Bargaining power of Russian women in a new economy

Changing structure of the Russian economy has given a number of choices to women. New labor laws and increased access to higher education allowed women more flexibility in choosing a career and whether to work; wider availability of contraceptives made family planning possible; greater availability of household technology and service firms made women less dependent on men when it came to keeping the household. Parallel developments, such as greater wage discrimination by gender, lesser availability of child care and reduced amounts of government maternity payments reversed the trend for greater independence. The paper uses data from Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (1994-2011) to investigate the effects of changing socioeconomic environment on the relative bargaining positions of women in Russian families and its implications for the labor and marriage markets. Initial findings suggest that women in Russia do enjoy greater power while bargaining within the family due to increased value of threat points (utility outside marriage). It is found that more women (then men) choose to attend college and pursue professional careers. Women have shown to continue strong attachment to the labor force. When it comes to marriage, women now marry later in life and become more selective when choosing a partner, number of families where both spouses are college educated increased. The pay gap between spouses, although great, has shown to diminish over the past five years. The Pill did show to significantly impact women’s decision making.  Newly found bargaining power, though allowing women more choices, contributed to greater family conflict, which translated into increased rates of divorce and reduced fertility.