Empowering Women in Russia Activism, Aid, and NGOs [Paperback]

Julie Hemments engrossing study traces the development encounter through interactions between international foundations and Russian womens groups during a decade of national collapse. Prohibited from organizing independently under state socialism, womens groups became a focus of attention in the mid-1990s for foundations eager to promote participatory democracy, but the version of civil society that has emerged (the third sector ) is far from what Russian activists envisioned and what donor agencies promised. Drawing on ethnographic methods and Participatory Action Research, Hemment tells the story of her introduction to and growing collaboration with members of the group Zhenskii Svet (Womens Light) in the provincial city of Tver.

This is unquestionably an important book in our efforts to understand women in Russia and the evolution of post-Soviet Russian society. . . . It can be recommended to students and scholars of Russia as well as those specializing in women's issues. Vol. 44, No. 4[A] beautifully constructed text that provides a vibrant account of how an action research approach can be enacted in a crosscultural research context.[W]ritten in a clear, accessible, and very engaging way, making it suitable for anyone within the development sector with an interest in gender issues in Russia and the former Soviet Union, or an interest in processes of democratisation . . .[A]ddresses issues crucial to our understanding of democracy, civic agency, and Western aid programs. It offers a coherent discussion of how gender and women's activism are shaped byand can still transgressthe harsh reality of the posThis is the detailed, careful, respectful study of the daytoday problems of EastWest exchange that we all crave to have. Hemment offers nuanced descriptions of the multiple contradictions for NGOs, which are asked to perform miracles and struggle heroically to bring gender justice to new democracies. Ann Snitow, New School for Social Research, founl"