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Russiaensuring women’s equality in Russia. No specific mechanism exists forprosecuting violations of the principle of non-discrimination with respectto gender, and any such claims are handled generally by the Ombudsmanof the Russian Federation. 14 Cases of discrimination are very difficult toprove under the current system. Firstly, there is no definition of sex discriminationin Russian legislation. With respect to institutional discrimination,judges often require that victims change their claim from allegingdiscrimination to claiming violation of a specific right or they adviseclaimants to target their allegations against public officials, rather thaninstitutions. These barriers present a potential explanation for the lack ofclaims of institutional discrimination. 15 It is also reported that efforts toinstall affirmative action policies to ensure equality between women andmen are met with much resistance in the legislature and are rarely put intopractice. 16With regard to women in government and politics, their participation levelsare low. Only one woman has been appointed in the current RussianFederation government and the Federal Assembly has only 2 women. 17Women make up only 7.6% of the members of the State Duma and inregional legislatures, they constitute only 10%. 18 Although it does notappear to be widespread, women involved in politics have been threatenedand even subjected to violence on account of their candidacy. Generally,lack of financial resources is deemed the main reason for the lack ofwomen in politics. 19 Reportedly, stereotypes dictate that government legislativework is more appropriate for men than for women. 20With the transition from a communist regime to a market economy,women have suffered especially with regard to work. In the early 1990s,many women were pushed out of work and they made up two-thirds ofthe unemployed. While the level of unemployment has roughly equalizedbetween men and women, women still experience serious discriminationin the labour market. Russia has fallen victim to the larger global phenomenonof the feminization of poverty. Women generally have lower salariesthan men—reportedly between 33% and 50% lower—despite the fact thatmany women are more educated than their male counterparts. Althoughwomen comprise 55% of all public servants, only 1.3% of these womenactually hold positions with decision-making power. 21 Additionally,an opinion poll revealed that 56.3% of Russians believed that in situationsof job shortage, men should be given priority by employers. 22 One305