Marriage attitudes and gender stereotypes of economically successful men in Kazakhstan

Abstract

In this article, the author proposes to consider the criteria for selecting a wife in the marriage market of the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan, by economically successful Kazakh men. As a result of the interview, it turned out that for economically successful Kazakh men, important criteria for choosing a wife in the marriage market are such qualities as external attractiveness, health, ethnicity, education level and religious status of a potential wife. The interviewed successful men indicated that the most important thing is the birth of children in the family, and at the same time, at least three. The modern urban Kazakh family, representatives of the middle class, supports a kind of fashion for having many children, which confirms the financial success and stability of the family. Economically successful men are ready to take responsibility for planning for children, are opposed to abortion, want to have children of a certain gender, and have little idea of what it means to care for and care for children. The interviewed men perceive a woman, first of all, as a housewife who will take care of the house, children and husband, and men will compensate her care financially. Due to the importance and importance of family relations in Kazakh families, our informants plan to build friendly relations with the relatives of the future wife, but they do not want to act as sponsors of future relatives. Economically successful men are ready to take on all material responsibilities, which confirms their adherence to traditional ideas about the male breadwinner. Regarding the expected model of behavior in a situation of family conflict, the opinions of the men interviewed were ambiguous. Someone is ready for the intervention of experts (family psychologists), relatives and friends, someone categorically does not accept this and is ready to cope with any family difficulties on their own. The interviewed men see their family future surrounded by children and grandchildren.