07.03.2013
Feminine and masculine holidays
- According to a study conducted by the Rating Group, for the absolute majority of respondents (71%), March 8 is a good occasion to do something pleasant for women close to them. At the same time, for 11% the March 8 holiday symbolizes women’s struggle for their rights, for 9% it is a political holiday from the Soviet past, and for 6% it is just an ordinary day.
- The younger the respondents, the more often they associate March 8 with a good occasion to do something nice for women close to them, while older respondents more often describe March 8 as a political holiday from the Soviet past.
- Only 7% of men say that March 8 symbolizes women’s struggle for their rights, while among women this share is twice as high.
- Married and unmarried respondents have similar attitudes toward the holiday.
- The highest share of those who associate March 8 with women’s struggle for rights is among supporters of the Communist Party, while those who consider it an ordinary day are more common among supporters of Svoboda.
- For comparison, respondents were also asked to evaluate their attitudes toward February 23.
- Thus, only 41% of respondents consider February 23 a good occasion to do something pleasant for men close to them (this is more often stated by women). For 39%, it is a holiday for men who are or were related to the military (this is more often stated by men themselves). Only 12% consider it a political holiday from the Soviet past, and 7% consider it an ordinary day.
- Overall, the majority in one way or another perceive February 23 as a holiday. The younger the respondents, the more often they associate February 23 with a good occasion to do something nice for men close to them, while older respondents more often associate it with a holiday for men connected to the military or a political holiday from the Soviet past.
- The highest share of those who associate February 23 with a military-related men’s holiday is among supporters of the Communist Party, while those who consider it an ordinary day are more common among supporters of Svoboda and Batkivshchyna.
- Thus, there is a visible trend: young people increasingly move March 8 and February 23 outside the political context — the holidays acquire new associations and traditions, while the political component is gradually fading.
- It is worth noting that gifts are given more often on March 8 and February 23 than on Valentine’s Day (February 14), which remains a more youth-oriented holiday. About 40% of both men and women received gifts on Valentine’s Day this year. At the same time, 70% of men received gifts on February 23, and the same share of women expect to receive gifts on March 8.
- However, as last year, we observe something interesting and somewhat illogical regarding “women’s and men’s” holidays. This February 23, the number of men who received gifts was higher than the number of women who gave them. Possibly for this mysterious reason, we observe another interesting trend: the number of men planning to give gifts on March 8 is higher than the number of women who expect to receive gifts.
- Sociologists now have a new research question: do women underestimate men, or do men overestimate their “gift-giving” intentions? Or are there other, third factors? We will definitely find out.
- For now, we will believe that men will be able to pleasantly surprise women on this holiday and improve their ratings — and we wish the same to everyone!
- Happy holiday to you, our best women on the planet!
May spring bloom in your soul!
Methodology
- Survey population: residents of Ukraine aged 18 and over
- Sample size: 2,000 respondents
- Method: face-to-face formalized interviews using a questionnaire
- Margin of error (95% confidence):
- near 50%: ≤ 2.2%
- near 30%: ≤ 2%
- near 10%: ≤ 1.3%
- near 5%: ≤ 1%
- Fieldwork period: February 22 – 28, 2013
- Regional distribution:
- West: Volyn, Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Rivne, Ternopil, Chernivtsi
- Center: Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy
- North: Kyiv city, Kyiv region, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Chernihiv
- South: Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Sevastopol
- East: Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv
- Donbas: Donetsk, Luhansk
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