The Security Index Occasional Paper Series came out with the new report “The Role of the Women in the Areas of Nuclear Nonproliferation, Disarmament and Global Security: the Case Study of Russia” by Elena Karnaukhova

MOSCOW. SEPTEMBER 2, 2022. PIR PRESS. The Security Index Occasional Paper Series came out with the new report “The Role of the Women in the Areas of Nuclear Nonproliferation, Disarmament and Global Security: the Case Study of Russia” by Elena Karnaukhova.

Are our sex and gender so important for professional development in the fields of nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament and can they become an obstacle in the XXI century? The goal of this research paper is to study the role of the Russian women in the fields of nuclear nonproliferation, disarmament and global security. The author examines in detail the career path of the Russian women in these areas, using the results of exclusive interviews and confidential surveys conducted in the summer and the fall of 2021.

Key findings:

• When trying to analyze the role of Russian women in the fields of nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament we usually face the lack or even the absence of gender data and gender statistics on these matters.
• Even if we find fragmentary facts ourselves, it is not clear what to do with them. It is not clear how and what indicators to consider, because life, especially the life of women, is a changeable thing, and even if a woman enters the fields of nonproliferation and disarmament there is no guarantee that she will want to and be able to remain in them. Thus, all our gender-colored conclusions have a priori conditional nature. Anyway, can we really talk about the female factor in the fields of nonproliferation and disarmament?
• All over the world, it’s quite typical to consider the female factor in the spheres of nonproliferation and disarmament from a gender perspective. But in Russia gender perspective is underdeveloped. Nevertheless, there are many examples of Russian women who are engaged in the issues of nuclear nonproliferation, disarmament and global security.
• In the Russian context, the sphere of nuclear nonproliferation, disarmament and global security for many modern women is considered to be purely men’s business, and many of them deliberately avoid this spheres, exactly if they do not build careers in the sphere of nonproliferation, disarmament and global security or are simply not interested in them for the soul.
• When analyzing the role of Russian women in the fields of nuclear nonproliferation, disarmament and global security we have identified a number of serious problems that hinder full-fledged career paths in these areas without regard to sexual and gender identity.