82% of Russians Favor Gender Equality in Families – Poll

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – March 6, 2018)

[https://wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=116735]

As many as 82 percent of surveyed Russians say they are in favor of gender equality within the family, according to a state-run poll published Tuesday.

Despite high rates of divorce and abortion, Russia has positioned itself as a country of conservative family values against modern liberal trends. Russia was among three of 22 countries in which the majority of people said that the role of women was to be good mothers and wives in a 2017 Global Trends Survey.

The state-run VTsIOM pollster’s results appear to contradict the projected view of traditional-values Russia, with 82 percent of respondents saying that spouses should make key decisions together, rather than be dominated by a man or a woman who is the head of the household.

The majority of respondents said that household chores like buying groceries, cooking, cleaning and doing the dishes should be divided between men and women.

Views on gender equality appear to translate into practice, with 72 percent of those in a relationship saying they make important decisions together.

Slightly over one-third of those polled by VTsIOM gave that answer in 2009.

VTsIOM conducted its survey among 2,000 Russians by phone between Jan. 28 and March 1 this year.

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