According to the Russian professor speaking at the Week of Norwegian Culture most Norwegian women were dreaming of a well behaving and gentle Russian man.
A few of my sources doesn't necessarily agree with the professor.
By second taught, could she be right?
When did you last see a message as the one below in a Norwegian office on May 16th?
Уважаемые коллеги,
Мы рады сообщить, что сегодня 11 июня по решению Bacилий Hебезупречном, женская половина компании «Hебезупречных башен» может закончить свой рабочий день в 15:00.
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Dear Colleagues,
Please be informed that today June 11th, by the decision of Mr. Basil Faulty, the working day of Faulty Tower's maids can be finished at 3 pm.
This gesture will allow working ladies and women to rush off to their grocery stores, load up with food and stuff for the Independence Day celebration and even get home to cook their husband's dinners so they don't have to wait when they arrive home tired from their long working days.
Why are not Norwegian ladies and women treated equally well? Why are they not allowed to go home early on May 16th to buy groceries, wine and other stuff for the celebration? Should we, Norwegian men, feel shame and guilt?
Some weeks ago I read in the Guardian (yes, yes, leftist, liberal newspaper) that, according to Amnesty, one Russian woman dies at the hands of her husband or partner every hour.
Last year there were more than 15,000 criminal cases in Russia against men accused of violent crimes against their wives. Some say this is the tip of the iceberg. Violence is considered "normal" and few women report it and even fewer cases make it to court.
This is all after love dies. Before it's quite different.
We see it on the bridges and on the Red Square. They come in the ugliest possible decorated limos. They drink sweet Russian champagne and are followed by film makers and photographers. Observing the whole lot is good entertainment. Imagine their hen and stag's parties! He often wears white shoes and a glossy white suit. Her dress is modelled after Stalin's seven sisters and guaranteed not fire proof. She doesn't have a glass shoe, but the heels are high and she feels like Cinderella. At least it looks like she feels like Cinderella. And girls, ladies, women and brave men, if you are out for something special to wear at the next "bad taste party", head for Izmaylovo, the market where you may think you've arrived in Asia and get yourself a Cinderella style wedding dress.
She often seems more mature and responsible. He looks like a pimpled teenager. You wonder where they are going to live and realize that it may well be with one or the others parents. You wonder why they look happy and realize that you are a cynical middle aged man.
March 8th have two very different meanings for me - one is a Men's Choir and the other the International Women's Day. The name of the first is probably a result of the other.
The current celebration of March 8th in many ways amazed me. This was another version of Valentine's Day and had nothing to do with the original International Women's Day. This had nothing to do with equal opportunities, salaries and rights. It was all about celebrating the big difference between ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys and men and women.
After the fall of the Soviet Union the influence and power of the Russian Orthodox Church has increased. An orthodox church is as it's name clearly tells not very liberal or not at all liberal. The Russian Orthodox Church dates back to around when the peasants from Nordland and Trøndelag killed Olav Haraldsson at Stiklestad and he became a Saint both in the Roman and Orthodox church.
Women played a role in riots and demonstrations in the French Revolution of 1789. They led the march from Paris to Versailles and forced Louis 16th to move to Paris and recognise a new constitution. They were not very visible at Eidsvold 1814, but but reappeared in Paris in the 1848 revolution, and during the Paris Commune of 1871, when thousands of women died on the barricades. If I ever had a favourite play, it was Nordahl Grieg's "Nederlaget". There is Gabrielle Langevin, the young teacher that decide to got out in front of all the women to stop the blod shed and later learns that there is no other option but to fight. She was probably executed at Père Lachaise.
Aleksandra Kollontai was part of the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. Her father was a general in the tsar's army.
Aleksandra has interesting connections to Norway. She is known for her ideas of revolutionary opposition and she was in fact in opposition both to Lenin and more dangerously Stalin, but she survived. After the revolution she became the head of the women's section of the Bolshevik party where she developed her ideas of free love as an alternative to families. She was not a member of the Orthodox Church.
Aleksandra was the world's first female ambassador when appointed ambassador to Norway in 1923. She was ambassador to Norway twice and had the very important role as ambassador to the Nazi friendly Sweden during World World II.
If you doubt read "Mein lieber Reichskanzler"!
So, then we are at World War II - The Great Patriotic War. Have you ever heard of Marina Raskova? Together with two other ladies, women or girls she set a world record for non-stop flying by women in 1938.
In 1941, when the Germans attacked, she was an air force major and a hero of the Soviet Union. She convinced Stalin to set up three all women or girls regiments - the 586th Women's Fighter Reg, the 587th Women's Day Bomber Reg and the 588th Women's Night Bomber Reg. Pilots, mechanics and ground staff, every one of them female. Thousands applied, the average age being 22, and most wanted to fly. These young girls are an interesting gang - twenty-three of 588th Night Bombers were awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, and they were the most highly decorated regiment in the entire Soviet Air Force. Each pilot flew at least 1,000 missions.
The girls were young as were their opponents. Erich Hartmann, the German No. 1 World War II fighter ace was 23 years when the war ended.
The history of Valentina Tereshkova may interest you. She was the first woman astronaut or more correctly the first female kosmonaut. Her background was from a female parachute club. Her father fell during the war and she had to quit school early and start working as a textile worker. She studied on her free time and became a member of the party (little P). All odds were against Valentina becoming the first woman in space, but she made it on June 16th 1963 on Vostok 6. The flights call name was Chaika (Seagull).
Chaika could be one or the other..
The famous car...
or the famous girl...............................................
She made 48 orbits before a safe landing.
Where does this bring us? Times are changing.
Russia (or SSSR) had the first;
female embassador
female fighter pilot regiment
female kosmonaut
Today's high heels and short skirts may confuse some of us.
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