> How would I be perceived in Russia as a 40 year old, childless woman?
Sorry, but in Russia they would say that you wasted your life. But there are child-free women here. Take my sister for example, she is a little older than you are and she is single and perfectly happy with her life as a single and childless woman. It makes our mother unhappy though. When I meet someone I know but haven't seen for a while one of the obligatory questions to me is "How's your sister? Did she get married?" But it is not such gender-asymmetric as you think because I get such questions about myself too (I am a guy). In Russia many people just don't believe in things other than family, like it's the only real thing, real value. It's not only cultural, it's historical. Many greatest ideas turned into nothing, many things didn't pass the test of time. For a man or a woman who is looking for some reason in their life there is not so many choices. So yes, many Russians think it is only natural to find their happiness in marriage.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2013-08-20 05:54 pm (UTC)Sorry, but in Russia they would say that you wasted your life.
But there are child-free women here. Take my sister for example, she is a little older than you are and she is single and perfectly happy with her life as a single and childless woman. It makes our mother unhappy though.
When I meet someone I know but haven't seen for a while one of the obligatory questions to me is "How's your sister? Did she get married?" But it is not such gender-asymmetric as you think because I get such questions about myself too (I am a guy).
In Russia many people just don't believe in things other than family, like it's the only real thing, real value. It's not only cultural, it's historical. Many greatest ideas turned into nothing, many things didn't pass the test of time. For a man or a woman who is looking for some reason in their life there is not so many choices. So yes, many Russians think it is only natural to find their happiness in marriage.