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WORKSHOP №2

«CULTURE ISSUES AND POLITICS UNDER GLOBALIZATION»

Chair: Anna V. Gatskan, Instructor, International Economic Relations Department, Khabarovsk State Academy of Economics and Law

Secretary: Elvira Gayfullina, 5th year student, International Economic Relations Department, Khabarovsk State Academy of Economics and Law

Elvira Gayfullina, Darya Fedorova, Evgeniya Chingaeva, Ekaterina Ropalets,

5th year students, International Economic Relations Department, Khabarovsk State Academy of Economics and Law, Khabarovsk

GENDER RELATIONSHIPS BEFORE MARRIAGE IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

The attention to relationship performance gives the project a broad appeal to those disciplines concerned with interactions, while the inclusion of different aspects of relationships and practical research on cross cultural gender relationships will shed more light on how such relationships are maintained in different countries, which is critical in the modern global world with all the cultures interacting intensely on the personal and professional levels.

The aim of the research is to explain how relationships are performed in different countries and to show some changes that are happening in that field currently, and also to raise awareness of people about different peculiarities of relationships in different countries. In order to do this research, we applied such qualitative methods as: reading and analysis of related scholarly literature as well as empiric observation. We all have some experience in maintaining relationships with representatives from other countries. We were also able to observe interpersonal and intercultural relationships first hand, when we studied in the USA, South Korea and China. The quantitative methods we applied in the reseach are surveys and ststistic data, the results of which are represented below in the boxes.

The practical value of this research is in providing multiple examples from the real world to those interested in learning more about cross cultural gender relationships as well as serving as model simulations to those eager to improve their own gender relationships and thus to illuminate their own lives even before engaging in such.

In Chapter 1 we will present general information on gender relationships in different countries, along with interesting facts and examples taken from different researches in the field. Chapter 2 holds a practical survey we conducted in 3 countries: Russia, United States of America and South Korea. These 3 countries have been chosen because they represent 3 different lifestyles and religions, and because we have more legitimacy to study them as we visited and stayed in those countries for some period of time and we developed friendly relationships with peoople during these visits.

We believe that the results of the research will be interesting and useful not only for students, but for teachers as well, for all those involved in intercultural relationships and/or engaged in the studies of this interdisciplinary issue.

Chapter 1 Pre-marital relationships across cultures 1.2 Pre-marital relationships in Russia

Russia has the unique and controversial culture. For years, gender relationships as part of Russian culture, was subjected to the influence of both East and West.

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During the centuries, from the time of modern history up to the end of the Soviet Union, gender relationships in Russia could be referred to as a model of the so called traditional gender relationships of the East. That is: the dominant position of men in the relationships, huge power of parents’ opinion, early marriages, and the three main stages in the development of gender relationships, which often occurred rapidly, one after another: marriage, first sexual experience, pregnancy.

Things began to change in 1990-s, when Russia entered the process of globalization. Today, our country took over trends of relationships, which had been spread over the globe earlier. They are: the increase in the average age of those starting to develop gender relationships, tendency of equal rights men and women enjoy in gender relationships, more independence of the youngsters to choose partners, the increase in the number of international marriages. However, we are still remaining the culture which keeps its strong family traditions. 70% of young people in Russia, when posed the question «What is the most important in your life?» replied «Family». It is symbolic that in Russian the word «gender» itself can be translated literary as «half» («pol», in Russian), which means that a Russian considers his/her spouse as his/her half , and thus incomplete when single.

1.3 Pre-marital relationships in USA

There are lots of different types of relationships between male and female in USA: from «friends-with-benefits» to full-on marriage! All relationships are different, but they all usually have one thing in common - when you are in a relationship with someone, it usually means that you both like each other more than anyone else, and of course, the most important part in all successful relationships is respect to each other. Most relationships are monogamous - which means that for as long as you stay together, you will only be physical with each other - you will not get off with anyone else or have sex with anyone else. The advantage of this is that you're less likely to catch any sexually transmitted infections if you stay with just one partner. As we found out through our survey, for American people this aspect is very important. In the USA, it is customary among men and women to kiss and to touch each other for pleasure, thus, demonstrating their feelings on public.

Just because you are going out with someone, you don't have to have sexual relationships. According to the opinions of those Americans we surveyed, being in a relationship is really good and it is an important part of their lives. It can give you a real high to know that someone wants you and you want him/her. Many people feel more confident about themselves when they are in a relationship with someone.

1.4 Pre-marital relationships in South Korea

Korean culture in general may be described as a part of East Asian culture, centered on Chinese Confucian tradition and characterized by extraordinary homogeneity. Due to the family-centered social ethics, Koreans usually place much value on family and family-related matters in their lives. This kind of attitude and social behavior may be called feminine culture. A married person, who has children and a good job, is placed higher in the Confucian hierarchy. That is why Koreans always ask questions about age, marriage and money.

Today, significant changes in the realm of relationships are evident in Korea. Above all, Koreans are seeing a clear trend toward late marriage: the accepted age for marriage is continuously increasing, for example, in 2007 the average age for first marriages was 29.6 years for men and 26.8 years for women. The marriage rate itself is dropping, too. Approximately 20 years ago there were 10.6 marriages per 1000 people, but by 2007 this figure had decreased dramatically to 6.7. This shows a clear tendency for people in their late twenties and early thirties to delay marriage and to prolong pre-marital relationships.

Both traditional and modern elements of cultural customs play a role in the choice of a partner. The influence of parents and relatives is traditionally very strong. But it is markedly decreasing nowadays. However, it has been revealed that few marriages are made as

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consequence of such purely personal feelings as «love at first sight». Outside love itself, more practical considerations are usually taken into account, such as socioeconomic status, property, level of education and religion of the prospective spouse as well as parents-in-law from each side. This may prompt the idea that the ideals of truly romantic love have subtly merged with the demands of compatibility.

Views on gender relationships are becoming more flexible and varied in Korea. This can be seen in the relatively tolerant attitude toward practices that were considered taboo in the past, such as international marriage, marriage of people from different social standings, marriage of an older woman to a younger man, and marriage of the partners, one of whom has been married before. Furthermore, there has been a notable weakening of stereotypes and biases against divorce, remarriage, and living together before marriage.

Koreans yearn for love, and they are very romantic. Their changing views on public displays of affection prove it. Koreans seem to be really concerned with being in a relationship. They love being «we» or «us». More importantly, they love letting everyone else know they are «us».

Traditionally, in Korea's unique cultural and historical context, the meaning of love relationships and marriages is qualitatively different from that of the Western spouse-centered family. But in modern Korea, it is difficult to find a compromise between the tradition and the modernity, when tradition regards marriage as the meeting of two families, and modernity emphasizes the union of two people in love.

Based on what has been said we can conclude that relationships and its performance can differ from one country to another. Those countries mentioned above have different history that undoubtedly influenced the people and thus their attitudes towards each other. People have different mentalities and values, as well as different upbringing. Relationships consist of different aspects and each of them has certain i mpact on relationships, their process and success. And studying relationships is impossible without taking those aspects into account. That is why we decided to conduct a research on few aspects that we believe determine relationships performance and make relationships in one country different from those in another country.

Chapter 2. Comparative analysis of gender relationships in the USA, South Korea and Russia

With reference to the main aspects in pre-marital relationships described in Chapter 1, we have chosen the following criteria for our comparative analysis of gender relationships in the 3 countries:

average age when people start their relationships;

-duration of relationships (the longest relationship person has had and how long people should date to make a decision to get married);

-number of partners before marriage (all people that person was in relationship with or those he/she considered his/her boyfriend/girlfriend at certain period of his/her life)

-parents’ influence on relationships,

-PDA (public display of affection),

-intercultural relationships (relationships with representative of another nationality). We think that studying this aspect is very important in our globalizing world.

Methodology: 1) Survey (target group is unmarried people, students from 18 to 30 years old) held by Internet and paper questionnaires, 2) observation, 3) personal experience, 4) experts’ opinion.

We also divided males and females opinions because we believe that opinions of different genders can be very different.

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Chart 1 - Comparative factors of gender relationships before marriage in studied countries

(Respondents’ answers in the survey)