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Copyright by Tatiana Borisovna Segura 2008 - The University of ...

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status-sets reinforce the social stratification system: if women are meant to be at home,<br />

they cannot compete with men in the labor market, especially for those higher ranking<br />

and better paid positions.<br />

Chafetz argues that “Any division <strong>of</strong> labor requires some degree <strong>of</strong> cooperation<br />

and interdependence among people who specialize in performing only some <strong>of</strong> the tasks<br />

necessary to sustain life” (46). In other words, men voluntarily agree to provide for the<br />

family, while women agree to take care <strong>of</strong> the household and family members and maybe<br />

make a contribution to providing for the family as well. <strong>The</strong> fact that women are<br />

responsible for the family and for maintaining a job affects their career opportunities. At<br />

the macro level <strong>of</strong> analysis <strong>of</strong> gender inequality, it is the society’s ideology and gender-<br />

related norms that justify such unequal responsibilities. At the micro level, it is gender-<br />

related stereotypes and believes that promote unequal treatment.<br />

Gender in Russia<br />

<strong>The</strong> patriarchal nature <strong>of</strong> the Russian society<br />

<strong>The</strong> essence <strong>of</strong> the patriarchal approach to gender differences is the belief that<br />

there is a natural division between men and women, and that women <strong>by</strong> their nature are<br />

intended to be mothers, while men are intended to be breadwinners. Kon believes that<br />

Russia has always been a patriarchal society where women are oppressed both in social<br />

and domestic spheres (198).<br />

<strong>The</strong> patriarchal nature <strong>of</strong> the Russian culture is clearly reflected in Russian<br />

folklore and literature. Lissyutkina, for example, brings to our attention that the beautiful<br />

heroines <strong>of</strong> Russian literature who went against the patriarchal order, such as Nastasia<br />

Filipovna in Dostoevsky’s ‘Idiot’ and Helen Bezukhova in Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace,’<br />

are depicted as morally and spiritually deficient (282-83). She concludes that Russian<br />

33

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