Army Women: Russia, Ukraine, Figures and Pictures

Parades and routines

In 2007, 70 thousand women were serving and working in the Ukrainian army system. Today’s stats are 50,000. Most positions are, of course, “peaceful”. Medical service, liaison, accounting are top 3 vectors. Many women are in technical operation & maintenance, administrative and paperwork, civil connections, translation, supplies, transportation, cynology.

119 girls are studying at military institutions of Ukraine. Under the Soviet Union, civil universities, in addition to professional education, gave basic military training and reserve ranks to the youth of both sexes. Many secondary schools still have defense lessons, both for boys and girls.

Ukrainian Demographics – Men, Women, Families: Let’s Dot the I’s

2006, printed sources: Ella Libanova, Vice-Director, Institute of Demography under the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; Victor Smirnov, journalist

Note: Ukrainian nationals, not ethnic Ukrainians, are discussed.

Virgin Village & Smalltown vs. Babylon City? Russian Brides Background Effect

To a Western man searching Russia / Ukraine for unspoiled virtue, health, high moral values, sound family background, top model beauty, unconditional love, and proper mothering of his children, - hinterland is the last area to seek a wife. Post-Soviet specifics of economy and mentality contradict American-based reasoning on the percentage of “sound” or “flawed” women in small communities, of “deserving” or “evil” girls who relocate upscale, and of “fine” or “filthy” city-borns.

A keen observer can discern a range of more specific social types. A psychologist would consider the entire combination of individual factors to make a right match. And it takes a native to detect ancestry & upbringing by manners, speech, style, even by facial features. But let’s now clarify the first-approximation guidelines.

How do major factors of origin affect a Russian or Ukrainian woman’s character? What marriage behavior can a stranger forecast by them?

Here are some trends you need to know. Feels bad to spill - and to conceal.

First mention & counter-arguments

Russian Women’s Professions and Roles Translated: Antipodes to Typical Western Concepts

May not different social realities, giving different meanings to similar words, prevent a viable international relationship or create tensions on the way to one.

“Working girl”, for starters, is “what you’ve thought” only in the Western reading. In Russian, emphasizing work means serious attitude to life (yet not obsession with career - the very word given some negative connotation since the Russian Empire, and much stronger in the Soviet Union).

“Bad” Body Language: the Filthiest Post on Russian Women & Western Men Interaction

Even if your could-be-bride is a fan of Mr. Bean, - mimicking his manners won’t make you her hero. In the basics of Russian cultivation, grimaces and physiological manifestations fall under certain censorship.

Which makes this post important beyond romantic contacts. However polished the stranger may be…

Slavic norms of public / interpersonal conduct allow much less natural motions than accustomed abroad (especially in America). Some may be judged as, without much exaggeration, crime against civility! And civility’s one of the first virtues which Foreign Men are given credit for.

Family Property, Child Support, (Ex-)Spouse Maintenance: Rights and Obligations

My main professional experience is in Ukrainian law. But it’s easy to compare with the Russian Federation Family Code, with their common Soviet basics, built over the Russian Empire’s civil-law system, and modified towards contemporary European standards.

So, here’s a brief to help you estimate general conditions of a marriage with a FSU woman under the law of her country.

Marriage, Concubinage, Experiment? Legal Choice and Consequences

Surprising stats: more wives than husbands in the FSU. Polygamy?! No, different attitudes to non-formalized cohabitation. A Russian poll revealed: of all partners living so, 92% women identify themselves as married, while 85% men keep feeling bachelors.

Ironically, Soviet people dub non-wed household-sharing unions with the legally illiterate title “civil marriage”, but scarcely guess that such relationships, throughout history, engender more or less of rights and obligations associated with the desired – or dreadful, as all jokes go – status of “legitimate spouses”.

Gentlemen, you’re gonna be more savvy than most locals! ;)

High Heels and Fancy Women: Russian Stories with Morals

On beauty, prostitutes, good women, gender roles, consumerism and compensation - through the cultural difference of Former Soviet Union countries

• Story 1

I’ve just watched a TV show “Beauty Factory (Made in Ukraine)”, where they take “visually challenged” women and improve their lives with surgery, stylist crafts, psychology backup. Boyfriends fall on their knees to make proposals, bosses promote, children start listening to the Fairy agape… This time even the show team couldn’t hold tears at the happy end, neither could I…

How to Win a Beautiful Russian Woman: The Different Standard and the Art of Compliment

You find her hot and this fact is welcome in her culture. Shall you express utter admiration? Answer: No. When all the kin is bred beautiful, and smart, it’s a minefield playground!

That foreign worship of Slav looks is like Indians’ shock at White Man and his utensils. It is rather uncomfortable to be deified for what has been ordinary. On the other part, it’s rather miserable to take occasional scrap for treasures. And rather dangerous to drink “fire water” after generations of abstinence.

Russian (Ukrainian) Men’s Characters. Episode 1

Hitch-lift city drivers are a popular alternative to taxi here. Some car owners earn their living so, some just don’t miss an extra bill on their way to work / home / errands, some even do favors. Though it now takes a too luckless fate to run across a robber or assaulter if you stop that random car in Kiev (you rather beware of criminals when it’s you at the wheel), foreigners are the “risk group”, and are never let enjoy the low-cost price.

So I disadvise this mode of transportation to you, but often use it myself – and learn lots about life and people through chatting the way.

99,99% lifts are given by men, not “auto-ladies” (however numerous), so they add male perspectives to the comprehensive feminine clue-up I witness in local seamstresses and hairdressers (ah, forgot to mention the abysmal abundance of educative stories by home-improvement freelancers, men and women).

Here is this morning’s sketch I’d like to share.

“Forbidden Words” Top 10: Messages and Self-Descriptions Not Recommendable as to get you an “Ideal Partner”

These innocent phrases in a profile, email, talk (yours or hers) – resemble customary markers of “Co-Dependency” infection (as opposed to wholesome Mutual Treasuring). Keep cool, as you present yourself or hear that woman doing so! Are they mere figures of speech, or configurations of thinking?

Big Heart: An exemplar Ukrainian mother, wife, businesswoman, and more! (Part II)

This great small lady is in her mid-40s. A slender brunette, born in a town of 45000 people and educated to be a kindergarten coach (just like her mother). Which turned a starvation job in the surly time of the Soviet Union collapse.

Different writing (From my unended epic on Men, Women, East and West)

Scar Clan Charter reads:The most fierce revenge you can take is turning away and building your own happiness.The most ruthless penalty God has is letting enjoy one’s choice.I dedicate this post to Systemic at “A Prostitute’s Game and a Path to Hell“.

Silicon Jungle, Vacland, 2008

As a Real Russian Man, he didn’t want to go to court. He’d better walk away with a valise, leaving his would-be-ex-wife with “everything”. Namely, their house (”only” three bedrooms, but all paid out), his “parade” Lexus (added to her latest sports Toyota; NOT his dear old Mitsubeast), and the family deposit in the bank. Luckily, they have been childless. She renounced having kids, to his own half-realized relief.

- And the firm, - she demanded naughtily. Despite the Russian name he’s bought into so long ago, Sonya was a true-blue American woman. A beautiful one, whatsoever.

Good News on IMBRA Help Your Russian Dating & Marriage Prospects

Honestly, we Russian Women hail the US law on men’s police record disclosure. Just look with our eyes, like you can. In fact, it puts American daters a body ahead ALL other nationals!

Russian People and Materialism: Rich or Poor vs. High or Low

These notes address argument about Money vs. Satisfaction and City vs. Province, inspired with the question, whether Russian women are Worshipped or Depreciated at homeland, and if Western environment and Chivalry can “spoil” them. Original thread here at GL’s. Worth reading.

Russians say, “Not in money happiness is” (well, some jocularly add “but in its amount”), and right they are. Culture is what matters, - in all its meanings, including artistic sources of thought and pleasure, active folklore, patterns and manners of human relations, self-discipline, spiritual ideals and fulfilment,.. goals and values that money’s nothing more than a means for.

Cinderella Code to Russian Women’s Virtues, Expectations, Attitudes and Charms

Pick the role of “Poor Thing’s Prize” or poke into that shallow “Silver Platter To Females”, and you’ll miss a host of differences behind the axiom that

“to Western men, we are all Cinderellas by default; to Russian women, you are all Princes by default.”

It’s high time to anatomize the totem of Russian women.

“Shocking” Statistics on Russian Women - I: Social Situation & Values

This is the overall picture that a local person can observe. A foreigner should keep in mind that “potential international brides” (women he would likely meet or notice) are a specific sampling, with their peculiarities and differences I’m trying to describe.

Ukrainian Slave Wife the Ruler of Islamic Empire: The Story of Roxelana (Roksolana)

The reign of Sultan Suleyman known as “the Magnificent” in Europe and “the Lawgiver” in the Islamic world (1520-66) represented the height of the Ottoman Empire,.. which was successfully influenced by a Ukrainian woman, who raised incredibly from a harem slave to the Sultan’s Chief Wife & Advisor and Mother of the Heir.

Suleiman’s domain let him call himself “Caesar of all the lands of Rome”. But the love of his life was a lightsome avatar of a “Cleopatra”.

Happy Husband, Children and Career: How Can a Russian Wife Manage it All

Russian women are famous as resourceful, enduring, energetic and dependable. In the Soviet and early transition economies, they carried their families (and the society) on their shoulders, homemaking AND breadwinning, while most their men lay mazed with Communist limits and market challenges. New opportunities didn’t add accountability to Russian men… to women, they did.

Actually, the youngest generation of Russian (Ukrainian) Brides, entering the marriageable age of 17 next year, would be the Fourth Generation of Children Raised by Working Mothers.

Why, how, with what results and feelings have Russian Women been carrying out double responsibilities, - here are the facts from our social history and breathing stories of the women I immediately know.

Traditional-vs-Feminist Dispute: a Compromise by Russian Woman the Peacemaker )

“No matter what the feminist-wits do, they cannot alter NATURE. And if they try, primary selection will exert its force and suppress and exterminate these aberrations. Feminism is a societal aberration against NATURE.” (kzarz)

To agree with the general message, and dare on details…;)

Paradox Relationships in Paradox Society: Men & Women in Russia or Ukraine

Now you can finally outline and explain the paradoxes of this land, so astonishing to strangers! Watch the symbol of the Orthodox religion, fundamental to the Russian, Ukrainian, Belarus and largely Soviet culture that reaches from private desires to the order of government. A cross is like a reference frame stretched between the extremes, - contrasts at the ends of axes, varieties between, and balance in the intersection.

So whatever you wanted to know… Yes, every tiny peculiarity. Did you notice that the Orthodox Cross has buds on ends that make each branch crossed once more? ;) The posts below would show how major conditions of the region’s geography, economy and history have shaped the daily life of “Russian” people and their way of thinking.

Is There Feminism in Russia (Former Soviet Union)?

In the global village, Former Soviet women have access and exposure to all Western baits, long-banned and currently-imposed. Yet

Why So Many Beautiful Women in “Russia” (Eastern Europe)?

In the Former Soviet Union, beauty is a MUST for women. The multitude of reasons have History, Survival and Dignity in their common denominator.

Genetics

There’s an observation that best genes come up when different races match. (So do less viable genes, to be sifted away more quickly.) For ages, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus (to some degree) and Eastern regions of the Former Soviet Union have been witnessing different peoples’ migrations, invasions, forced relocations, as well as massive missions for trade, work and education.

What hasn’t worked with the New World?

The “Russian Woman” / “Russians” brand: Geography, Philosophy, Patriotism

Should I parenthesize “Russian” everywhere on this blog? Any Russian-bride-savvy knows this indication concerns several, mostly Eastern European, countries of the Former Soviet Union (FSU): Belarus, Russia, Ukraine (kin Slavonic / Slavic nations), to some extent the Baltic region (West-wise), Georgia and Kazakhstan (East-wise). What stands behind the “brand name” then?

These Strong Weak Russian Women

It took me a long path of fun and sometimes pain to recognize the magical balance that makes a “real” woman of the Russian fashion.