There is no similar holiday in Russia, but – who knows? – maybe, it will soon appear. At least, statistics says that Russian women are becoming more and more emancipated.

It is no secret that a lot more divorces take place in Russia now than, say, 50 years ago. Many women today believe that the majority of men would make unreliable husbands. However, strange as it may seem, rather often, men themselves prefer emancipated women. Well, if not emancipated, then, at least, educated and successful in their career.

It has already become a stereotype that women in the US, as a rule, do not marry before the age of 30 – and, to a big extent, this is true. However, a similar trend can be observed in Russia as well. In 2004, the number of Russian women, who were not married before the age of 30, was 30%. At present, the relevant figure is nearly 40%. Moreover, according to polls, more and more women in Russia say that they don’t want to marry ever at all. But the percentage of such women in Russia is still smaller than in the US, where more than one half of the women are single.

Scientists explain this with the fact that the traditional roles of men and women in the society have now changed. Today, women are becoming more and more strong-willed and aimed at building a career, while men are losing their traditional status of leaders.

“This trend is typical not only for Russia, but for other countries as well,” Russian psychologist Tatyana Gavrilova says. “However, in Russia, this trend is also aggravated by the fact that during practically the entire 20th century, both boys and girls in Russia were, as a rule, brought up by women.”

“Men spent most of their time at work,” Tatyana Gavrilova says. “Children, as a rule, were brought up mainly by women – mothers, grandmothers, sometimes nurses. The majority of teachers in kindergartens and schools were women as well. The role of men in upbringing children was, in fact, reduced to a minimum – at least, in cities and towns.”

When surrounded by loving women, boys often grow sybaritic and girlish – and, to a large extent, remain that way even after becoming adults. Paradoxical as it may seem, the more their mothers coddle them, the more deprived of motherly love they feel. Such men are not inclined to take on any serious responsibilities, and women believe that, most likely, these men won’t become reliable husbands. Thus, women decide that they have to rely on no one except themselves.

Sociologist Tatyana Gurko says:

“In the old times, women had no choice of what role they should occupy in the society. As a rule, women depended on men. Sometimes, marriage was the only way for a woman to upgrade her social status and her wealth. At present, women have an opportunity – and, sometimes, the necessity – of earning both money and social status altogether by themselves.”

However, this is not the only reason why Russian women sometimes do not want to marry. They are just not ready to love anyone and to care for anyone but themselves. Today, more and more women (as well as men, by the way) are inclined to think that life should be more about enjoying oneself than performing any kind of duty.

As a rule, such women do not only remain unmarried, but have no children either. They look upon children as a burden. However, sometimes, after having “lived for themselves” for a rather long time, they start to dream about having children – or, at least, one – and give birth to babies, somewhere between the ages of 27 and 30. <----- right age. 

Well, life is changing – and people’s values are changing as well. However, according to polls, 55% of Russians still say that for them, family is the biggest value.