Description
This paper uses a feminist lens to analyse key institutions of the state that are charged with protecting Russia’s security. With a focus on the Putin presidencies, it takes Cynthia Enloe’s famous question “Where are the women?” as the starting point, exploring the presence (and absence) of women and the roles that they occupy in such organisations as the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Federal Security Service. Although all of Russia’s major security institutions are clearly male-dominated, the paper will examine the nuances of women’s contributions to security work in Russia. The aims of this paper are twofold. First, to apply Joan Acker’s concept of gendered institutions to security institutions in Russia, deepening our understanding of how the process works in this particular case. Second, to discover the extent to which these masculinised institutions actually depend upon the support and work of women in order to carry out their functions.
