Horasis Global Russia Business Meeting 2014 | Report
2015_12_IN_ack
1. W
hile Russia is believed to have the largest proportion of
women in senior managerial positions in the world,women
are mostly active in small businesses. In the medium and
large business segments, they usually work as deputies.
According to the ‘Women in Business: From Classroom to Board-
room’survey carried out by the Grant Thornton auditing firm, Rus-
sia has the world’s highest proportion of female top managers.The
survey says that women occupy about 40 percent of senior manage-
ment positions in Russian companies. Georgia is in second place (38
percent) and Poland in third (37 percent).Yet in Japan, women oc-
cupy just 8 percent of senior management positions, in Germany 14
percent and in India and Brazil 15 percent.
Women in Russia are successful in information technology, retail
trade, media, production, transportation, communications and poli-
tics, according to the survey, while men occupy the highest positions
in the oil, gas, and metallurgical sectors. Globally, the number of fe-
male top managers increased from 19 percent in 2004 to 22 percent
in 2015.
Bridging the gender gap
Some multilateral organizations evaluate gender equality in Rus-
sian business differently than in the GrantThornton survey.Accord-
ing to theWorld Bank, there is a large gap between male and female
incomes in Russia. On average, women earn 30 percent less than
men.
Contrasting the Grant Thornton report, the International Labor
Organization said in early 2015 that Russia ranks only 25th place
when it comes to the proportion of women in managerial roles (39.1
percent).The organization says Jamaica has the highest percentage
of female managers (59.3 percent).
“We still haven’t reached the normal proportion of 50:50 concern-
ing men and women in business management positions and if we
consider that there are more women in Russia than men, then the
proportions would not be 50:50 but somewhere around 40:60 in favor
of women,”says ElenaYakhontova, professor at the Ranepa Higher
School of Business Management.
She says there are still significantly fewer female business man-
agers than male.
Small business
In small businesses,Yakhontova says, the share of companies that
women establish is about 50 percent.“These are owners of an end-
less number of cafes,bakeries,farms,pharmacies,dental clinics and
consulting companies,”she adds.
“The origins of discrimination are in the mentality. For now, the
prevailing stereotype is that men make better managers.”
Key positions
Despite these difficulties,women occupy
four key positions in the Russian public
arena. According to a rating published
by the Ekho Moskvy radio station, the
most influential woman in the country
is the Chairwoman of the Federation Coun-
cil, the upper chamber of Russian Parliament,Val-
entina Matviyenko.
In second place is the Chairwoman of the Russian
Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina. The First Deputy
Prime Minister Olga Golodets is in third place. The
fourth most influential woman in Russia is Tatyana
Golikova, head of the Account Chamber of Russia, a
special government organ responsible for effective bud-
get spending.
Only one Russian woman,however,made the Forbes 2015
rating of the most influential women in the world — El-
vira Nabiullina.
The careers of such women are similar.“There are many
female deputies in the ranking,” saysYakhontova.“In small
and medium-sized businesses, there are many women in
leading roles — they simultaneously hold the positions of
owner and manager.”
Nabiullina started her government career in the beginning
of the 2000s as first deputy minister of economic develop-
ment.Her supervisor was the author of key economic reforms
in the 2000s, German Gref.
The Account Chamber’s Golikova was working at the same
time as first deputy of another reform strategist, then Finance
Minister Alexei Kudrin.
Golodets held the position of deputy general director of No-
rilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer of nickel and copper.
Yakhontova is certain that one of the most influential women
in Russian business is Bella Zlatkis, deputy chairwoman of the
state-owned Sberbank, the country’s largest bank.
She also mentions Olga Dergunova, head of Rosimuschestvo,
the government organ that manages most of the state’s assets.
She was also the president of Microsoft Russia and then worked
for Russia’s second-largest state-owned bank,VTB.
In 2002 theWall Street Journal placed Dergunova on the list of
the 25 most successful and influential businesswomen in Europe.
While these success stories are encouraging,women still have a long
way to go in Russia.
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and did not involve the reporting or editing staff of the International New York Times.
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PAGE II
A NOVEL IDEA FOR A
BUSINESSWOMAN TO STAY FIT
rbth.com
A Special Advertising Supplement to the International New York Times
Monday, December 7, 2015
YOUR RELIABLE SOURCE FOR NEWS AND OPINION
FROM RUSSIA’S PACIFIC SHORES
How do Russian women
thrive in the highly
competitive world of
business? Read about
their keys to success on
Page III.
Tina Kaledina is a young
consultant working in
the male-dominated oil
and gas industry. Here,
she comments on the
challenges. Page III
While Chechen women
live in a society
managed by age-old,
patriarchal traditions,
they try to adapt to the
modern world, where
women doing business
is a natural occurrence.
Page IV
DESPITELARGENUMBER
OFFEMALEMANAGERS
INRUSSIA,EXPERTSCAUTION
THATWOMENARE
MOSTLYACTIVE
INSMALLBUSINESSES
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RBTH.C OM
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JOURNALIST
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VALENTINA
KALEDINA
PARTNER
M
y foreign friends often ask if it is dif-
ficult for me, as a young woman, to
work in the energy sector, where a li-
on’s share of the top-management is
comprised of men.Sometimes I feel like agree-
ing with their misconception that women are
sidelined in Russia. However, this is not true.
Even in sectors that have been traditionally
dominated by men — such as minerals, energy
and infrastructure — there are quite a few
women in managerial positions. Of course,
women comprise just 15 to 20 percent of the
work force in these sectors.
In my industry,women enjoy the same rights
in Russia as they do in other parts of the world.
Plus, there is less competition in Russia than
in other countries, which gives everyone the
opportunity to find their niche. Here, gender
is really not that important. It is more impor-
tant to prove that you are a professional.Based
on my own experience,I feel that women ben-
efit from the fact they have a more subtle un-
derstanding of human psychology and the abil-
ity not to panic in difficult circumstances.
I spend a lot of time in Russia’s energy-rich
regions in western Siberia, a beautiful and
harsh territory. On my first business trip there,
I joined a group of engineers on a helicopter
ride to view pipelines that were several hun-
dred miles apart. On the way back, we were
admiring the picture-perfect autumn Siberi-
an forest. But 40 minutes into the flight, my
colleagues started to panic.We were flying lon-
ger than planned because the pilots,who want-
ed to take a short cut, got lost. Under us was
the endless taiga, and fuel was running out.
My male colleagues were worried and I had
to calm them down. This helped us find our
way out.
Another time, in minus 35 degree Celsius
(minus 31 Fahrenheit) weather, our car broke
down somewhere between Surgut and Noy-
abrsk, and the other car was four hours away.
My only concern was about missing the next
morning’s meeting. I had to cheer up my male
colleagues, who, seeing how tranquil I was,
also calmed down. After several incidents in
Siberia, I quickly learned to adapt to every
situation.
In Russia working with men, especially in
an energy company, a woman is required to
be professional, patient and tough. This con-
cerns not only business trips, but the working
process itself.Sometimes no one listens to you.
But in most cases, this is not because you are
a woman,but because your solution is not ac-
ceptable. Sometimes in the heat of an argu-
ment a woman can even be rudely told to“Shut
up!”But again, not because she is a woman. I
seldomraisemyvoice,butsometimesinameet-
ing with men I can speak with a high pitch.
This is considered normal.It also happens that
a woman’s decision at first seems illogical but
in the end is better and the men admit it.
If there were just a few more women in the
Russian corporate world,we would have more
obvious and advantageous solutions to day-
to-day problems.Since we do not have quotas
for women in top management, Russia works
according to the principle of harsh selection,
in which women participate with men on equal
terms.
ThewriterisapartneratStrikitsaConsulting,
a global human resources company with a
special focus on the BRICS countries.
READ MORE OPINION PIECES
ON RBTH.COM
EXPERT
Awoman
workingina
male-dominated
industry
If someone is capable
of managing, it
doesn’t matter if it’s a
man or a woman, says
one. Another says
women are effective
problem-solvers.
How Russian womensucceed
in businessmanagement
Leading businesswomen tell RBTH that the keys
to success for female managers in Russia are being
client-oriented, persistent and experienced.
When it comes to Russia’s economy, experts
believe that women are mostly active in con-
sumer-oriented sectors.“A lot depends on the
sector in which the company operates,”says
Ekaterina Rumyantseva, director of the Ka-
linka Group, a real estate company. She adds
that heavy industry,minerals,construction and
agriculture are more male-dominated fields,
whereas beauty services,fashion and light in-
dustry are mostly suited to women.
“There are sectors in the economy, for ex-
ample real estate, finance, the media, trade,
catering and others where men and women
can equally succeed,”says Rumyantseva. For
instance,managing a real estate business that
deals with apartment sales on the secondary
market is easier for women, while working
with serious investors in the construction mar-
ket is more of a male job.
A manager of a large public relations agen-
cy in Moscow who spoke on condition of an-
onymity said that PR in Russia is generally
considered a woman’s field.Yet to work with
large companies headed by former armed forc-
es personnel, agencies hire male managers.
“Once, we arrived at a meeting and the gen-
eral director of a large company sat with his
back to us the whole time because he did not
want to negotiate with a woman,”she says.
There are exceptions, however, in the Rus-
sian market.“Electrical engineering is a rath-
er conservative and male sector,”says Elena
Semenova, general director of Phoenix Con-
tact Rus.“But if you follow certain rules and
understand how the sector functions, then it
does not matter if the company is managed by
a man or a woman,” Phoenix is the Russian
branch of a German company that supplies
automatic management systems to large oil
and gas companies in Russia.
The general director of Basic Element,which
manages the assets of the billionaire Oleg De-
ripaska, is Gulzhan Moldazhanova, who was
one of the 25 highest paid managers in Rus-
sia in 2015. According to Forbes, her overall
income in 2015 is estimated to be $6 million,
and she started with the company in 1995 as
a secretary. She is the only woman on the list
of the country’s highest paid managers.
In its four-year history, the Forbes Russia
rating has only had one other woman.In 2013,
the general director of Nafta Moskva, Anna
Kolonchina, earned $6 million. Her company
manages the billionaire Suleiman Kerimov’s
assets.
“Managing a business in Russia is not easy
in general,regardless of the gender,”says Irina
Dobrokhtova,chair of the Board at BEST-No-
vostroi, a large construction company.“Per-
haps it’s more difficult for women since they
always have to combine business and taking
care of the family,”she says.“Fortunately, this
can be done without either side losing out.”
Dobrokhtova says she is capable of balanc-
ing work and family life since her husband is
also involved in the business.
“Ifsomeoneiscapableofmanaging,itdoesn’t
matter if it’s a man or a woman,”says Oxana
Vrazhnova, chair of the Board at MIEL, the
largest network of real estate agencies in Rus-
sia.“Nevertheless, there are far fewer female
managers, since women, in most cases, must
also take care of equally important matters
such as looking after the house and family.”
Working mothers earn respect
All the women interviewed by RBTH compare
business strategy with maternal instincts.“If
business is perceived as your own child, then
attention to the clients and the satisfaction of
their demands will have the highest impor-
tance,”says Kalinka’s Rumyantseva.She is con-
vinced that a woman’s approach to business
is client-oriented from the start,as that is what
makes the company stable.
“Men do business more dynamically,” she
says.“For them it is natural at every stage of
their personal development to learn new ways
to deepen and expand their influence on the
market.Which is why today they have one tar-
get audience, tomorrow another and the day
after, yet another.”
Rumyantseva says that her company has suc-
cessfully worked in the elite real estate mar-
ket for 16 years, while peer companies estab-
lished by men either closed down or changed
their profiles, since their owners took an in-
terest in politics or were absorbed by construc-
tion or banking businesses.
“There is strong competition in our busi-
ness,”says BEST-Novostroi’s Dobrokhtova.“We
try to win major tenders, and when I come to
these tenders,I am usually surrounded by men.”
She is certain that her solid experience helps
her compete equally with men.As evidence of
her success,Dobrokhtova has built 39 residen-
tial complexes in Moscow.
Rumyantseva says when she first started
working, businessmen avoided discussing se-
rious issues with her, but with time that atti-
tude has changed.
Vrazhnova says the respect that working
mothers enjoy in Russia is an advantage when
managing.“Very often it is women who find
a common language with clients, since they
can identify and understand the demand
quicker than men, and they can also propose
a more effective way of solving problems,”she
explains.
She adds that age is much more important
than gender.“Even a very successful 25 to
30-year-old woman may not always evoke trust.
It needs to be earned and deserved. But when
the client finds out that I have three children,
then some issues are left out or are resolved
faster.”
■ALEXEILOSSAN
RBTH
Heavy industry,
minerals,
construction
and agriculture
are among the
more male-
dominated
professions.
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Women in the
predominantly
Muslim region
in the Northern
Caucasus are
pressured to
conform to age-old,
complex traditions.
Patriarchy still reigns in Chechnya
Every weekend there is a wedding in the
Chechen village of Achkhoy-Martan. People
dance before an open fire, but the bride is
conspicuously absent. She waits quietly all
day in a corner of the groom’s house.Her moth-
er before her also waited in a similar corner,
as did her grandmother, as likely will her
daughter and, perhaps, her granddaughter.
Yet maybe this tradition will change.
We have come to the house of Amina, a
Chechen woman, who tells us about modern
youth here.“They wear make up — in mod-
eration,in my opinion.They wear short skirts,
a bit above their knees — and if you can be-
lieve it — in Grozny, the bride even dances at
her own wedding.”
Amina’s daughter-in-law has baked cakes
from corn flour, and is setting the table.When
Amina’s son took a liking to the young woman,
Amina went “to check her out.”Amina did
not care whether the girl was tall or short, fat
or thin. The most important concerns were
whether the potential bride was modest or
not, and who her parents were.
Amina herself married late by Chechen stan-
dards — she was 18. Her husband’s relatives
had come and arranged it. And Amina’s fa-
ther gave his consent.
“Did you like your fiancé,” I ask Amina.
“Well, how should I put this? Probably not.
But I was forced. I had finished school and
dreamt of continuing my studies. I wanted to
become a seamstress. No one ever wants to
get married. It’s a difficult job. When I was
taken away I cried. It took me two years to
adapt. I ironed, cleaned, prepared the table
for them, and cursed everything in silence. I
told myself: “You’re not the first and not the
last. Be firm. So it must be.”
Amina believes that her heart is now the
strongest muscle in her body. It has hardened,
she says, and almost turned to stone.
We walk out into the courtyard and stand
by the barn. The grass is covered with ma-
nure patties.
“You can’t imagine how we lived our lives,”
she says calmly, without complaining.“Every
day there were bombings,airplanes.I was ask-
ing myself why did I have children — they
don’t see anything positive anyway. Children.
When our children were killed, we stood by
with stone faces. You can’t scream. Every-
thing must be held inside.That’s the custom.”
A rare businesswoman
Tomorrow there will be a wedding. I don’t
know the bride, groom or the family. I’ll go
there without an invitation. Today the bride
can be found in the beauty parlor.
At Golden Scissors, in the center of Groz-
ny, you can hear women laughing. The hair
dryers are rattling.
Mostly widows work here. The parlor is
owned by a widow, a tall woman in black.
Her name is Nurbika.The shelves in her cab-
inet are filled with cosmetics. Nurbika is a
rare businesswoman in Chechnya.
For 25 years Nurbika worked as a head
teacher in a school. Before the Second Chech-
enWar,(1999-2009) her husband,also a teach-
er, died in a car accident.When the war broke
out, Nurbika moved her five children to Ros-
tov and returned to Chechnya to work in a
market, since no one would hire her in Ros-
tov.When she saw some acquaintances at the
market she hid under the counter in shame,
but then she told herself:“Don’t be ashamed
in front of people.People won’t feed your chil-
dren. Who’ll pay you?”
A working woman is a disgrace for a man.
It means he was not able to feed her. But the
war, as they say in Chechnya, turned every-
thing upside down. Men — who were humil-
iated at the checkpoints in the presence of
women and children — could no longer find
work. After the war, women began to view
work differently.
In Rostov, Nurbika’s daughter started dis-
tributing cosmetics. Nurbika decided to help
her, and on NewYear’s Eve in 1999, she start-
ed selling cosmetics in Grozny. It was incred-
ible — war was raging,but the women bought
everything. In one week Nurbika earned
20,000 rubles (then $600), and as soon as the
war ended she opened a salon and a billiards
club. All her children went to university. She
built a new house to replace the old one,which
was destroyed. Men respect her.
Dodging snipers
In Urus-Martan, I’m at the home of a man
named Biberd, who has a high-ranking job
at the Interior Ministry. At the table are his
mother, wife and two daughters, who have
already finished school. His mother seems to
be very old — heavy work and many children
make Chechen women age faster.
A Chechen woman’s life is easier when she
is old.This is when her daughter-in-law does
all the work. Biberd’s wife, Luisa, sits quiet-
ly — she still has years to live before she gets
old.
In 1999, Biberd, wearing a white shirt and
a white sheepskin coat, left home, saying,“I’ll
be back tomorrow.”
He did not return, neither the next day, nor
the day after. And for many months his old
mother waited for him on a bench in front of
the house. Sometimes she would go to town
and ask everyone if they had seen her son.
“Yes, we did,”she heard many times.“He was
lying bleeding on the snow.”
“He said he’d return,”says Luisa, a woman
who is faithful to Chechen traditions: it is for-
bidden to call your husband by his name.
“One, two, three, four to the right, one, two,
three, four to the left, one, two, three…,”Bib-
erd said, as he ran away from an Arab sniper.
He was running through the snow, a Rus-
sian flag in his hands, toward a Grozny school
that was an outpost for Russian soldiers.
“In the army, they taught us that even the
best sniper aims for six seconds,”explains Bib-
erd.“You count to four then turn right, again
to four and turn left.”
Biberd reached the school and the sniper
missed his target, who managed to get to the
roof and crawled till he hoisted the Russian
flag.The flag was shot down,but Biberd raised
it over his head again.
“It would be incorrect to say I was afraid,”
he says.“When you take on such a mission,
they say that you think of your life, your fam-
ily… No, it’s not true.You have only one goal
— reach the place and put up the flag. It is
Chechen pride.”
When Biberd finally did return, there were
no embraces, no small talk. Luisa only looked
at him, suppressed a sigh and set the table. In
this Chechen family,as in others,emotions are
kept inside.
Roots of Chechnya
Edilbek Magomadov is an ethnographer from
the Culture Ministry and a connoisseur of
Chechen traditions. During the war he would
be stopped at the checkpoints and asked to
remove his pants — to show his knees. Knees
that are intact prove that a man did not crawl
on the ground with a rifle in his hands. For a
Chechen man, just being stopped is insulting,
let alone other indignities.
“The modern Chechen nation was formed
after the sun set on the Golden Horde,”Mago-
madov explains.“Sometime in the 15th cen-
tury,the Chechens returned to the plains from
the mountainous areas. The plains then be-
longed to the Kumyk and the Kabardinian
tribes.This is why the colonization of the area
until the 17th century led to a never-ending
war, in which every family participated.”
Family relations were built on the indisput-
able authority of the elders. In order to pre-
serve this authority, family members of vari-
ous generations maintained a big distance from
each other. Especially with the father. The
woman became the decision-maker in the fam-
ily. To preserve his authority, the father had
to maintain a distance with his children.Chech-
en children never call him“father.”They give
him a home name.”
Magomadov adds,“Many Chechen customs
are derived from these old times. There is a
taboo on the name.The woman is not allowed
to call her husband by his name. The bride
cannot call her husband’s close relatives by
their names. This is from the tribal system.”
But there are compensations, he explains. In
order for a young bride to start speaking with
you,for example,you must first give her a gift.
“But with all these burdensome formalities
can a Chechen woman really be happy,”I ask.
“Oh and how!You only see the formal side.
But the wife,for example,invents funny names
for her husband.”
Tell me, he says, is the Chechen woman bel-
ligerent? “In a traditional Chechen society,men
would feel humiliated if their womenfolk used
weapons. If a woman’s close relatives were all
killed, her neighbors would stand up for her.
Iftheneighborswerealsokilled,villagerswould
take over.She does not take part in the bloody
feud.If she kills someone,revenge will be taken
not on her but on her husband, brother or fa-
ther. And so continue the traditions.”
"
When our chil-
dren were killed,
we stood by with
stone faces. You can’t
scream. Everything
must be held inside.
That’s the custom.”
AMINA
ACHECHENWOMAN
"
The woman is
not allowed to
call her husband
by his name. The bride
cannot call her hus-
band’s close relatives
by their names. This is
from the tribal system.”
EDILBEKMAGOMADOV
ETHNOGRAPHER
THE QUOTE
This image is used for
illustrative purposes
only.
READ MORE
Scan this code for
more articles about Che-
chnya. ■MARINAAKHMEDOVA
OGONYOK
Moscow 2016: Events
36 festival spots will pop up in
Moscow Each Christmas market
will have stands, open stages and
street theaters. The Russian Santa
Claus, Ded Moroz, will entertain
with songs and dances.
THE JOURNEY TO CHRISTMAS
FESTIVAL
DEC. 12, 2015 JAN. 11, 2016 MAY
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM
FESTIVAL
More than 250 cultural institutions will
remain open late into the night —
museums, galleries and art corners.
On this day, Russia marks the end
of the Second World War. The
main events will be a military pa-
rade in Red Square and celebra-
tions on Poklonnaya Hill, where
the WWII museum is located.
VICTORY DAY
MAY 9
This retro-style festival will replicate the
Soviet era. Sixteen fairs will sell the best
products from all the Russian regions
and former Soviet Republics.
MOSCOW SPRING FESTIVAL
MAY
SEPTEMBER
Light designers and 2-D and 3-D graphics
professionals will use the city’s architecture
as a screen to project their multimedia and
light installations.
CIRCLE OF LIGHT
AUG. 27 SEPT. 4
Russian and foreign military bands,
folklore groups and honor guards will
exhibit their skills on the Red Square.
THE SPASSKAYA TOWER
INTERNATIONAL MILITARY
MUSIC FESTIVAL
MOSCOW CITY DAY
SEPT. 3 4
The city will turn 869 years old. Concerts, shows
and theatrical performances will be staged in
the city’s central squares, streets, boulevards,
embankments and parks.
The 80th anniversary championship will be
held in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Sixteen
national teams will compete in the event. The
final will be held in the Russian capital.
THE WORLD ICE HOCKEY
CHAMPIONSHIP
MAY 6 22
MAY
Moscow will be decorated with art in-
stallations, and festival-goers can buy
a variety of delicious jams and sweets
in the many tents.
SUMMER JAM FESTIVAL
JANUARY
MAY
SEPTEMBER
.... 2017
REUTERS
