Modern Cinderellas: The Specifics of Marriage Strategies for Women with Disabilities

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Abstract

The article examines life strategies of disabled women who wish to find a spouse/life partner and build a family. We take the cases of contemporary Russia and Kazakhstan as countries that in many aspects share a common post-Soviet social and cultural background. Israel, which is considered one of the countries favorable for disabled people, is additionally taken as a case for comparison, for in fact there live many impaired ex-Soviets including women with disabilities. Drawing on own field research, we attempt to outline the principal models of marital behavior of such women in the countries under examination, pinpointing their specificities in each case. We argue that despite different social and cultural surroundings as well as varying ethnic and religious traditions, the factor of double stigmatization – both of disability and of gender stigmatization – makes a profound impact on self-identifications of these women who feel more vulnerable if compared with so-called “normal” women.

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About the authors

Elena E. Nosenko-Stein

Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Author for correspondence.
Email: elednos21@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9952-8582

д. и. н., главный научный сотрудник

Russian Federation, 12 Rozhdestvenka st., Moscow, 107031

Igor S. Savin

Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: savigsa@inbox.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6812-7014

к. и. н., старший научный сотрудник

Russian Federation, 12 Rozhdestvenka st., Moscow, 107031

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2. Fig. 1. Interview with Irina N. at NArFU. Arkhangelsk, 2017. Photo by E.E. Nosenko-Stein.

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3. Fig. 2. Courtyard in a mahalla in Shymkent, 2022. Photo by I.S. Savin.

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4. Fig. 3. A street in a mahalla in Shymkent, separated by walls from the courtyard, 2022. Photo by I.S. Savin.

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