What Gender Discrimination? Psychological and Sociocultural Barriers

Abstract

Chapter 2 examines the barriers that often prevent women from taking even the first step of initiating a domestic court case on discrimination. This chapter investigates the domestic psychological, cultural, and material obstacles to gender discrimination cases in the Russian court system. It discusses the psychological and cultural obstacles to bringing sex-based discrimination cases to Russian courts (such as the popular tendency to regard sex-based discrimination in the public sphere as a natural and justified reflection of sex-role stereotypes, and the desire to solve “personal” problems such as domestic violence privately rather than in the public eye). It discusses the negative views toward feminism in Russia. The chapter covers different types of sex-based discrimination in Russia: employment discrimination and maternity leave, gender discrimination in custody suits, gender discrimination in education, and violence against women as a type of discrimination. The chapter concludes that people who are inclined to activism are the ones most likely to be willing to bring a court case and persist in the legal process.