Dr. Natalia Velikaya, Dean of the Faculty of Sociology of RSUH, spoke about how she had begun to engage in socio-political research and what is the role of women in science.
Natalia Mikhailovna had begun to study political technologies and analyze them even before this topic became widely known in the academic community. She admits that during her work in higher education she never wanted to leave science, despite the fact that she was simultaneously engaged in political consulting in various projects.
Dr. Velikaya is engaged in research in the field of political analysis and social technologies, and also studies the sociology of political parties and movements. In her works, she pays special attention to the rights of women in the political discourse of modern Russia. She has written papers and articles on the possibilities and limitations of women's promotion to local governing bodies, women's reproductive rights, the demographic state of Russian regions, etc.
As Natalia Mikhailovna notes, in modern Russia there are no fewer women in science than men, including in leadership positions. This is especially true of educational institutions of liberal arts. Interestingly, women are more likely than men to get a graduate school degree.
Women began to start careers in academics en masse in the 1950s. Since then there has been an active increase in the number of women in science and higher education. This trend continues today. We see that more and more young girls are interested in research activities. Women in science play an important role, they contribute to the development of Russian science and are ready to work hard.
However, there are fewer women in the exact sciences and start-ups, which is due, in part, to access to funding. In large technology companies, leadership positions are dominated by men. But life is changing rapidly, and just as in politics, we see a kind of “gender turn”, as in the field of academic research: achieving gender balance is a matter of years.
Professor Velikaya is currently a member of the Dissertation Council of RSUH, a member of the International Sociological Association, President of the Working Group of the International Sociological Association (WG01 Sociology on Local-Global Relations of ISA) and a member of the Board of the Research Committee of the International Political Science Association (IPSA). She is the author of over 150 articles, several monographs and textbooks.
