The results of Russian quasi-reforms was deep economic crisis, break-down of the industry, decline of the production, deterioration of living standard of the population and mass unemployment. The lack of job, and livelihood opportunities drives labour force from the official sphere of employment into the informal economy.

This problem is critical for Russia due to the large scale of the informal sector and the role it plays in the economy of the country in the last decade. According to Goscomstat RF official data in 2003, 8 to 10 million people work in the informal economy. Approximately 15% of the active part of the population does not have any other sources for survival. What is more important, mostly all of them are hired workers with low salaries.

The labour relations and employment are regulated in Russia by two federal laws – Labour Code (2002) and Law on Employment of Population (1991). National labour legislation does not take into account the realities of modern labour market. Workers in informal economy are neither recognized nor protected by these laws. As a result, current growth of activities in the informal economy has led to growing ranks of vulnerable, marginalized workers with no access to justice. The feminisation of poverty and gender discrimination at the labour market are reasons why are women more likely than men to be in the informal economy.

Women and men involved in the informal sector do not even possess a minimal level of social guarantees. They do not receive annual paid leaves or payment for a temporary disability; their working day is not limited by set hours; women do not have right to a maternity leave or to support for child care. They do not have life and health insurance, so they are exposed to constant risk. They are also deprived of legal protection. On the other hand, they and their problems are invisible for the governmental officials and statistics.

In Russia, according to Goskomstat statistics, the number of workers in informal sector in 2002 was same as the number of unemployed (each about 9 million persons). The government allocates considerable institutional (employment service) and material (benefits) resources aimed at solving the problem of unemployment, but there are no resources available at solving the labour and social problems of millions working in informal economy. Moreover, this problem is not recognised at the governmental level. These people and their problems are invisible for the law, government and society. Currently, there are no programs and projects in Russia, aimed at solving the social problems of men and women working in the informal sector of economy.

The tendency of growth of informal sector has a global character, and everywhere poor women are involved in this type of activity more than men. But the specific of Russia is that women involved in informal sector have (in many cases) high level of education. There are former engineers, teachers, and etc. Our survey shows that 55% of men and women employed in informal economy have professional education (more then high school — they finished collage or university). Their entry into this sector is absolutely necessary, as it is often sole source of income for themselves and their families. Economic crisis, unemployment and open discrimination in the Russian labour market denied them the opportunity to attain the professional employment commensurate with their label of education. They have no other opportunity but to work in the informal sector, and they cannot reconcile their identity with such reality.
The informal economy in Russia has different impact on the social and economic status of men and women. My study has shown that the problems faced in the informal economy first and foremost affected women. The main gender problems in the employment sphere include the growth of female unemployment, the difficulty of finding jobs, the discrepancy between the job specifications and the professional qualification, the dismissal of qualified women employees, barriers to carrier promotion, and so on. All these problems stem from gender inequality or discrimination against women in the sphere of employment and labour market. Unemployed women, especially divorced and single mothers, as families’ sole bread-winners, but also young girls coming into the labour market for the first time, agree to any work on any terms, including in the informal sector. These so-called “terms” include that women do not have the right to marry or to have children while they work.

Factors of predomination of the growth of women’s informal work in Russia:

• Economic crisis and reduction of the labour force in last decade in Russia (1990-2002) on 11 million workers;
• Uneven reduction of the labour force with visible discrimination against women - as a result 7,5 million women lost a job in the formal sector of Russian economy (20% of women’s labour force) and only 3,5 million of men (10% of men’s labour force);
• High level of unemployment;
• Gender discrimination at the labour market.

The strongest influence on female labour force in Russian society today is discrimination in hiring practices that pushes them beyond the labour market. On the other hand, a decline in the quality and standard of living demands their contribution to a family budget, since the family cannot make living on one salary. According to statistics, 2/3 of families with children where only one parent works live below the poverty level. Under these conditions, women choose various survival strategies, among which in the past few years is the work in the informal sector as the only means of possibility to realize their right to work and right to receive a salary.
The liquidation of 7,5 million jobs for women in the last decade illustrates not only their position in the society, but also the deformation of the labour market. This is the biggest price that women pay for the Russian transition to the market economy.

^[1] Abstract of the paper presented at the IAFFE (International Association of Feminist Economics) Conference “A feminist economic dialogue on transition and EU-enlargement”, January 21-22, 2005, Budapest, Hungary