Perception of Poverty and Inequality in the Russian Mass Consciousness: A Woman's View

Abstract

Reducing the level of poverty and inequality in Russian society is a priority.  Despite the reduction in poverty over the past ten years and the active social policy pursued, there is no steady reduction in poverty. There is a feminization of poverty in Russia. Poverty and inequality of women in Russian society entail high risks of social tension, since it is women who most vividly reproduce the social mood of society. At the same time, there are practically no publications in the Russian scientific literature on the perception of poverty and inequality by women. In this regard, the authors set a goal to assess women's perception of poverty and various types of inequalities in modern Russian society, including: what inequalities are perceived by women as fair and unfair; how Russians understand what a fair society is and how modern Russian society meets their ideas of justice. The empirical basis of the study was the results of an online survey using a specially developed author's methodology of women from 85 subjects of the Russian Federation with a monthly income per family member from 11 to 50 thousand rubles. Based on the subjective assessment of women's perception of poverty and inequalities in modern Russian society, the following trends have been identified: the feeling of permanent poverty by the majority of women throughout their life cycle; their perception of real material inequality; orientation to state regulation in the distribution of material goods and equal accessibility of social services. The results obtained have become important indicators for understanding the sources of social tension and regulating government programs to reduce poverty with a gender approach.