SUMMARY

The current issue of the journal is mostly focused on women's rights in elections and on promoting women into government and power.

The first article of the journal is about the Project 225. This Project funded by the FCO Foundation (UK) was launched by the Women's Information Network last June. The 225 Program was based on election research regarding women's representation in elections at all levels.
Representatives of different regions of Russia, such as Irkutsk, St.Petersburg, Pskov, Petrozavodsk (Karelia), are being involved into the Program.

The goal of the Project is creating necessary conditions for ensuring gender equality in Russian political process and implementing of women's right to be elected. The 225 project has become a logical continuation of the "Women and Lobbying" Program of 1999 - 2000. The striking fact is that there are practically no women represented in governmental and power bodies in Russia. That makes political and law making process very slow and ineffective. This factor has become crucial for women from the Women's Information Network when made a decision to launch the 225 Project. To reach the goal the WIN has identified the following objectives:
o defining significance of the gender aspect in politics;
o developing/implementing strategies of lobbying helping to include the gender aspect into political process;
o ensuring women's understanding of significance of their role in elections/political process.

It has been stressed that one of the most important outcomes of the Project is increasing number of regions participating in the Program on protecting and promoting women. This is the major indicator of success of the Project.

Amendments for the Election Law of Russia as well as the Explanatory Note on law making activities of the State Duma (Parliament) for the period from January to May 2002 are also presented in the issue.

A big part of the journal is dedicated to the analytical review of the round table discussion on women's issues in politics. The review has bee presented by Dr .G. Belyayeva, Moscow State University named after M. Lomonosov, and by Dr. Irene Gorshkova. The round table discussion was held in the framework of the conference "Women and Elections" at the Gorbachov Foundation in January 2002. The conference was organized by the Women's Information Network and funded by the British Council and the Fund for Human Rights Projects of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the UK. It is important to mention that participants of the round table spoke not only about such crucial issue as quotas for women in elections but about promoting women into politics in general. Among the participants were representatives from various parts of Russia.

Then the editor of the current issue of the journal has included fragments of the transcribed contents of the round table. That highlights the most important presentations of the event.

The next author is Olga Zdravomyslova, Vice President of the Gorbachov Foundation. Ms. Zdravomyslova has presented the article on women's issues in contemporary social democratic process in Russia. The author has stressed the fact of extreme importance of women's participation in governmental and power structures in Russia. The main priority of the Social Democratic Party is status of women and women's issues in the country.

Albina Shirobokova, Director of the Center for New Economic, Social and Civil Technologies of the Irkutsk University, has highlighted experience on lobbying women's interests in the Baikal Region of the Baikal Regional Women's Union "Angara".
Ms. Sokolova, a scholar from the Karelia Center for Gender Studies, has presented the article about her personal experience in the elections. As an ex-Deputy of the Legislation Council of the Karelia Republic, she has managed to provide a thorough analysis of her situation.

The author of the next article, Dr. L. Boychenko, is also from Karelia. Her work highlights the data of analysis of women's participation in elections in the Republic.

Deputy N. Guseva from Zlatoust, Chelybinsk Region, has presented her view of status of women in Russia in terms of participation in political process. Ms. Guseva has based her article on analysis of the law draft on equal rights and equal opportunities for women and men in Russia.

The next article is focused on the issues of future perspectives for women's movement in Russia on the eve of elections. The author is Maria Nozhenko, Associate of the European University, St. Petersburg. Ms. Nozhenko has highlighted historical and philosophical background of the issue.

Dr. T. Shubina, Pomorsk University, the Center for Gender Studies, is the author of the article "Social Roles of Women of the Pomorsk Region: Historical and Contemporary Analysis".
Dr. Shubina has started her work with general historical background of the issue; then she has presented her analysis of contemporary situation in terms of women's status in Russia in general and in the North of the country in particular. It is really interesting that women of the Pomorsk region were always active participants of societal life. The author has presented thorough statistics on the issue of women's role in political process/power bodies in the Pomorsk region.

The author of the next article is Ms. N. Vasilyeva, Director of the NGO Independent Social Women's Center of the Pskov Region. The organization is a participant of the 225 Project highlighted in the first article of the current issue of the journal. The article is analytical review of the election situation in the Pskov Region after March 31, 2002 . As participants of the 225 Project, Ms. Vasilyeva and her colleagues did a tremendous work on promoting women into decision-making level. The author has presented striking statistics proving crucial changes in women's situation in the region.

Dr. Elena Belokurova, Associate of the European University in St. Petersburg, has presenter the final article of the issue. This is analytical review of women's participation in the elections to the Legislation Council of St. Petersburg. Comparative analysis of the situations of the late 90-s and the current situation makes the facts presented in the article more visible and distinct. Statistics is also of great interest; it has proved rapid development of the process of promoting women into the level of decision-making.