SOCIAL “PORTRAIT” OF BELARUSIANS: GENDER ASPECT

The fact that men and women differ not only in appearance or physiology is not a new discovery. Moreover, political consultants “psyched out” their social preferences long ago and make good use of the existing distinctions to reach their objectives.

Let us have a look at the Belarusian variant of these distinctions based on the data of the IISEPS June poll. First let’s compare socio-demographic parameters of a selection totality depending on the sexual identity (Table 1). As can be seen, the general correlation of men and women correspond to the results of the last census. By age the men appear significantly younger than women, almost two thirds of the men are under 50, whereas among the women only 56.6% are under 50. Correspondingly, among the men there are adequately fewer individuals of senior age.

Table 1. Socio-demographic characteristics of the population depending on gender, %

The men are characterized by a slightly higher level of education: there are fewer individuals with subsecondary education and more individuals with secondary education among them, whereas the percentage of higher education in both groups is equal.

The percentage of those employed in the private sector is significantly higher among the men (1.8- fold), while among the women there are much more pensioners (1.6-fold).

And finally, the level of income per capita for men is on average quite noticeably exceeds this level for women: whereas among the women individuals whose income is under the minimal consumer budget (MCB) amount to over 60%, among the men these make up less 43%.

It is quite natural that these distinctions as such may cause a remarkable difference in the views of these two groups. However, a general sociological ‘portrait’ will surely absorb gender distinctions as well. Let’s consider socio-demographic concepts of these two groups of citizens (Table 2).

Table 2. Socio-demographic characteristics of the population depending on gender, %

On the whole we can say that here the differences between men and women are not so significant. Nevertheless, there are some. Thus, among the women those who would prefer improvement of the economic situation to the independence of the country are slightly more numerous. Meanwhile, in both the groups more than 60% of respondents are of the same opinion. There are a bit more of those who have noted improvement of their material standing over the last quarter of the year among the men than among the women (by 2.5 points). At the same time among the former there are 3.5 points more of those, whose material standing has worsened. On the other hand, among the women there are 11% more of those, whose material standing has not changed.

Men are on the whole more pessimistic than women in respect to the prospects of the Belarusian economy. Thus, among them there are 1.6 times more of those, who are anticipating deepening of the economic crisis in the country, while among the women there are 1.5 times more of those, who are sure that the country has already begun to come out of the crisis. Among the men there are about twice as many of those who consider that socio-economic situation in the country might get worse in the near future.

As for political views of men and women, they differ considerably (Table 3). As can be seen, while on average among all the respondents about 50% believe that the state of affairs in our country is developing in the right direction, and only one third think the direction is wrong, among the men opinions divided almost fifty-fifty with a slight (3 points) overbalance of the latter. However, among the women those holding the first view number 2.3 times as many as those holding the other view. In other words, whereas among the men only every second approves of the current line of the country, among the women, three of five.

Table 3. Political preferences of men and women, %

Among the men there are a great deal more of those who think that the country needs changes (almost 70%). Among the women there are only 55.4% of these. The specified differences have influenced the electoral preferences of both groups. Thus, among the women as compared to the men there are 1.5 times more of those, who have supported proponents of the incumbent president at the local elections. There are also more of those among them, who have taken part in voting as a matter of fact (by 12.4%).

It is curious that while more than one half of the men would expressly favour a man-candidate in the future presidential election (a woman-candidate would gain support of only 3.1%), among the women the rating of a woman-candidate is only 9.7%, whereas 35.5% would cast their votes for a man-candidate. There is a vast field for the activity of feminist organizations!

Women trust the declared results of the local elections to a far greater extent: among them the trusting number almost thrice as many as the non-trusting. Among the men the former prevail only by one third. Among the men there are distinctly more of those who trust independent mass media than those who trust governmental mass media (46.4% vs. 39.3%). On the contrary, among the women those who trust governmental mass media predominate (55.3% vs. 41.7%).

Generally in terms of political preferences women appeared to favour the power existing in the country much more. We could even conclude that the power in Belarus is pro-feminine.

The same feministic spirit pervades the data of the men’s and women’s attitude towards the incumbent head of state (Table 4). Thus, among the women there are 2.2 times as many of those who trust him as those who don’t trust, whereas among the men the trusting and the non-trusting are divided approximately fifty-fifty. The open rating of A. Lukashenko among the men reached only 33.5%, while among the women it is 56% (1.7 times higher). It is noteworthy that at the presidential election held in 2006 the support of A. Lukashenko in the gender profile was quite the same.

Table 4. Attitude of men and women towards the head of the state, %

* Other politicians gained less than 3% each

The closed rating of the major Belarusian politicians proves to be something like the above (the closed rating is always a bit higher than the open rating). As can be seen, among the women the closed rating of A. Lukashenko is 1.5 times higher than among the men. And if only men elected the president, A. Lukashenko in a fair election would not gain the necessary fifty per cent of votes. It is also noteworthy that the major opponents of the incumbent head of state gained 1.6-1.8 times as many votes among the men as among the women, though in general their ratings are rather insignificant.

Table 5. Attitude of men and women towards some foreign policy problems, %

As regards foreign policy trends of the population, the differences by gender there are not so distinct (Table 5). It could be positively concluded that pro-European orientation is more widely spread among the men. Thus, among them the number of those who would vote for EU-membership is higher (vice versa among the women); those who would say ”no” to the integration with Russia also prevail among them. In case of the alternative question – either Russia, or EU – there are one third more of Europe supporters (45% vs. 33.5%) among the men, whereas among the women East supporters predominate by one quarter (41.2% vs. 33.5%).