The case is that it is traditional for a Russian woman to marry early. It has become a custom and is now a part of the Russian culture. There is a widespread stereotype that if a 24-25 year old girl is unmarried, she’s considered an old maid. However strange it may sound, but psychologically, Russian girls would feel better married and divorced than never married.
One of my “never married” acquaintances, a 31 year old woman who for some personal reasons refuses to use dating sites and agencies to find a husband, has admitted to me that it is very difficult for her to attend family celebrations and reunions. She cannot stand pitying glances and questions from her relatives about when she’ll finally get married.
For the most part, Russian women get married while attending a college or a university, when they are 18-20 years old. It’s easier to find a husband at school; very often they marry their classmates. Being children themselves, they form families and start having kids. The reasonable question to ask is how these young families support themselves if both parents are still unemployed students.The answer is simple: they survive thanks to their parents. In Russia, parents help their children as long as they have the strength and the means to do so. This is also a Russian tradition. For example, my 80 year old neighbor is using his money to build a cottage for his good-for-nothing 55 year old son.
This is why young people don’t really bother to think about how their young family will manage, especially if they come from a well-to-do family. In this case, the wedding will be paid by the parents who will also give the young ones an apartment and a car. They will also pay for the university and take care of all the general expenses of the newlyweds.
But not all parents are capable of providing their children with such luxurious lifestyle. In poorer families, children live with their parents, staying in one of the rooms. If there is no extra room for them, they rent an apartment and start working part time while going to school, and their parents help them out as much as they can.
The Russian belief in “on the off chance” also plays a significant role in this. Young people don’t think seriously about contraception, hoping they’ll be lucky not to get pregnant, but of course the pregnancy does happen, and they have to marry, but these kinds of marriages eventually fall apart.
In the resent years the situation has started to change. Young people are not in a hurry to get married and take on all the burdens of the family life. They want to get an education, find jobs, and get a desired career. They save money to buy cars and houses, they date, but… they don’t marry, which also becomes a problem for women. Since young guys are not in a hurry to get married, women simply don’t have anyone to marry! It has become a saying that if you don’t find a husband while attending a university, you’ll never get married. ))
The times of the Soviet Union have passed. Back then students would have guaranteed stable jobs once they were done with school. The government would provide them with apartments, so it was much easier to start a family. Today it’s not easy for young men because they are the ones who have to provide for the family. That’s why they don’t rush to marry.
Because of all this girls try to marry as soon as possible, and, taking into consideration the divorce rate, later become divorced single mothers.
