Moscow Attacks on Childfree Ideology Increasing Stigmatization of Childless Women in North Caucasus, Lokshina Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 22 – Moscow attacks on what Russian officials call “the childfree ideology” are increasing the stigmatization of childless women in the North Caucasus, a region where fertility rates remain well above replacement levels and limiting the possibilities of women there to make choices for themselves and defend their rights, Tanya Lokshina says.

            The director of Russian programs at Human Rights Watch points out that the traditional societies of the North Caucasus already put enormous pressure on women to have large families and stay at home as mothers (kavkazr.com/a/rychag-davleniya-na-zhenschinu-zhiteli-yuga-i-severnogo-kavkaza-o-zaprete-chayldfri/33159114.html).

            Consequently, in this area as in so many others, the Putin regime is producing a result exactly the opposite it intends. While the anti-childfree messages it is sending are intended to boost the birthrate everywhere, they are most likely to do so in places where women are still restricted by traditional values.

            Thus, the fertility rates in the North Caucasus are likely to remain high or even rise higher as a result, a trend that will mean that the percentage of non-Russians in the population of that region and indeed of the Russian Federation as a whole will almost certainly rise still further, exactly the opposite of what the Kremlin clearly wants. 

            But there is yet another way in which this Putin policy is likely to backfire: Russian women have been the leaders of the anti-war movement in much of the country. Now, it is entirely possible that women in the North Caucasus may join them in increasing numbers because of this attack on the rights.