Men vs Women - Russian Perspective

[Jerash]

I'm in Moscow training to teach English.  Tonight we observed a class of 9 Russian girls and 3 Russian guys.  They were asked to generate ideas on the differences between men and women.  Here's what they came up with (Men - means characteristics of men; Women - means characteristics of women).  Fascinating real time information!

Men:
more selfish
smarter
should be smart
don't cry
should be strong and career oriented
hair everywhere
are teamplayers
like alcohol more

Women:
less confident
more jealous
can be beautiful
do cry
should be more family oriented
on their own (as opposed to teamplayers)
like sweets more

So there you go.

[msmoby]

9-3, Women to men

when I've been a guest Russian speaker - I've noted that ladies always out-number the blokes !

[Volshe]

I'm in Moscow training to teach English.  Tonight we observed a class of 9 Russian girls and 3 Russian guys.  They were asked to generate ideas on the differences between men and women.  Here's what they came up with (Men - means characteristics of men; Women - means characteristics of women).  Fascinating real time information!

Men:
more selfish
smarter
should be smart
don't cry
should be strong and career oriented
hair everywhere
are teamplayers
like alcohol more

Women:
less confident
more jealous
can be beautiful
do cry
should be more family oriented
on their own (as opposed to teamplayers)
like sweets more

So there you go.

Yep, that's common thinking. Mind you, that's Moscow, most advanced and progressive. The further you go, the worse more patriarchal it gets.
What's funny though, it's a "female" country. As they say, a typical family consists of granma, mom and the kid. Men historically used to be few and couldn't be really counted on. Even if the latter were angels, chances were they would be killed in some of the wars. A close friend of mine had relocated temporarily to a city in the  suburbs of Moscow (Подмосковье). She says, in comparison to Moscow, they are at least 50y backwards in thinking, attitude and so on. I've been to a cool small city in 40 km of Moscow. It was 9th of May, the Victory Day. It was very festive, as you can imagine. It's a wealthy small city and well governed. Only teens though looked like they were from this century. Everyone else looked (was dressed, had their hair fixed) like in the 90ies. To me personally it was interesting and unusual. My friends who travel for work to the city every day (and with whom i stayed) said to them it was very depressing. No one wants to live there, they said, even if it's an ideal surrounding for young families, it's clean and safe. 

Btw, not that i think it's much different in most other places. I am reading right now Fuentes' Aura, it starts with a quote (will try to find it in English too):
Мужчина охотится и воюет. Женщина плетет интриги и мечтает; фантазия – ее вотчина, боги – ее порождение. Она обладает вторым зрением – крыльями, уносящими ее в бескрайние просторы желания и воображения… Боги подобны мужчинам: они рождаются и умирают на груди у женщины… 

    Жюль Мишле