A married russian woman has her life values arranged as follows: children - husband - relatives - her home - her job. As you can see, husband plays one of the predominant roles in her life. Let us define what husband means to a Russian woman.

The husband is HER man, that is a man who makes her feel useful and significant. She doesn't fret about being alone, she doesn't rack her brains over who will accompany her to a party; the expression 'to be married' itself has a literal meaning in Russian 'to follow the husband, to be behind him.'

The husband inspires her with confidence in her welfare. In Russia the man has traditionally been considered the bread-winner. The woman feels more secure against major financial problems when she can count on two wages or salaries to make her family budget.

The husband is a regular sexual partner. A russian woman nowadays, especially those over 25-30 years old, has certain problems with finding a man to establish permanent sexual relations with. This isn't a concern of a married woman.

The husband is the father of the woman's children. Russians believe a child must have both mother and father. Although the responsibility to bring up children lies, to a great extent, with the woman, the authority of the father is absolutely indispensable.

In brief, the husband is EVERYTHING to a russian woman. One of my acquaintances says: "He is a lover and a child and a girl-friend to me." This is also proved by the fact that after the wedding the number of female friends of a young wife is considerably reduced: she doesn't need them any more.

The husband has traditionally been the highest authority for the russian woman. She will not go out, nor make major purchases, nor take important decisions without first consulting with him.

A russian woman takes care of her husband as if he were her child: she washes and irons his clothes and cooks delicious meals for him. But such attitude is not a universal trait of russian women. One can often come across families where the husband washes and cooks for himself while the wife is engrossed with her job or a talk with friends. Families differ; all depends on the relations between the spouses. If they love each other, the woman tries to do her best to manifest her tender love for her husband.

A Russian proverb claims 'Wife without husband is like child without mother.' This may be the best symbol to reflect the relation between the russian woman and her husband.