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FEMALE FACE OF CHERNOBYL FEARS

On the 17th of August in Ostrovets there was held a public Belarusian-Lithuanian discussion of the report on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the Belarusian nuclear power plant under construction. The official point of view on the safety problem during the discussion was represented by the Deputy Minister of Energy of Belarus M. Mikhadyuk. We are not going to retell it, but, naturally, it was reduced to unconditional priority of safety and reliability of the future nuclear station and commitment of Belarus to observance of IAEA norms and standards.
As for the public opinion, after the Chernobyl disaster it’s naturally impossible to expect from Belarusians a unanimous support of construction of own nuclear power plant. In September 34% of Belarusians had a positive attitude towards the construction of the nuclear power plant, 37.6% had a negative attitude, 22.6% felt indifferent and 5.8% had difficulties with answering the question.
Table 1 allows to estimate the social and demographic structure of supporters and opponents of the construction of the nuclear power plant.
Table 1. Distribution of answers to the question: “In Ostrovetsky district of Grodno region a nuclear power plant is being built with the support from Russia. Some people regard it positively, others negatively. What do you think about it?” depending on gender, age, education and attitude towards A. Lukashenko, %
Characteristic                  
Positively
Indifferently
Negatively
Gender:
Male
39.4
21.6
34.5
Female
29.6
23.4
40.2
Age:
18-29
33.2
25.5
36.7
30-39
31.2
20.8
42.8
40-49
35.3
20.8
37.8
50-59
38.8
21.3
36.9
60+
32.2
23.6
35.7
Education:
Primary
25.8
27.8
40.2
Incomplete secondary
31.2
26.1
29.3
Secondary
35.5
24.5
36.2
Vocational
34.0
22.1
39.3
Higher
35.3
15.9
41.5
Attitude towards A. Lukashenko:
Trust
46.0
23.9
25.1
Don’t trust
21.9
21.9
51.7
* Table is read across
There is nothing unexpected in the fact that the share of supporters among the respondents who trust A. Lukashenko is twice higher than among the respondents who don’t trust the “father”. The final decision on the beginning of construction was made personally by the head of state; he assumed the role of the chief lobbyist of the project as well. What comes as a surprise is the prevalence of men among supporters of construction, the lack of respondents’ age influence on the attitude towards the construction and a rather low share of supporters among respondents with primary education.
Among A. Lukashenko’s supporters, as we know, dominate women, pensioners and people with a low education level. Why then these social groups speak against nuclear power plant construction more actively?
Let’s look at the Table 2. Three from four respondents consider that their personal health and the health of their relatives worsened after the Chernobyl disaster! The exclamation mark wasn’t put casually here since the respondents were asked about real influence of the Chernobyl disaster on their health, and not about its potential threat. Because of the reasons which don’t need any comments, women are much more preoccupied with health issues than men, therefore they have surpassed men in the choice of answer “I agree” by 4.8 points.

 

The answers to the question: “27 years have passed since the disaster on the Chernobyl NPP, but its consequences will affect the life of Belarusians for a long time. What feelings do these consequences cause in you?” were shaped under the influence of gender specifics as well. From three offered versions of answer the option “I feel anxious” was chosen by 28.8% of respondents (25.1% men, 31.9% women), “I feel concerned” – 46.4% (46.1% men, 46.7% women) and “I don’t care much about it” – 22.5% (26.2% men, 19.3% women).
But as soon as we pass from the common level of the Chernobyl disaster perception to the political level the gender factor starts working in the opposite direction. Men are more skeptic in estimation of official actions in comparison with women, and there is nothing unexpected in it. This is a general rule for the authoritative power: it’s easier to satisfy women than men (table 3).

 

With age the share of women in the gender structure of population increases. Among Belarusians with primary education (who are elderly people as a rule) women prevail absolutely. Therefore the surprises revealed during the analysis of Table 1 shouldn’t be perceived as random deviations. They are quite logical since they result from a peculiar compromise between the tendency of women to support the authoritative power which claims responsibility for the solution of all problems in society, and fears, generated by this society.