Male and Female Roles in the Perception of Young People Among Belarusians, Bulgarians, and Russians

The inequality of women in various areas of life still holds on, despite all efforts, in many countries, including work, politics and everyday life. However, there is still a great deal of controversy and debate about gender equality in different countries. A comparative analysis of ideas about male and female roles among young representatives of three Slavic peoples, Russians (1043 pers.), Belarusians (373), and Bulgarians (346), is conducted in this study. The replies of the respondents from all studied samples overwhelmingly accept the norms of gender equality, since the majority of respondents absolutely agreed with the statements of the questionnaire regarding the gender equality and disagreed with those items in which those norms were denied. At the same time results showed significant cultural differences: respondents from Bulgaria often expressed traditional views on norms of behavior for women. Belonging to particular religion also affected attitudes towards gender equality. Due to the country’s socialist history, Belarus’ showed itself to be the most gender-equal country among all the societies studied. The traditional view of female behavior and women’s place in the family has been preserved in Bulgaria, probably because of the greater religiosity of modern Bulgarian society.