dramatically inflate the resulting rate.

Despite higher salaries and relative safety, the share of women who regularly care for children is higher in the "Excellent" regions than in more than half of Russia's other regions. Nationwide, this indicator of unpaid care work is largely unrelated to women's income. For example, 35% of women in wealthy Moscow regularly care for children, compared with 39% in economically disadvantaged Tuva.

"This reflects a traditional, stereotypical view of a woman's role," said labor rights lawyer Yulia Ostrovskaya. "Even when men and women earn the same salary, they rarely share childcare responsibilities equally. A woman continues to carry a greater share of household work even when she earns as much as her partner."

The economics of inequality: Russian women earn 31% less than men on average

A young woman and a young man were hired by a St. Petersburg advertising agency as camera operators. They had the same responsibilities and workload. A year later, the woman decided to quit because her salary was not enough to live on. Unwilling to lose a valuable employee, the director immediately offered a compromise: he would double her salary. Delighted, she decided to stay and shared the news with the colleague who had been hired alongside her. That was when she learned that her newly increased salary was exactly what her male colleague had been earning since his very first day on the job. Realizing the extent of the discrimination, she handed in her resignation and left for a competitor.

Labor rights lawyer Yulia Ostrovskaya recounted this story, which took place in 2023, to 7x7 based on the woman's account. It is one example of the gender pay gap. Across the world, women often earn less than men even when they do the same work and have comparable qualifications.

In Russia, 7x7 recorded the largest gender pay gap in Murmansk Oblast and Kamchatka Krai, where women earn 45% less than men. Ostrovskaya explained the disparity by the economic structure of Russia's northern regions. These are industrial regions dominated by heavy industry and rotational shift work. Such jobs are held predominantly by men, whose wages are significantly higher, partly because of hardship allowances for working in harsh conditions. 

The smallest gender pay gap was recorded in Kalmykia (15%) and the Altai Republic (17%). One reason is that people there earn relatively little regardless of gender. The size of the informal economy may also affect the figures, making it impossible to accurately measure the true gender pay gap in many Russian regions.

Globally, the average gender pay gap stands at 20%. This figure includes countries where women are legally prohibited from working. The Russian regions closest to the global average are Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (20%), Tuva (20%, where both men and women earn similarly low wages and informal employment is widespread), and Moscow (23%).

According to 7x7's calculations, the average gender pay gap in Russia is 31%. This figure was recorded in Samara, Rostov, and Arkhangelsk oblasts, as well as Primorsky Krai.

Labor discrimination does not depend on qualifications or work experience. It begins as soon as women graduate, said Yulia Ostrovskaya.

"The gender pay gap exists all over the world, but some countries have made much greater progress in addressing it," the lawyer said. "In the Scandinavian countries, the gender pay gap is between 4% and 6%."

One of the key drivers of labor market discrimination is the division of occupations into "male" and "female" ones. For example, on a rotational shift, a man is more likely to earn more because he will be employed in resource extraction or industrial production, while a woman is more likely to work in the kitchen or in cleaning, earning considerably less. In industrial regions, the same pattern persists: women are concentrated in lower-paid sectors such as services, education, and healthcare.

The gender pay gap persists even in regions without a clear division into "male" and "female" occupations. In the public sector, where women make up the majority of the workforce, men are more likely to hold managerial positions. In the IT sector, which is generally well paid, men predominantly work as engineers, while women are more often employed as managers or accountants.

The gender pay gap is also strongly influenced by unpaid domestic labor. Because of it, women have less time and fewer opportunities to build their careers. The 7x7 analysis found that the amount of time women spend on childcare does not depend on average wages in a region. Women devote about 36% of their free time to childcare both in Ivanovo Oblast, where the average monthly wage is 40,000 rubles, and in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, where it is 112,000 rubles. In addition, women often have to care for sick or elderly relatives.

Even if a family can afford grocery delivery, cleaning services, or a nanny, the mental load of choosing a service, placing an order, and making sure the job is done still usually falls on the woman. Men spend three times less time on childcare than women.

Another major driver of wage inequality is childbirth. During parental leave, which is usually taken by the mother, women temporarily leave the workforce, lose professional skills, and forfeit most of their income. After returning to work, they have to balance motherhood with their careers. Because they are usually responsible for taking children to and from kindergarten or school, Russian women are more likely to choose flexible schedules or part-time work, which directly reduces their earnings. Moreover, mothers take sick leave more often than fathers, making them less attractive to employers and reducing their chances of receiving bonuses or being promoted to managerial positions.

The trend toward more involved fatherhood is developing very slowly in Russia and is generally limited to major cities. According to lawyer Yulia Ostrovskaya, younger generations of parents no longer necessarily share the traditional belief that childcare is not a man's responsibility. Scandinavian companies operating in Russia before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine encouraged fathers to take parental leave and even offered additional payments to men who chose to share childcare leave.

Russia's first and only attempt to support women in the labor market through legislation came in 2013. The government prohibited employers from including requirements unrelated to professional qualifications in job advertisements, such as the preferred gender of the applicant.

The law was intended to reduce discrimination in hiring. However, it did not address its underlying causes. In practice, women may still be denied a job because they have children, as employers often assume they will frequently need to take sick leave. The real reason for the rejection, however, is unlikely to be disclosed. Instead, the company will most likely say it has chosen a more suitable candidate.

In addition to regulating hiring practices, the government introduced a free retraining program for parents. However, it is available only to people on childcare leave with children under the age of three and to unemployed mothers with children up to and including the age of seven. The program's primary goal is not to reduce inequality but to address labor shortages. As a result, training is offered only in occupations where the state faces workforce shortages. Moreover, courses are held at universities, meaning that mothers who cannot find a nanny may simply be unable to attend them.

To reduce the gender pay gap, the government should require companies to disclose salary ranges for each position and make pay systems transparent. At the interview stage, applicants should already know the salary range for the position, from the minimum to the maximum salary.

If a woman discovers that a colleague in the same position is paid more for doing the same work, she should have clear legal avenues for protection, such as the ability to file a complaint with the company's internal review body or take the case to court.

In addition, the government should create a network of services that help parents find a nanny or a social worker to care for elderly relatives. Free after-school programs, sports clubs, and extracurricular activities are also needed so that children remain occupied until the end of the working day, taking into account the time parents need to pick them up.

For example, France, where parental leave lasts 16 weeks for the first or second child, introduced a system of certified nannies so that parents would not have to leave the workforce. This strengthened demographic trends, as people no longer feared having children because they might lose income.

Employers that create workplaces where balancing work and parenting is encouraged should also be supported. For example, they can introduce remote work options, flexible schedules, and retraining programs for parents returning from parental leave.

In addition, the government must work to change public attitudes, Ostrovskaya believes.

"State television should help normalize the image of men taking parental leave. It has a positive impact when successful and well-known men, such as [TV host] Andrey Malakhov, say they have taken parental leave."

Statistics of survival: official data fails to reflect the true scale of violence against women

The situation of women across Russia's regions is shaped not only by their income levels or access to kindergartens, but also by a more fundamental criterion: personal safety. Physical and sexualized violence remain the most acute manifestations of problems in this area.

According to the 7x7 analysis, the highest numbers of reported cases of sexualized violence per 100,000 men were recorded in Tuva (206), Astrakhan Oblast (177), Kurgan Oblast (119), and Zabaykalsky Krai (107).

It is unclear how the war in Ukraine has affected violence against women. Although law enforcement agencies officially recorded a record 199 rapes in Belgorod Oblast in 2025, the figure did not change significantly in other regions bordering Ukraine. Moreover, the increase in registered rapes in Belgorod Oblast began as early as 2021. Police researcher Ekaterina Khodzhaeva told the To Be Precise project that the number of registered crimes was rising because of changes in law enforcement practices and a lower evidentiary threshold in rape cases.

Anastasia, a lawyer specializing in women's rights, told 7x7 that high figures may often indicate a positive shift: local police have begun registering crimes properly rather than concealing them.

Sverdlovsk Oblast recorded the highest overall number of rapes between 2021 and 2023, with 923 such crimes registered. Law enforcement practices in the region may have been influenced by the work of Aistenok, a crisis center combating violence that has operated in Yekaterinburg since the mid-1990s.

The shift in how police investigate cases of sexualized violence was made possible largely through the work of crisis centers. Before the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, NGOs cooperated with regional departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, training officers to handle cases of domestic and sexualized violence. Activists encouraged police to refer survivors to crisis centers for psychological support. After the war began, however, staff at some centers became afraid to interact with law enforcement agencies.

Crimes against women are most often committed by people close to them: husbands, partners, former partners, and relatives. In long-term relationships, abuse is rarely limited to a single form. It usually involves a combination of physical, psychological, and sexualized violence. Many women first experience such abuse after going on maternity leave, when they lose a significant portion of their income and become financially dependent on their partner.

The 7x7 ranking does not include the North Caucasus republics or the Republic of Adygea because no reliable statistics are available for these regions. According to Svetlana Anokhina, a human rights defender and founder of the Marem project, local women are often afraid to report violence to the police.

"Women are often physically unable to seek help," Anokhina said. "There is also pressure from relatives and the wider community. Quietly resisting is one thing; openly confronting not only your family but society as a whole is quite another. Police officers are flesh of the flesh and blood of the blood of the same society, and they share the same attitudes. I once spoke to a police officer who asked why a young woman had run away from her family. I explained that her husband had been beating her and that her relatives would not allow her to divorce. He simply shrugged and said: 'Rightly so. If every woman started divorcing or running away, who would want to get married then [knowing they could end up in an abusive family]?'"

According to Anokhina, some people view a divorced daughter as a stain on the family's honor and dignity. Families often prevent women from divorcing because they have younger brothers or sisters whose marriage prospects could be harmed. Having a divorced daughter in the family can make it much harder for younger siblings to find a spouse.

"But you should not think this is universal," Anokhina continued. "There are also cases where a woman marries not just once or twice, and nobody is bothered by it."

Another problem, Anokhina says, is that existing laws are often ineffective. Courts in the North Caucasus sometimes rule in favor of mothers and grant them custody of their children. However, women then face another obstacle: former husbands hide the children, while bailiffs fail to enforce court decisions. Improving women's rights in these republics will require compliance with Russian law.

Russia's National Strategy for Women (the policy document outlining the government's main priorities for improving the status of women) acknowledges the need to prevent violence and expand support for survivors. However, it does not establish concrete mechanisms to protect women from physical abuse.

Civil society groups have been trying to enshrine such mechanisms in legislation since the 1990s, but every attempt has failed.

"Russia presents itself as a stronghold of traditional values in opposition to liberal ones. A law against domestic violence [which, among other things, protects women from sexualized violence] is inherently liberal because it is based on human rights. Naturally, it does not fit within the state's conservative vision," Anastasia, a lawyer, told 7x7.

The expert believes that only a law on the prevention of domestic violence can improve the situation for women. It should establish uniform legal definitions and improve coordination between government agencies. It should also create a comprehensive support system, including shelters; introduce police-issued and court-issued protection orders; and criminalize domestic violence itself.

"Only then will we be able to talk about prevention," Anastasia added. "There is no country in the world that has completely eradicated domestic violence, but prevention affects the numbers, and behind every number is a human life."

The later, the fewer, the better: why women are delaying childbirth

Another important indicator of women's status across Russia's regions is the trend in teenage pregnancies. Overall, the number is declining across the country: thanks to the internet and easier access to information about reproductive health, teenagers are better informed and better able to protect themselves, and the birth rate among girls under 18 has fallen to its lowest level in modern Russian history.

According to calculations by 7x7, in 2023 there were 4.2 births per 1,000 girls aged 15–17 nationwide, compared with 17.8 in 1990. However, the regional divide is enormous. Tuva ranked last with 9.5 births per 1,000 girls aged 15–17, while Mordovia had the country's lowest rate at just one birth per 1,000 girls in the same age group.

The decline in the birth rate is, among other things, the result of the reproductive decisions adult women are making. According to a study by demographers at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, the average number of children per woman in Russia (the total fertility rate) has been steadily declining since 2015. During that period, it fell from 1.76 to 1.41 by 2023. The researchers emphasized that this does not reflect a decision to remain childless but rather a tendency to postpone having a first child. Women are delaying motherhood because of political and economic instability, with the sharpest decline in birth rates recorded among women aged 20–24 and 25–29. Financial considerations also play an indirect role: the later a woman has her first child, the less income she is likely to lose, since the fastest career growth typically occurs during the first years after graduating from university.

It is telling that Russia's National Strategy for Women for 2023–2030 does not mention the concept of "reproductive rights" at all. Instead, the document focuses on healthcare, motherhood, and increasing birth rates.

Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, this ideological shift soon translated into real restrictions. By July 2026, they had become widespread: authorities in 31 regions had legally banned so-called "abortion propaganda," while in 17 regions private clinics had stopped providing abortion services under pressure from officials. At the federal level, Russia has also banned so-called "childfree propaganda."

In addition to imposing restrictions, the government is trying to use financial incentives to raise the birth rate. In early 2025, the Ministry of Labor recommended that regional authorities pay pregnant women, including schoolgirls, at least 100,000 rubles. Local authorities subsequently began offering payments to women who chose to carry their pregnancies to term rather than have an abortion. The measure was introduced in Karelia, Khabarovsk Krai, and the Oryol, Bryansk, and Kemerovo regions. However, it is impossible to assess the initiative’s actual impact because Rosstat has withheld up-to-date demographic statistics.

Researchers from the National Research University Higher School of Economics warned that attempts to raise the birth rate by encouraging schoolgirls to give birth and promoting large families would only deepen women’s economic dependence. Girls who give birth in their teens are often unable to complete their education or build a career. Mothers with several children may leave the workforce for years, while their families face an increased risk of poverty and become entirely dependent on government benefits.

Obstetric violence, the state's blind spot: only 12 convictions in eight years

In December 2024, KhMAO resident Elena Pechnikova asked to have a C-section before going into labor. During her pregnancy, she weighed 44 kilograms despite being 163 centimeters tall and had only one kidney. According to Pechnikova, midwife Yulia Khismatova denied her request, saying, "You're a healthy woman. You'll give birth naturally."

Pechnikova said that in the maternity ward, she was not allowed to call her husband because mobile phones were supposedly prohibited. She was also denied water for seven hours. While she was in labor, hospital staff repeatedly told her to keep quiet, saying, "You should have thought about that before spreading your legs."

Elena lost about three liters of blood during childbirth and, according to her account, was later forced to agree to the removal of her uterus.

"She had already passed out. They injected her with adrenaline to bring her back to consciousness and told her: either we remove your uterus, or you'll die. She signed the consent form while she was only semi-conscious," said her husband, Makar Pechnikov.

After the case attracted public attention, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal investigation into alleged negligence under Article 293 of Russia's Criminal Code in February 2025. The midwife and the hospital's management continued working. At the time of publication, the case had not yet gone to trial.

What happened to Elena Pechnikova was a case of obstetric violence. This type of violence includes non-consensual medical intervention, substandard care, discrimination, emotional pressure, and the infliction of physical suffering during childbirth. Criminal investigations into such cases are extremely rare. They are usually initiated only after the death of the child, the mother, or both.

Russia does not publish comprehensive official data on cases of obstetric violence. However, the issue directly affects women's quality of life and their reproductive choices. That is why 7x7 examined obstetric violence as a separate topic, analyzing court rulings from across Russia's regions.

According to calculations by 7x7, only 12 of the 56 criminal cases resulted in punishment: suspended sentences or restrictions on the freedom of medical personnel. In most cases, courts either dismissed the proceedings (24 cases) or exempted medical workers from punishment (11 cases) because the statute of limitations had expired (two years or more after the offense was committed).

Women and their relatives rarely report violence in maternity hospitals to law enforcement. They often lack the strength to fight for their child's health while simultaneously taking on the legal system.

Obstetric violence in maternity hospitals stems from several factors. Medical workers receive little or no training in how to communicate with patients, while poorly paid 24-hour shifts lead to overwork and burnout, which in turn affects how staff treat women in labor.

Government targets to reduce the number of C-sections also contribute to obstetric violence. In an effort to meet these targets, medical workers may refuse to perform a C-section even when there are clear medical grounds for doing so.

"The logic behind this is absolutely monstrous," women's reproductive rights advocate Irina Fainman told 7x7. "For the past 13 years, Russia's Ministry of Health has been trying to reduce the percentage of C-sections because they make it harder to use women as reproductive machines (Editor's note: In 2018, the World Health Organization called for reducing the number of C-sections because their share had risen to nearly 50% in some countries.) If a woman gives birth by C-section, she can have no more than two additional children. The interval between the first and second births is also longer than after a vaginal birth. One midwife even wrote to us [the activists] defending natural childbirth. She said: 'You don't understand. It's better for a woman to suffer and deliver a stillborn baby than to have a scar on her uterus.'"

Obstetric violence remains one of the state's blind spots. Russia's National Strategy for Women for 2023–2030 mentions the issue neither directly nor indirectly. The document contains only general provisions related to pregnancy and childbirth, including the prevention of diseases affecting reproductive health, support for women facing reproductive choices, and the protection of reproductive health. It says nothing about preventing violence or abuse in maternity hospitals, ensuring respectful treatment of women in labor, or taking measures against degrading and humiliating conduct during childbirth.

In Russia, the Ministry of Health is responsible for setting standards of medical care, training healthcare professionals, and overseeing the quality of services in maternity hospitals. Lawyer Alena Popova told 7x7 that the ministry has clinical guidelines and federal standards, while Roszdravnadzor, the federal healthcare watchdog, is supposed to ensure that they are followed. "But none of this works systematically," she said.

"Everything still depends on the individual doctor, the particular maternity hospital, and how much money you have. Even public hospitals operate not only under the compulsory health insurance system but also offer a wide range of paid services. Unfortunately, private clinics do not always guarantee respectful treatment either. The only thing that is improving is women's awareness. More and more women know what kind of treatment is unacceptable and that they do not have to put up with it," Popova added.

The Russian legal system does not recognize the terms "obstetric violence" or "iatrogenic crime" (intentional or negligent actions by medical professionals that violate the fundamental principles and standards of medical care). Lawyer Alena Popova told 7x7 that the term "obstetric violence" should be incorporated into the law On the Fundamentals of Protecting Citizens' Health and included in clinical protocols, as well as in standards for medical education and physician certification. That, she said, would make it possible to establish an independent body to review patients' complaints.

For now, complaints can only be filed either with the maternity hospital itself or with Roszdravnadzor, whose officials may simply ignore them. Popova added that Russia lacks a patient rights ombudsman with the authority to investigate complaints and protect women without turning the process into a punitive mechanism against doctors. Such assessments, she said, could be carried out by independent medical professionals.

"Introducing the concept of 'obstetric violence' would first and foremost mean acknowledging that the problem exists. It would signal that the state recognizes a distinct form of violence that occurs when women are in a vulnerable position during childbirth and dependent on medical staff," Popova told 7x7. "Only then can you build a legal framework: determine who is responsible, how cases should be documented, how they should be investigated, and what preventive measures should be put in place."

Silencing the issue exposes an obvious contradiction: officials urge women to have more children and restrict access to abortion while completely ignoring conditions in maternity hospitals. The authorities are trying to boost birth rates through pressure, yet they are unwilling to guarantee women even basic safety and respectful treatment during childbirth.

Activist Irina Fainman said this reflects a classic patriarchal worldview in which the state sees women as machines for producing new people.

"This rightward shift in both the state and society, not only in Russia, is largely based on the idea that giving birth costs women nothing because it is supposedly what nature intended," Fainman said. "But if we start saying that the state should invest in hospitals and support mothers—not through one-off payments but on a systematic basis—we immediately hear the response: 'You're having children for yourselves, not for the state.' The state simply does not want to spend money on women."

Support beyond the state: grassroots feminist initiatives as a means of protecting women's rights

Over the past seven years, activists at an independent women's crisis center in a city in central Russia have never won a grant from the Presidential Grants Foundation.

"At this point, it's almost become a sport. I take the competition guidelines and make sure we meet every single requirement a thousand percent, yet the reviewers still deduct half a point or a single point, and we end up without funding. What's more, they deduct points in completely unexpected categories, such as the organization's experience," said Irina, the center's fundraiser. "Our center has existed for more than 10 years. I guess it's simply impossible for us to receive funding from the Presidential Grants Foundation, and I'm trying to fight a force much bigger than myself. But at this point, I submit an application out of principle."

According to Irina, funding for crisis centers has declined dramatically since the start of the war in Ukraine. Some foundations, including the CAF Foundation for Philanthropy Development, have been designated as "foreign agents" and "undesirable organizations," making them effectively toxic. As a result, projects that continue operating in Russia can no longer apply for their grants.

According to Anastasia, a lawyer specializing in women's rights, regional authorities have urged independent crisis centers to support Russian troops and collect humanitarian aid. In one case, representatives of the local social welfare authorities came to a regional project and took away a box of socks to be sent to the front.

"The staff got off lightly," Anastasia said. "When you live in a small region, you're constantly under scrutiny. It's very difficult to challenge the regional authorities because otherwise they'll send inspectors to you every day, and you'll have no time left to do your actual work."

Grassroots initiatives across Russia address violence against women starting with prevention. For example, in 2024, feminist activist Darya and a group of like-minded women launched Poputchitsy ("Female Travel Companions"), an interactive map where women can mark unsafe locations in their cities.

The idea for the project grew out of Darya's own experience. While visiting relatives in Omsk, she went for a walk and encountered a man masturbating while staring at her. She was so shocked that she could not move. By the time she managed to gather herself and confront him, he had already run away.

"This is actually one of the less serious things women have to deal with in public," Darya told 7x7. "Recently, I was walking along a road one evening when a car started following me. Then it stopped, a guy got out, and asked, 'Why won't you talk to me?' I'm quite tall, and he was very short. In a way, it was almost funny because I could probably have defended myself physically, but at the time it was terrifying. It's perfectly normal for a woman not to want to meet a stranger. I'm just walking, minding my own business. Why does a man take that as a personal insult?"

Over the past year and a half, pins have appeared on the map not only across Russia but also abroad, including in Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, Spain, and Serbia.

"Women from other countries told us they had been missing a project like this," Darya said.

On March 8, 2024, activists in Tuva launched Chavaga Media, a feminist magazine about the lives of Tuvan women. The republic has seen growing interest in exploring its national history, so the project's creators tell stories from Tuvan folklore through the perspective of female characters. They see the project as a way of bringing young Tuvan women together. At the time of publication, the community had 422 subscribers on Telegram and 13,000 followers on Instagram.

"We knew it would be difficult to build an audience because Tuvan society is largely patriarchal," one of the activists, who asked to remain anonymous, told 7x7. "Of course, Tuvan women want to be independent and free, but those aspirations are often shaped by patriarchal values. That's why we decided to start the conversation through Tuvan history, reinterpreting it from the perspective of women's experiences and telling the stories of female figures who are often left in the shadows."

Later, the organizers attended several psychological support groups before launching one of their own. Their first meeting was organized for women with disabilities and people caring for relatives with disabilities.

The biggest challenge was finding a Tuvan-speaking psychologist who shared feminist values. They then spent several weeks looking for an accessible venue with ramps and suitable restroom facilities. The activists recruited participants through VK.

The next support group organized by Chavaga Media will focus on women who have survived violence. The activists see it as another step toward their ultimate goal: opening a shelter.

Darya Yakovleva, founder of the Kaliningrad feminist community Feminitive, recalls that when the project launched in 2018, local women were thrilled that the city finally had a place where they could attend lectures on feminism. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the adoption of a series of repressive laws, it became even more important for people to gather with like-minded others.

"Many people tell us, 'We're amazed you still exist, that you're not afraid,'" Yakovleva told 7x7. "I think that's driven by fear. Everything has become so bleak, and the authorities have been so successful at demonizing and marginalizing both our work and the issues we talk about, that people simply don't believe we still exist."

In addition to its other activities, Feminitive runs psychological support groups for women who have experienced violence.

In 2024, activists from a city in Russia's Volga Federal District came together to form a feminist community. Two years later, they began organizing events, including exhibitions about women who played an important role in the city's history and craft circle meetings.

"Women need a community where they can talk about their problems without men," activist Natalia told 7x7. "That's when we feel safe. If there's a man in the room, he often becomes defensive, taking everything that's being discussed as a personal attack. In the end, we have to comfort him. But in a circle of women, we can simply support one another and say, 'No, you didn't imagine it. It really happened to you.'"

Activist Irina Fainman and her colleagues help women defend their reproductive rights. She founded the Emergency Contraception Foundation so women can quickly access the medication needed to terminate an early pregnancy. She also helps women understand how to obtain the medical care they are entitled to.

Lyudmila, a fundraiser for human rights and activist initiatives, told 7x7 that work on violence against women has come to the forefront since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. There are two reasons for this. First, such projects are highly visible within the human rights and feminist communities. Second, some organizations have shifted their focus and now devote more attention to addressing violence.

"Issues such as labor rights and preventing teenage pregnancies become less of a priority during wartime, when violence becomes more widespread."

Many women in Russia find themselves unable to obtain timely and effective support from the state. As a result, they turn to grassroots organizations, where they can receive psychological support, meet like-minded people, discuss their experiences without fear of judgment, and feel that they are not alone.

“It is important to understand that violence in the family, in society, and by the state are all closely interconnected," said Anastasia, a lawyer specializing in women's rights. "If the state sees violence as the primary way to solve problems, we will never see it respond effectively to domestic abuse. For society to accept violence between states or violence by the state against its own citizens, it first has to become tolerant of it in general. If someone grows up in a family where violence is unacceptable, they will naturally be intolerant of it in all its forms. That is why it is not in the state's interest to foster a culture that rejects violence.”

Original