Johnson's Russia List
#6198
20 April 2002
#18
Kommersant
April 19, 2002
There Are Women in Russian Business
But they feel more confident in American business
By Natalia Gevorkyan
(therussianissues.com)
The first Russian-American summit of leading businesswomen opened in
Moscow on Thursday (April 18). The U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Alexander
Vershbow, and the leader of Women of Russia, Ekaterina Liakhova, were
seen among the dignitaries at the opening ceremony.
If you did not read the name tags, it was practically impossible to tell the
difference between the American and Russian businesswomen. But after
a little time passed, I did notice some visual differences. First, the majority
of the American women seemed to be a bit older than their Russian
counterparts. Second, the Russian women practically did not use the
headphones to listen to the translation since most of them have a good
command of English. Third, the American women, of course, do not
smoke. In all other respects, they were much the same: very modest
makeup, neat business suits - mostly dark, but sometimes red and blue.
The principle by which the participants of the summit were selected was
not simply women engaged in business, but creative women working in
big business. The objectives of the summit, from the point of view of the
American side, are: "...to give Russian businesswomen an opportunity to
get to know more about us, to become acquainted with our experience, for
us to learn about the status of Russian women in society, and to help them
as much as we can." That is the opinion of the organizer of the meeting
from the American side, Anna Lloyd, president and executive director of
the Committee of 200 that unites women business leaders.
Russia's Deputy Railways Minister Anna Belova believes it would not be a
bad idea to use the summit to raise money, including money from American
businesswomen. "After all, American women gave a helping hand after the
(1917) revolution to do away with child delinquency in our country," Belova
remarked in a private conversation during intermission. However, Taliya
Habriyeva, Director of the Institute of Legislation, was quite skeptical:
"You see, I'm a lawyer, and we lawyers are cynics..." "Why, do you think the
funds will be embezzled?" Belova interjected.
The Committee of 200 annually compiles a kind of index that shows to what
extent women participate in business. One of the parameters indicates the
number of women that present the main reports [at conferences and
meetings]. This is strictly an American gimmick. And American businesswomen
are tops in this division. They know precisely at what moment to be sentimental,
when to be very strict and when to be a bit coquettish. And if the organizers
announced the theme "Participation of women in business and their
contribution to the economy of the country," you can bet your last dollar
that an American businesswoman would tell the audience how she started
out 20 years ago with only a thousand dollars and how she built up a business
that is now worth $77 million (incidentally, Russian businessmen, according to
certain sources, shelled out from $800 to $1,000 to participate in the given
summit).
But what can a leading Russian businesswoman say on this theme if she
fumbles her words, blushes and admits that she is quite nervous because
she had never before addressed such a forum? She will most likely speak
about the president's will and mysteriously hint that we are on the threshold
of significant changes. Moreover, the background of the majority of the
Russian participants in the meeting is really interesting in that it overturns the
thesis that women go into business only because they were "unlucky in their
personal lives." And in spite of the president's will, they face quite a lot
of problems. But this was not reflected in their notes, but in real life,
where business is still conducted according to marginal criminal notions,
when women have to play men's games or not play at all. However, this theme
was mentioned at the forum just in passing.
No one supported the theme proposed Veronica Borovik, the widow of the
distinguished investigative journalist Artem Borovik, about sexual compulsion
as a condition for building careers. "American women have traversed a serious
road and have put men in their place," Veronica remarked. All the women,
including the Americans, were silent either because they agreed with the
obvious, or regretted that they had scaled such heights.
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