“It's interesting that in Tatar families husband is the head, but it is wife who manages family budget”

Matilda Bussard from Switzerland is an exchange international student at Kazan State University’s Department of History. She is writing a thesis on the topic “Peculiarities of Tatar family”. In Kazan Matilda is taking classes at the university, conducting surveys among Tatar youth, doing research at the library. She is a student at the Department of Ethnography of Neuchatel University of Switzerland. She conducts surveys among Tatar young women and asks their opinion about such problems as marriage institution, mixed marriages, relations between wife and husband, peculiarities of Tatar families, family values in Tatar society. Matilda Bussard conducted a survey among Tatar-inform’s Tatar editorial journalists and answered their questions about Swiss families.

Matilda, there are four official languages in Switzerland. What languages?

M.B.: German, Italian, French, Retoroman languages are considered official languages of Switzerland. Formal documents are written in the first three languages. I speak French, German, and Spanish. I also know some English. At school we had classes in French and German.

What language do you consider your native?

M.B.: French.

Why did you make up your mind to write a thesis on Tatar families?

M.B.: I had no idea about Russians and Tatars before I came here. I’m interested in the topic of Tatars, because many academic papers have been written about Russians so far. I make research about relations between men and women in Tatar families. The role of women in politics, journalism, and cultural life is also of interest. No one is studying these fields in Switzerland.

We have talked about Tatar family. You found out that husband is the head of a family and wife is the keeper of hearth. What is the situation like in your country?

M.B.: From my point of view, husband and wife have equal rights in Swiss families. In my family mother makes purchases for our household, plans the family budget. Father cleans the house more often than mother, but he is the head of the family.

You say husband and wife have equal rights? How is it realized in life?

M.B.: For example, my mother and father both cook at home. It is an adopted standard of life; it is not debated.

You said that in Switzerland women have an opportunity to work with a several days-long break, or just half a working day. Is it determined by the law or a labour contract?

M.B.: The department of personnel is usually responsible for such issues. There are women who work full week.

Matilda, you are interested in the issues of mixed marriages. What is the attitude of the Swiss to this problem? Would your parents agree, if you wanted to marry a representative of another nation?

M.B.: Mixed marriages are not unusual in Switzerland. My parents wouldn’t mind. The most important thing is that the fiancé is a good person, even if he is from Nigeria.

How do people preserve traditions in mixed families?

M.B.: My friend is married to an African. They live in Congo at present. The put efforts to the children’s upbringing in order to teach them the national traditions and language.

You have collected a lot of interesting data about Tatar families. What facts seem to be the most interesting?

M.B.: The fact that man is considered to be the head of a family, but it is woman who decides how to spend the family budget. Women think that their husbands should feel themselves the head of the family, but they solve all routine problems themselves. It seems interesting that many unmarried Tatar young women would like to marry a Tatar, but are dating with a Russian guy. According to official statistics, most marriages in Kazan are mixed marriages. Many Tatar women marry Russians, despite the fact they would like to start family life with a representative of their nationality.

Writing by Rimma Gatina

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