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Russians value the traditional family
Marharyta Fabrykant carried out a cross-national analysis on gender beliefs in Europe, focusing her research on Russia. Russians hold the most liberal views on single motherhood and abortions, yet Russians still take issues connected with the ‘traditional family’ close to heart. Stable relationships and children are issues Russians see as important for both men and women, while self-fulfillment as a mother and wife is more important for women than work.
As concerns one of the most controversial issues – gay rights – ‘Russia is among the middle or even more liberal positions for Europe,’ Marharyta Fabrykant said in the paper ‘The Traditional and Contemporary in Normative Views on Family and Gender Relations: Russians Compared with Other Europeans.’ The research was carried out as part of the Higher School of Economics’ Basic Research Programme in 2014.
The project uses data from the 2008 European Values Study, which is the latest wave of this project. Information was collected from 48 European countries, and answers came from nearly 49,000 people.
Russia not rushing to update gender views
Demographic modernization, which helps women decide on self-fulfillment within the family, is a global process, according to most experts. This has a different speed in different countries under different starting conditions, however, the researcher notes.
Georgia remains to be the most conservative European country when it comes to ‘gender issues.’ The pioneers of change are Scandinavian countries, which have the most liberal views on family. Russia’s position is closer to traditional, Marharyta Fabrykant comments. In addition, for a number of ‘resonant’ issues – such as the acceptability of abortion or the rights of gay couples to adopt – Russians often express more tolerance than people from a number of other European countries.
To carry out a cross-national analysis on gender beliefs, the author selected nine key value-related variables from the European Values Study. These include beliefs on gender roles and the topic of fathers and children.
Among such variables are, for example, issues relating to the acceptability of cohabitation, as well as women and men’s need for children. Statements used in the study include ‘marriage is an outdated method of organizing the family,’ ‘marriage or long-standing relationships are a must,’ ‘work is good, but the majority of women actually want to have a home and children,’ etc. Depending on whether a person agrees or disagrees with these statements, their conservatism or liberalism was evaluated. The more number of points, the more ‘advanced’ respondents were in gender issues.
In Figure 1, the research shows average indicators for each country. According to this data, Georgia is the most traditional with -0.98. Conversely, Sweden is most liberal as concerns gender issues with a score of 1.29. Lithuania is considered the most average in Europe with 0.02.
Russia’s figure is -0.36. ‘Compared with other European countries, Russia is traditional,’ Fabrykant concludes.
Figure 1. Average gender positions in European countries (N=48913)
Source: M. Fabrykant’s paper
A total of 11 countries were close to Russia, as shown in grey on the figure above, and many of these countries are post-socialist nations. This includes Romania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Greece, Northern Cyprus, Slovakia, Malta, Bulgaria, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the expert notes.
There were eight countries – the leftmost countries in Figure 1 – that were more conservative than Russia: Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Moldova, Armenia, Ukraine, Albania, and Cyprus.
Finally, 28 countries hold freer views on gender issues compared to Russia. The rightmost group of countries shows the best representatives of such modernization. This includes the Northern European countries of Sweden, Iceland, Norway, the Netherlands, and Finland with scores above 1.
Flexible gender theories prevalent in Europe
Table 1 shows how many countries have views that are more traditional, modern, or similar to Russia’s views for each of the variables. Russians demonstrated the unchanging quality of their views in the question about the importance of permanent relationships, while residents from 34 countries were found to have freer views on this. This was also shown by a question on the necessity of children for men and women; conversely, 39 and 31 countries, respectively, had liberal views.
A total of 40 countries were more conservative than Russia concerning the ‘family-centered purpose’ of a woman, or the priority of her roles as mother and wife.
Table 1. Family norms in Russia compared with other European countries.
|
Variable |
Number of countries more conservative than Russian |
Number of countries statistically similar to Russia on average |
Number of countries less conservative than Russian |
|
‘Need for permanent relationships’ |
7 |
31 |
9 |
|
‘Need for permanent relationships’ |
6 |
7 |
34 |
|
‘Acceptability of cohabitation’ |
11 |
14 |
22 |
|
‘Women’s need for children’ |
2 |
6 |
39 |
|
‘Men’s need for children’ |
7 |
9 |
31 |
|
‘Approval of single mothers’ |
27 |
15 |
5 |
|
‘The majority of women want a home and children’ |
2 |
5 |
40 |
|
‘Gay couples’ right to adopt’ |
18 |
10 |
19 |
|
‘Abortion when a couple doesn’t want more children.’
Integral parameters Traditional – Modern |
27 |
12 |
8 |
Source: M. Fabrykant’s paper
It is important to note, however, that Russians were entirely calm in accepting the fairly strong statement that ‘the institution of marriage is outdated.’ Here, Russia was in the same group as 31 other European countries; that it, Russia was in the majority.
Post-socialist countries hold same gender beliefs
Fabrykant’s work also identified and detailed an index of the similarity in countries’ gender views relative to Russia’s. This figure was based on the same nine key variables.
Most in line with Russian views was Romania with a score of 8. ‘This is a former socialist country that arguably demonstrated the most intervention of a regime in private life compared with other countries of the People’s Democracy,’ the researcher says.
The second group of countries most similar to Russia included Albania, Latvia and Serbia with an index of 5.
Scandinavian and Western European countries such as Norway, France, and Great Britain demonstrated the lowest level of similarity to Russia with an index of 2. This group also included Greece and Italy, ‘which had a substantial similarity to Russia and other post-socialist countries for other indicators of popular opinion,’ Fabrykant comments.
Austria, Denmark, Spain, and Malta had an index of zero as concerns a similarity to Russia’s views on gender.
It therefore follows that the modernization of gender views in Russia is taking place irregularly, and the idea of the family remains largely traditional. The trajectory of these changes is more or less clear, however. The institution of marriage is eroding, new forms of legitimate relationships are expanding, and concern about self-fulfillment and development are moving towards the centre of family life for all members of the household.