Theirs support for Putin is logical.
There are worse things then Putin's autocratic kleptocracy, and this is chaos.
When Putin came to power, pensions, teachers and state employees salaries were paid rarely and with delays. One of the first thing Putin did, was to make sure this ended. And also, he was very lucky, oil price jumped from 14 to 140$ in two years and he could subsequently increase the salaries and pensions almost two times, since then, it's stagnation and decay.
But the memory of late Jelcyn's chaos is still present.
People dependent on state pension system vote for stability and besides, there are really no alternatives.
19
"He is good to the church" and so he is good for the country. This is the firm conviction of most Russian women and so Putin is being voted, since there are more female than male voters. It is such easy.
The Russian Orthodox Church is holding Russia in a firm grip. It can be considered the real winner.
2
These women fake their support because it is the only game in town. Putin openly murders people to keep them all in line. Of course they have convinced themselves of it, because Putin will make them pay their own way if he suspects they don't love him.
4
And the widows sit home and get their news from Fox
7
Thanks New York Times .... finally a possible explanation why the Russian leader is constantly being photographed with his shirt off, various actzs of machismo. machismo. machismo.
6
Good peasant women!
1
I'm sure many men (who generally benefit from such life expectancy gaps) will poo poo this as 'bitter grapes', but this once again shows that more women need to stop dating/marrying older men, and consider more the reverse...meaning to date/marry younger men. It's been far too unbalanced, with the men typically having someone to care for them when they are old/dying, but the women don't get the same because most of their (older) husbands are long gone.
Yes, older women like trump love Putin!
1
Putin knows where his country is going. Or at least is pushing that mindset as much as he can within the harsh framework of a country that has so many square miles of rural area. He grew up hoping for a better place in the world than other countries were willing to give his nation.
I know he is almost a dictator. But he has been to the russian people a steady hand at the tiller of state and pushes for his country's interests. Which aren't USA liberal's interests and aren't the Interests of the war hawks in the US capital. He'd like to see more peace than has been handed him by the war hawks of the USA.
But he is well aware that Russia also does not want to be invaded like Hitler would have liked, or even People in the USA that push control of the world according to "Our ideals" which in all fairness we can't even seem to agree on. That NATO is even still a Thing is something I can't fathom from my peace in our time mindset. I dislike conflict, I would have humans making peace and going on to the stars. But Putin will be vilified in other countries and at home Praised by the old ladies who see him as a better man than most.
More power to him, at least he doesn't have a stormy daniels issue on the front page.
4
Pure nonsense, Putin cares only for his and his buddies and steal as much as possible of state budget. The Russians for him are just dumb, easy to manipulate mass, that needs just a little stability and regular pensions and it's all.
4
However charming and likable Putin may appear to be to these women, I'd like to know how they reconcile that with how all Putin's Russian adversaries end up murdered? Do they even know? It doesn't make sense.
10
This is ridiculous. Putin is an autocrat who has spent his 18 years in power debilitating the institutions of the democratic state. The media was neutered. The oligarchs were threatened or imprisoned for any opposition. The state acts as the agent of the president, being used to put obstacles in the path of anyone with the temerity to oppose Putin.
This election is a joke. Any threat of meaningful opposition to the autocrat has already been dealt with long ago.
4
My mother-in-law is a 72-year old widowed Russian pensioner who could care less about "democracy" as long as her pension comes on time and covers most of the bills. I've known her for 30 years and she is the hardest working person I've ever met. She grows most of her own food at her dacha and sells the rest at the local market. She grew up in the Soviet Union that defeated Nazi Germany in WW II and was equal to the USA on the international stage. She then watched as the Soviet Union was dissolved and Russia was humiliated by the West in the 90's. It was treated as a poor cousin by the IMF. Millions of her generation lost their jobs and dignity during the 90's and watched as Soviet factories and industries were stolen by Russian oligarchs. Her generation will never forgive the West for humiliating Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. Putin's rise in the late 90's was a perfectly reasonable response to this upheaval. His popularity among her generation has always been in direct correlation to his defiance of the West and his ability to fund their meager pensions by squeezing some of the illicit gains out of the Russian oligarchs. I have a feeling Putin is going to be around for a long time and the West has no one to blame but ourselves.
16
Wow! Thank you for inserting a little balance and reminding Americans that foreigners have at least a right to their own feelings and priorities.
2
If the wise and mature women of Russia overwhelming support Putin, and if he has strong support among the Russian men as well, then I find it presumptuous to assume I, or that the New York Times, should be second-guessing their judgement.
Our obsession with Putin is not healthy. The energy we spend demonizing Putin would be better spent trying to figure out how to elect a better president, how to create more jobs and how to deliver better education, health care and social services.
10
I think older Russian women are nostalgic for the Soviet welfare state which, despite shortages and hardships of all kinds, provided a guaranteed income along with housing, food, employment, health care and pensions.
9
Misha Friedman:
Thank you for this excellent article!
Genevieve La Riva
1
Talk about US “bullying”. Anyone who has spent time in one of the old “socialist republics’, or Soviet satellites ( e.g., East Germany)has a good idea of the repression and secretiveness of the master state. Putin, after political chaos, seeks to return to this model. Anyone who thinks this is enlightened or a good thing has no idea what the Russians did to her former slave states. I don’t recall members of the US press being assasinated by the government for their opinions despite Chairman Trumps inane rants.
2
Putin is a supremely successful politician who has loomed over Russia for many years (remember W staring into Putin’s soul).
Though there are similarities, Trump has swung and missed hugely, a Putin wannabe. Trump’s likely future is that of a carnival barker presiding over steadily declining hinterland hate rallies.
Why has Putin succeeded? Smart, clever, ruthless. He is also grandson of Lenin’s cook. I hear those babushkas saying “Vlad, what a good boy, defending mother Russia.”
2
There was a time when Russia had a chance to join the modern world of democracy. It had been through royalism and communism, and now had a chance to flirt with capitalism, but instead it went immediately to kleptocracy with a strong man in charge. Maybe it's Russia, and not the '...isms".
But then, in the West we're drifting towards kleptocracy ourselves. Maybe the Russians are early adopters.
Then there's the older women. Women generally live a bit longer than men, but in Russia, according to the statistics, the difference is much larger than in other places. What is it about Russian life that kills off the men and leaves the women older and alone? Are the women that much more durable, or is life that much harder for the men? And what is the connection between this and supposedly poor electoral choices (Putin in Russia and Trump in America). Both based their message on the belief that their country was in decline, both received critical support from older women, and neither seems willing to interfere with the oligarchs who are taking over their countries.
I don't have any answers. I just have more questions. I hope I'm asking the right ones.
2
I hesitated to write this until I saw Lou Andrews’ comment. As I have aged I have watched the older women around me grow increasingly concerned with blood lines, immigration, and political “others”. Are not older women a key source of support for Trump? The strong man is an enticing figure for them. As a counter balance, perhaps lowering the voting age needs to be considered. In a time when information comes through a digital firehouse, and many older people never try to drink from it, the opinions of younger people may be more valuable.
14
I will be flagging this for ageism.
1
I must disagree with this comment. Like these Russian women, my mother is 82, lives alone, and a widow. She too likes Putin, even though she lived in Ohio, where she taught most of her life. She has absolute disdain for Trump and considers him an ignorant buffoon; she would never vote for him or anyone of his ilk. Like a master judoka, Putin identified our weakness and now has us flat on our back. My mother recognized this, but the young voters, growing up under Obama, completely misunderstood just how dirty politics can be, turning their backs on Hillary (who Putin hates). My mother understands history; the majority of our voters do not and thus too many voted for Trump. Too many young people simply did not vote. We are now paying dearly for that mistake.
6
I do not think think these women would have liked Anna Karenina, as a character or person from Tolstoy's novel would have thought Alexi Kerinin well with in his rights top punish Anna.No doubt in their minds the biggest fool would be the progressive and romantic Levin . Maybe in this land the price of suffering is to suffer further.
7
And Levin may be progressive, but definitely egoistic. He knew what he wanted and did give a thought what his wife wanted. He totally disrespected her feelings, and I don't think he was much different from Karenin in respect of family life.
8
Presuming a lot, aren't you?
4
Do you like the woman who adored her son, but not her younger daughter?
4
After the kind of husband most of these women have had, alcoholic, probably abusive, expecting to be waited on hand and foot, Putin acts and looks like a white knight and a matinee idol rolled into one. Of course he's never shown warts and all. To them he is an appealing man, clever too, as he is able to keep the rest of the world, the U.S. especially, at bay. I bet they are proud of him, idolize him even.
51
Sza-Sza, You are probably right. And they are so used to Soviet and Russian leaders murdering their own people, that they feel that this is part of the job description of the top banana.
3
Perhaps old people are Putin's supporters, but there are no old men left. Leaving only old women.
17
But why are Russian men dying at such a rate, and so young? It can’t all be the vodka, and they must share the same diet as the women in their households ... true? Have Putin and his government introduced NO programs to improve public health?
8
Someone made a comment about the diet being disastrous, and having seen the food my Russian immigrant friends prefer, I think that's probably accurate. Also, from what I have heard, medicine in Russia was stuck in the 19th century for a long, long time. Maybe partly because during the "cold war" the west denied them access to information about recent medical advances, and partly out of reluctance to abandon traditional medical practices?
1
Comeon to the comments section on a Russian piece and the liberals , and conservatives, join in the last accepted ethnic attack: Russophobia. All the stereotypes are flung out, with vim, with anger. I simply cannot believe this. Or, I can. An entire nation made to detest, despise, hate with their whole heart an entire nation, even the old women. FYI, Russians are usually smaller than you, the women are outstanding, supernaturally gorgeous. But, normal sized are most people, because they dont eat like Americans. The food is natural, good, healthy---but you dont wanna hear this....you wanna hear each other attack cardboard cutouts.
6
What is so disastrous disastrous about Russian diet? Absence of Coca-Cola? My explanation is vodka. After all during 'dry law' of Gorbachev life expectancy of males went up, only to crush down during Yeltisin time when vodka was available at any corner at any time
9
If 60% of his votes came from women and 40% from men as the article states, is that perhaps not simply the demographic make-up of a population where men die young from alcoholism (or for the same reason never make it to the voting booth on election day)? Just wondering...
14
For many people, it's security over freedom, when you have to choose one or the other.
12
That's true the world over, but people whose (financial) security is safe don't seem to understand.
6
Freedom doesn't count until you get at least a minimum of security. Maslov figured that one out a long time ago.
8
Whatever the rest of the world may think, Putin is the the only person who can suppress American influence and stop its interference into well being of other countries (Iraq, Egypt, Siria etc.). People of Russia feel well-protected under his leadership.
14
The well-being of Syria? Their people are being slaughtered, and Russia is complicit in that massacre.
26
Wasn't it a result of the West (the US particularly) meddling in the region?
9
Ah, no Yulia. Antagonisms among those in the Middle East pre-date the intrusions of the West literally by centuries. These guys have been fighting each other since the Persians and even before that! Only the particular time bound arguments have changed, the fighting for power and preeminence seem to emanate from the character of the peoples.
1
The Russian women described would have lived the majority of their lives in the USSR. With its dissolution and the corrupt oligarchs and get rich quick schemes, they most likely welcomed Putin and his return to omnipotent leader despite the means by which he has achieved his power. Stationed in East Germany when the Soviet Union disintegrated, Putin saw the disrespect of the West, and wanted Russia to return to her former glory. These women appreciate the control he has in ejecting the oligarchs and in rejecting the West. He makes them proud of their own country but controls the news of Russia’s chemical attacks and aggressive tactics. On International Women’s Day, his praise of them is like giving them a rose. More than Trump who either assaults women or makes them sign a NDA. Just think of Putin as Big Brother.
31
Ejecting the oligarchs? No, he co-opted most of them, uses many of them and jails or murders those who disagree. But the Russians don’t get this in their news. Think FOX — much made up news, most of the time.
1
None of them have problems with how he has treated his wife and mistresses?
1
Left or right, women alone in the world without a man marry the state.
35
As if...
3
Some of us women are alone in the world not must because we are stronger, healthier and smarter and live longer. But because of men with absurd notions such as yours, Bronson.
2
"Babushkas" Really?
11
Babushka is an honorific in Russian for older women, so these women are indeed babushkas to anyone who is younger than them.
14
What's wrong with "Grandmothers for Putin?"
The article is about his base among older women.
7
Cultural context
5
White women are strong Trump supporters - 53% overall and much higher amongst those without college degrees
And Jones in Alabama also got a majority of the white women vote.
So it’s the same here in the US.
66
You must mean Moore. Jones was the Democratic candidate.
2
What few readers seem to be aware of is what life was like for many Russians in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. The transition to market capitalism in the 1990s under Boris Yeltsin brought massive drops in male life expectancy, loss of pensions, crime, prostitution and chaos to the lives of people who believed that playing by Soviet rules would lead to their basic needs being met. These women support Putin because he represents the opposite of the humiliation and suffering that they would have experienced during, and as a consequence of the 1990s.
92
Does he?
It seems to me that what he represents to them is nothing but a sham.
With apologies to Chaucer, Putin is the "smiler with the knife under the cloak."
33
Putin also goes to the gym and likes to be photographed with his shirt off. For some, that’s enough. I don’t think many who support him dig very deeply into his policies, except those making vast fortunes from them.
14
Thank you for being compassionate instead of judging from far away.
2
So, let me see, just to make sure that I get the right (i.e. "progressive") message from this article.
Russian women are empowered, since Stalin, mining coal and working at steel mills, flying into space earlier than any American man, i.e. "being empowered".
Then, they live 11 years longer than their oppressors, men. That's getting really good, while one wonders how that product of "patriarchal oppression" there (and here, i.e. women living much longer) actually works as life expectancy is #1 yardstick to measure human progress and relative quality of life among nations and social classes, etc.
But Russian women spil that all - looking at that from Hillary's, DNC's and mainstream media and "Never Trump" standpoint, because they vote for that bad, bad Putin (who supposedly threatens our and Western democracy more than communist USSR under Stalin or Brezhnev ever did) ... because they love and vote for Putin (much) more than those Russian men.
It will take me some time to take the "right" message from the article.
BTW: Russian (and all Slavic women's) middle and last names ending in -a or -ova historically indicate that they they belong to a father or a husband. Thus Anna Veresova (literally means a woman belonging to/married to Mr. Veresov and Ludmila Vladimirovna had a father with first name Vladimir.
After communism collapsed American feminists rose up against such "oppressive practice" while ignoring the fact that their Russian sisters worked at STEM fields, etc.
25
Speaking as a woman and a widow, one of the best things anyone could do for older women and their happiness level is figure out how to keep men alive longer.
8
So, if the Russians have it so good, why are you “Refugee from East Euro Communism? You must have done something really bad — like have an opinion that didn’t agree with the government? If you aren’t careful, hon, you might have to go to Canada because Trump also dislikes and gets rid of those who disagree with him.
No not really. Names ending in ovna or owna indicate "daughter of". Same for ovich or evich or owicz and ewicz indicating "son of". Sort of like datter or dottir and sen or son in Nordic languages.
In Slavic languages cases and genders must match so a word can change based on whether it is delineating male or female or even neuter.
My last name ends in owicz so all of us, male and female, are thus "sons of". No one bothered with the fine point because gender isn't an issue in the English language.
So a name ending in an "a" or being an "ovna/owna" doesn't convey or connote ownership. It is a grammatical convention.
1
He's sober, rich, well spoken, in good shape for his age, and didn't keel over before he turned 60. That is a unicorn in Russia.
98
Russia has an old women problem and the USA has an old man problem. We really are different peoples.
26
So, people who disagree with you are a "problem"? Why are they more of a problem than young people who commit the majority of violent crimes? Ageist much?
3
Hardly surprising...He made a certain older American woman swoon - though she acted like a second-grader, regarding her crush...
Threw a couple of stones at him...
He reciprocated by shattering her glass ceiling - though not the way she'd meant for it to happen...
5
Nikki Haley?
12
Someone who has had stones thrown at him is a rock star.
1
You don't really understand why Russians love Putin.
Russians love Putin because he has reasserted the power of the state of oligarchs who are trying to hollow out the Westphalian state.
Most other leaders in the West have let the plutocrats in their own country hollow out the state for their own benefit. Some countries have even elected philandering plutocrats as leaders.
27
Putin is an oligarch.
“Westphalian state”? Putin is only interested in hollowing out Central Germany?
I suspect that Putin is admired in large part because he has stood up to American bullying.
Unfortunately, not too many Americans, whether from the left or from the right are aware that America is a bully.
But this bullying does not work. As Putin said in a recent address, "If North Korea can stand up to the US, why not us?"
We did not succeed in bullying Vietnam, we have not conquered the Taliban and Kim Jong is showing us his middle finger.
But hey, there is always Putin! (smile).
47
People believe what they want and need to believe. I have an elderly aunt that would fit right in with these Russian women. She is perfectly capable of thinking and doing for herself, but she strongly prefers to let a man do it for her. She loves Donald Trump and believes wholeheartedly that he will "MAGA".
I suspect it is likewise comforting for these women to continue to believe that Putin, Trump, or the strong man du jour, cares about and protects them specifically. To realize the truth at this point would be pretty terrifying for them, so they just don't go there.
118
Very, very Sad. I wonder, do they see him as a very successful Son, or perhaps the type of Husband they had dreamed of, when young and naive?
Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn't it? I absolutely will not scorn or shame them, they have mostly had very difficult lives and are just doing the best they know how. Personally, I'm sad for the lost potential and opportunity in each of their lives. Best wishes, and pleasant dreams. Sincerely.
59
Thank you for "sisterly solidarity", now with Russian women ... even when they adore and vote for Putin whom Hillary, DCN, our mainstream media present us as a larger danger to our democracy than communist USSR under Stalin ever was. We, women, have to stick together regardless.
11
Is Putin a larger danger to our democracy than the USSR was? Does it matter? He is here and the USSR is not.
The fact is, he *is* a threat to our democracy, because he is working at dividing us against ourselves and weakening our commitment to democracy in ways that the USSR never could. Has he succeeded in subverting our elections? Probaby not. Yet.
Putin is a threat, but only because forces within the US have already undermined our commitment to democracy and divided us against ourselves. He is opportunistically piling on, hoping to strengthen his and Russia's power by weakening us.
I don't condemn Russian women for falling for Putin's demagoguery, given how many Americans have fallen for demagogues themselves. A disturbing number of Americans admire Putin also, a sure fire indication that there is a rising appetite for autocracy, even in the US.
It is a terrible thing to watch people acquiesce to their own oppression, whether in Russia, the US, or anywhere else. Putin is a dictator, corrupt and murderous, and his increasing power will only end in more oppression and corruption. As flawed as our current political system is, it is folly to imagine that making it more autocratic would improve it or "make our country great."
Yet more and more people seem ready to trash our political institutions rather than do the hard work of citizenship to make democracy work.
I hope that changes, before it is too late to save them.
13
Before I moved here, I was somewhat of a typical American proletarian Russian lit lover. I read Chekhov, hunted,fished, worked outside. Over the years Ive been liberal, socialist, Communist, anarchist. Allover the left spectrum. I came here over 4 years ago for work as an ESL teacher. I was scared , namely because of the news, the media, the constant fear. Within days I was shocked. No gangs of nationalists, no police---we need for a police state, right?---no narcotics,which is good but it extends to all areas of medicine, so after a surgery? No opiate pain meds. An old woman told me to breathe. It worked, but after 2 days. The trade-offis this: I live here and get bad coffee, bad roads, many alcoholics. The good: hundreds of parks for my daughter, free medical coverageminus pain meds), lots of work, the best public transport on earth, no GMOs, no fear that someone will shoot up my daughters school. No fear for my fiancee when she walks home at night. Or myself. Putin is far away, the Moscow I read about in the NYT and US media , for me, for thouands of expats, does not exist. An old man told me: the US and Soviets both had propaganda. The difference is that Americans believe theirs. There is propaganda here, there are murders, problems. But, the people here are not victims, not monsters, not dictator lovers.
6
I would dare venture forth the opinion that there are not too many of these women who would qualify for Mensa. (I wouldn't.) Still, they are the victims of cloudy thinking due to their lack of a formal education, University level, deprived of being able to access world wide opinions, and basically being bone tired from long lives of hard work and responsibility. I wish them happiness or at least a deep sense of satisfaction and if they want Putin to be their lover, or the man in charge so be it.
7
Are you sure? Actually, Russian women are highly educated.
17
The usual progressive reaction. "Anyone who does not think as I do is ready for the nut house." It is little other than 1984 in 2018.
9
Yes, Russian women are well educated, but i am not sure the older generation, ages 65 or 70 and beyond, falls into that category.
7
So how is it that NYT published an article about two weeks ago saying young people in Russia are Putin's strongest supporters?
19
Maybe both Russian women (especially the older ones) AND Russian youth do fall into trap set up by that macho authoritarian, Putin, while men, especially of middle age (as old men are long dead) is the only segment of Russian population on Hillary's, DCN's and our mainstream media side of the barricade, seeing Putin as a grater danger that communist USSR under Stalin ever was?
10
The surprise is that nearly 40% of the voters are willing to say that they DON'T support Putin. Being anti-Putin is clearly extremely hazardous to one's health.
27
That is only in American newspapers. There are plenty of people who don't support Putin. They support communist Party or party of Zhirinovsky (Russian nationalist). Unfortunately for the West, there are not much support for the Western oriented parties. Actually, there are two candidates from such parties for President election. Let's see how many votes they will get. By the way, I am wondering why the western darling Navalny doesn't campaign for them, instead of campaigning for boycott. I guess if he can not have the crown, nobody should. Democratic solidarity, I guess.
5
"Mr. Putin is not lazy, these women say. He doesn’t drink. He’s calm, sober, even charming. On March 8, when Russia had its annual lavish celebrations of International Women’s Day, Mr. Putin appeared on television, as he did the year before. He looked into the camera, praised Russia’s women who “take care of our homes and children every day.” He recited poetry. The babushkas alone in their homes watched."
I find this terribly sad. One wonders what their husbands died of--likely drink (alcoholism runs rampant in Russia), or war, or simply the hard labor and poor health habits that both sexes face.
Also, remember that the women losing men now are what we'd euphemistically call baby boomers (a term only used here but remember, Russia also fought in WWII).
But it sounds as if these lonely women may be projecting their affection and approval on a man who isn't quite what he seems. I doubt the episodes of poisoning enemies figure prominently on RT News.
83
Christine, please, enough of the racism. Alcoholism is going down in Russia, men are living longer. Your surname is Irish, as is my mothers maiden name, we have had enough stereotyping, eh?As I have said in numerous posts, Russia is a safe country....the Western cities are falling apart in drugs, poverty, homelessness, crime, gangs....recall during the Yeltsin years, supported by the US, Russia saw chaos in the streets, mass crime, gangs....Putin stopped all. Why , in Gods name, would they want something else?Come here, Ill show you around...
4
Come on. Russia is so wonderful the people of Ukraine fought to keep them and their control out of their country with the intent of joining EU. Nice try. Work for Putin or one of his pals? So the streets are safe. Just don't drink the water- or any other liquid.
6
Richard: What happened to the women in the Pussy Riot group? Last I heard several of them had disappeared on the way to an anti-Putin rally. That after several years in jail. Is this not true?
3
I have on the other hand often been struck by how it was women journalists and activists who were the most fierce critics of Putin and Russia's cruel war in Chechnya, paying with their lives for their activism. Also the Union of Mothers of Soldiers used to be a force to be reckoned with. (I wonder what happened to them.)
53
There are plenty Russian female journalists who criticizes Putin and are still alive. Chechnya is a different matter. Chechens don't like to be criticized that's why these journalists had problem. Putin's fault is that he could not completely bring Chechnya under control. It is more manageable but not under full control. And Americans should understand that, considering situation in Iraq and Afghanistan.
14