Gender studies indicate importance of family for men of Northern Caucasus

For North-Caucasus men, currently, economic difficulties take the first place in the conventional rating of problems; while the concept of success is associated with the family – these were the findings of the researchers, who presented their report in Moscow.

The study was held as a continuation of the gender projects aimed at studying the status of women in Northern Caucasus, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The report was prepared by Irina Kosterina, the coordinator of the gender programme of the Russian branch of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, and Denis Sokolov, a senior scientific fellow of the Russian Academy of National Economy and State Service.

"Ingushetia have turned to be the most traditional republic with a rather strong influence of local traditions and local moral codes," Ms Kosterina said, adding that in Chechnya, the role of local traditions is also strong. "But there is an impact of the war, which led to a shortage of men," said the expert.

"In Dagestan, the situation is different; and Kabardino-Balkaria looks more secular, liberal, but the influence of the code Adyghe Khabze (Adyg (Circassian) ethical and philosophical doctrine, a set of unwritten rules – note of the "Caucasian Knot") is felt," said Kosterina.

A participant of the project from Chechnya named Inna noted the emergence of a new trend called "new fatherhood" – when a man seeks to establish a friendly relationships with his children, motivating it by a lack of attention from his parents.

When they studied the position of women in Northern Caucasus, they fixed a high level of violence – psychological, moral and physical, said Kosterina, adding that many men take off the responsibility for such actions from themselves.

According to Denis Sokolov, economically active men up to 40 often have second wives.

Irina Starodubrovskaya, an expert on Northern Caucasus, believes that in this region we can talk about the crisis of traditional marriage under the influence of urbanization and new ideologies.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.