Russian women have many talents.
"Well, I visited a Russian home and I was shocked at how luxurious it was. So I asked the husband, "Do you live like this on one salary?" "No," said the husband, "My wife also works." Then I noticed how well kept the home was. I said, "Obviously you have a servant?" "No," said the husband, "My wife does all that." "And all these furnishings? You must have an assistant who helps you shop for them?" "No, my wife also does that," said the husband. "And this wonderful meal? Obviously you have a cook." "No, my wife also does that," said the husband. "And such well raised children! Surely you have help with them?" "No, my wife does that," said the husband. And I suddenly understood, "That husband had five wives!".
Russian women freed.
From the lowest serf to the highest aristocratic home, Russian women have always taken care of the home. Even though their work differed with their social level women's work and duties never took them beyond the boundaries of home and family. Until Regent Sofia freed them at the end of the 18th century, aristocratic Russian women lived confined in the home, removed from the world outside their home. Oddly during this time Russian women also started and kept alive the Old Believer's movement, which attempted to save religious traditions and beliefs from modern influences. Over 200 years ago, Peter the Great tried to bring Russian women into the mainstream of society, permitting their presence at court events as part of his drive to modernize Russia.
Russian women enlightened.
Some time later Katherine the Great tried to Westernize and enlighten Russia. Formal education of Russian women became a reality when the Smolny Institute began teaching young women how to be wives and mothers. Children were cared for only by women. In the 1830s, Russian poet Alexander Pushkin paid homage to his nanny in his poems. But it is Pushkin's heroine Tatiana Larina, rejected and then hopelessly loved by Eugene Onegin, who remains a paramour of Russian women. Faithful to her husband whom she respected but does not love, Tatiana is morally superior to her profligate husband. The late 19th century brought about a revolution in the lives of Russian women. University education finally was made available in the 1880's. Well educated women started to lead other revolutionary movements.
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