Which women are more likely to become a deputy?
Members of the political technologies committee of the Russian Association of Public Relations (RASO) summed up the gender results of the regional elections held in September on Monday. Experts noted the low proportion of women among candidates and winners, compared parliamentary parties on this parameter, analyzed examples of “women’s campaigning” and even discussed whether candidates should appeal to sexuality in their campaigns, but did not come to a clear conclusion on this matter.
A member of the committee on political technologies, concurrently the secretary of the central council of the party “A Just Russia - For Truth” (SRZP), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, presented at the office of the Minchenko Consulting company (its head Evgeny Minchenko is the president of RASO) the report “Women’s share: female candidates of the EDG- 2024." From it, those present learned that only in 7 regions out of 21 where direct elections of governors were held this year, there were women among the candidates. It was often difficult to call their campaigns active; The absolute majority of women who participated in the gubernatorial elections were not resource candidates, did not expect to win, and if they campaigned at all, it was in the background.
Things were more interesting in the elections to regional parliaments (only campaigns in single-mandate constituencies were analyzed). The largest number of women (as a percentage of the total number of deputies) were elected in Moscow - 19 out of 45 (42.2%). “Moscow loves women as much as possible and is ready to elect them,” the speaker noted, but she immediately gave an example of an anomaly: as many as six women ran for the 29th district in the capital, but United Russia man Alexei Kuchmin won.
Among the parties in terms of the number of women nominated as candidates, the leader was SRZP (19.9%), followed by the LDPR and United Russia (19.6% each), the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (15.3%) and, with a noticeable margin, New People. (8.7%).
“It would seem... There is a huge women's project of United Russia. I thought that the party would be the leader here,” Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was surprised.
Campaigning was analyzed in detail only among female winners, that is, it was mainly about United Russia nominations. The key topics for them were a special military operation, support for male colleagues in the gubernatorial elections and issues of the “women’s agenda.” The author of the report paid special attention to the successful campaigning of Tatarstan State Council deputy Rima Mukhamedshina, which involved her own cooking show. On their way to the hearts of voters, candidates also exploited dogs and other pets.
We also talked about appearance.
Among the women elected to regional parliaments, the majority were blondes (26), followed by brunettes and fair-haired women (12 each) and brown-haired women (11). Only one chosen one could boast of red hair.
The authors of the study asked a neural network to generate an image of a typical female deputy. A stern blonde with medium-long hair, wearing a blue jacket, to which was pinned a badge in the colors of the Russian flag, looked at the political consultants from the screen. Someone present noticed that the woman turned out to be “some kind of German, dry.”
After the presentation, the head of the political committee of RASO, Evgenia Stulova, decided to clarify with the speaker: “Does a woman need to involve sexuality in her campaigning?” - “Of course we must!” - said committee member, INSOMAR representative Viktor Poturemsky to the approving exclamations of his male colleagues.
“But I don’t agree!” - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova objected to the political technology majority. After this, those gathered discussed for some time a photograph of one of the candidates for the Moscow City Duma in a T-shirt with a low neckline, but here, too, opinions were divided. Some considered this move a good one and believed that it conveyed an important “I can afford it” message. Others responded with indignation: “Do you think this is a sexy photo?..”
In general, the meeting participants came to the conclusion that women politicians are needed for calm, not excitement. “A woman is a fulcrum in a situation of social tension, a negotiator, a calmer,” Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova told a Kommersant correspondent. “Now there is a demand for simplicity and reliability,” political scientist Vladimir Shemyakin agreed with her, but immediately suggested that candidates in campaigning often broadcast what certain “customers” wanted, and not themselves and their voters.
