‘She is expected to have good health and children’: what will help a woman have time to give birth, save her marriage and work

Trade unions have taken up the preservation of women's health

“If earlier we talked about protecting women's labour rights, raised issues of wages and working conditions, now — about women's health. After all, the well-being of the family depends on her. And the topic of motherhood will never leave the agenda,” head of the Federation of Trade Unions of Tatarstan Elena Kuzmicheva opened the 2nd Forum of Working Women dedicated to women's health with this message.

In Kazan, a series of regional discussions on this difficult and rather delicate topic continued. Usually women consult about this only with doctors in medical centres, and now they are talking about it almost at the state level.

Women's health, it seems, is no longer a personal matter. The authorities, employers, and public associations are ready to show concern. It can be said that the 2^ndForum of Working Women, dedicated to women's health, is the first approach to an unusual “projectile.” How can a woman be helped? And is this help necessary?

Deputy Chairman of the federation Alexander Shershukov did not hide the fact that he treats modern women with understanding and even with some sympathy. The fast pace of life does not leave her time to take care of herself and improve the quality of life. She has to manage to do a thousand things at once on the go. And this is where he sees the root of her troubles.

Maternity payments should be fair

For a woman to want to start a family, she needs time, place, mood and an understanding of the prospects, noted Alexander Shershukov. But if it is easy to raise the mood, then with housing there is impenetrable darkness. Even before the cancellation of preferential mortgages, the federation conducted a study of the availability of mortgages. And it turned out that not every family with two working parents can improve their housing conditions, so there is no need to talk about a rapid increase in the birth rate.

Nevertheless, the federation is going to come up with a new initiative to increase maternity payments to expectant mothers. Currently, temporary disability benefits are calculated based on wages for the last two years, which is less than possible.

“This measure was introduced two years ago as a temporary one. We say that it is necessary to support a woman-mother. But women who go on maternity leave do not receive the amount that they should receive from our point of view,” said the deputy chairman of the federation.

According to him, trade unions together with Tatarstan deputies will develop a legislative initiative. This is due to the fact that society is changing rapidly now, so a mother should have her own supports.

However, current financial payments help to give birth without fear for tomorrow. State Duma deputy from Tatarstan Tatyana Larionova reminded that maternity capital and other social payments have been indexed by 9.5%. Among the noveleties — it is allowed to take the remainder of maternity capital from the account in the Social Fund within 10,000 rubles. Previously, this money was considered ownerless, but now it can be received upon the recipient's application.

“Health and children are expected from a woman,” the forum participants generally agreed.

Fertility will be assessed during a medical examination

Specific measures to prevent women's health have been adopted at the federal level, said the first deputy minister of health of Tatarstan Almir Abashev. According to him, this year the medical examination of citizens aged 18-49 will continue in order to assess their reproductive health; it is being carried out under the national project Family. The republic plans to conduct “reproductive medical examination” of 264,117 women. For medical reasons, women aged 18 to 29 will be sent for PCR testing for infectious diseases.

“We must use these opportunities to assess women's health,” he urged.

Later, representatives of the Republican Cancer Hospital said that the most common diseases are breast cancer, cervical cancer and skin melanoma. According to them, early detection helps save a woman, and statistics show a steady trend. Many women not only survive, but also give birth.

We will add that last year such medical examination was carried out only in 10 municipalities, then 56,700 people were examined. This year it will be carried out in all municipalities. It is planned to cover more than 500,000 people.

“Currently, there are about 36 million working women in our country. But their number will decrease every year,” predicts Tatyana Larionova.

People get married less often than 10 years ago

Having children can and should be planned when you get married. But, unfortunately, over the past 11 years, the number of marriages in the republic has decreased by 25%, said the head of the Family and Demography Centre of the Academy of Sciences, Aygul Khuramshina. According to her, marriages in the republic occur under the influence of external events. For example, with the beginning of the special military operation, their number has increased — to 27,400, which is close to the peak of ten years ago.

A feature of the current moment is that the number of young women exceeds the number of men by 18.6%, she noted. The most recent data on the number of marriages is only available for 2023. Then, more than 25,000 couples got married in Tatarstan. Most of all in Kazan (11,700), in Naberezhnye Chelny (3,477). The rural areas of Agryz, Zainsk, Menzelinsk, Tukay and Cheremshan are alarming, as the population may sharply decrease with the continued outflow of young people.

Divorces have stabilized in recent years. Over 14,000 were registered by the end of 2023. Most often, a woman with children files for divorce first, noted Khuramshina. This happens at the age of 35-40, usually after 10-11 years of marriage. She did not give the reasons, but most likely, the woman becomes more independent and decisive. Tatarstan ranks 4th in divorce rates in the Volga Federal District and 10th in the country.