Changes in the gender roles representation in family (the example of Siberian Federal University)
This paper deals with the changes which have appeared recently in the gender relations culture, specifically - in the gender roles representation in the modern Russian families. Following the studies in gender roles, the author developed and surveyed the group of university students. The survey was aimed at understanding if gender roles representation has changed and to what extent. Also students' attitude towards parenthood was studied. When developing survey's statements the approach of parental involvement was taken into account. The data obtained indicate that family is still considered to be one of the youth's values, by both males and females. Though there are some differences in the gender roles representation: while male students tend to produce a patriarchal family viewpoint, female students expect to have equal family and parental relations. In spite of the massive propaganda of the traditional nuclear family in the Russian society, the conducted survey showed that there are transformations in the family issue - it has become more egalitarian which is also supported by other scientific researches mentioned in the paper. The governmental image of the traditional nuclear family can be explained as a part of the compensation theory (culture historification) which opposes modernization processes. The paper also considers the “supermom” gender role and the “dad absence” phenomena which are being offered by the modern culture. In conclusion five processes which promote family and marriage equality are mentioned. The paper is a part of the author's thesis.