Interview: Politics, another way for women's self-fulfillment: Russian parliamentarian

Interview: Politics, another way for women's self-fulfillment: Russian parliamentarian

2011-03-08 00:22:27

MOSCOW, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Politics is another way for women to achieve self-fulfillment, a woman deputy in Russia's parliament told Xinhua Monday.

In an interview ahead of the International Women's Day, which falls on Tuesday, Tatiana Voronova, a 36-year-old member of the ruling United Russia party serving in the State Duma, or lower house, first recalled her political career.

The tall and nimble woman entered public life in her 20s, and became known nationally after she became a deputy in the State Duma at the age of 32.

"My career brings me a sense of tremendous accomplishment," said Voronova, in a gray business suit and always with a smile.

She said that her wish is to make the envisioned future come true. "If a politician is not able to create an image of future and make the image possible, then he or she is not a politician," she stressed.

Voronova's political ability emerged when she was still a student in the well-known Irkutsk State Economics Academy, where she managed to organize many activities of youth groups.

"I have always been dreaming to make the world better. Gradually I began to know that we need a more influential platform than one university to realize our claims and change the social situation," Voronova said.

In 2000, Voronova became a youth leader in the Irkutsk region. Four years later, she became the youngest member of the Irkutsk House of Assembly at the age of 29.

"They looked at me as if I were a miracle, both because I was female and very young," she said.

Yet Voronova stressed that in Russia, there is neither prejudice nor tendentious policies against female politicians. "The most important thing for this career is personal professionalism," she said.

"Gentle, patient and tolerant are the nature of a woman, but in politics we often need to show a strong and tough character. Generally speaking, female politicians are mainly focusing on the social and cultural fields, where they could more than anywhere else present their essence of a mother and a woman," Voronova said.

As a mother, how to balance the career and the life has been a challenge for Voronova.

After becoming a deputy in the State Duma, Voronova moved with her family from Siberia's Irkutsk to Moscow. "My daughter has faced a hard time of adaptation in the new place," Voronova said.

For years, her family have been supporting her choice. Now, Voronova said she is ready to back the choice of her child.

"My achievements in career relied on my family's support. I do hope to find the balance between the two and make all my family members happy, which I know is not easy for anyone. But I think the efforts itself, concerted to this kind of perfect life, is also a happiness for me," Voronova said.

She added that she has tried her best to spend more time with her family and often go for outings with her family.

Although the career consumed much of her energy, it brought more positive changes than negative ones into her life, said the woman parliamentarian.

"First of all, I worked for the International Affairs Committee of the State Duma, so I got colossal experience from my job at an international level," Voronova stressed.

"Despite all the hardships, happiness for a female politician is absolutely attainable and possible," she added.

Checkpoint between Russia and Transcaucasia closed

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GROZNY, Russia — Chechnya's strongman Ramzan Kadyrov on Tuesday shrugged off rights groups' accusations that he is imposing strict Islamic rules on women in the Russian republic.

Kadyrov said Tuesday that Chechen women wear headscarves because they are Muslim and also as part of local traditions.

During a news conference with foreign reporters that stretched past midnight, he added that he personally admires women in headscarves, saying "no hair style, no colour could make such beauty."

Rights activists have said that Kadyrov's government has created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation that forces most women to wear headscarves. There have been paintball attacks on women who failed to cover their heads.

Kadyrov denied exerting any pressure on those reluctant to adhere to Islamic dress.

"You have seen women in short skirts without headscarves in Grozny," he said with a grin. "If I try to force them (to dress differently) I will be removed tomorrow."

Kadyrov has also defied Russian law by encouraging Chechen men to have more than one wife. He said he has just one wife and loves her, but could take another one some day.

"If I see another woman prettier than her, why would I go somewhere and sin if Islam allows me to marry her?" he said.

Kadyrov has ruled Chechnya with an iron hand since succeeding his father, who was killed in a rebel bombing in May 2004. He has been strongly backed by Vladimir Putin, now Russia's prime minister after serving as president in 2000-2008.

Kadyrov's feared security forces have been accused by rights groups of arbitrary arrests, torture and killings of people with suspected rebel links.

But his brutal rule has allowed him to boast of success in suppressing Islamic militants in Chechnya, which has seen two separatist wars in the past 16 years. Kadyrov claimed Tuesday that only several dozen rebels are still hiding in Chechnya's forested mountains and pledged that his forces would soon flush them out.

"We have destroyed many odious gang leaders, and we will also get Umarov soon," he said referring to Chechen warlord Doku Umarov, who has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing of Moscow's largest airport in January.

Kadyrov repeated his diatribes against the West, accusing it of fomenting unrest in the Caucasus and sheltering former rebel leaders such as Akhmed Zakayev. Britain and, most recently, Poland have rejected Russia's requests to extradite Zakayev.

Kadyrov also lashed out at the United States, blasting it as the "tyrant of the world community."

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