11.03.09

Women will be women. The economic crisis has in no way upset their dreams of getting bunches of flowers and also no end of other pleasant trifles for gifts on their customary spring-time holiday. And men (with only very few exceptions) will be men. No financial constraints will prevent them from catering to ladies' whims.

Ninety eight percent of gentlemen are determined to give women presents on the occasion of March 8 - celebrated as International Women's Day.  Moreover, experts at the OMI company have carried out a survey at the request of MasterCard Europe to discover that men are prepared to spend even more than last year, says the daily Vedomosti.

On the eve of the holiday, which in Russia is traditionally marked not as a gender-biased one, but as an occasion to make something pleasant for women, sociologists at the Levada Center and the Romir holding company conducted polls in order to find out what sort of gifts ladies would like to get from their loved ones this time.

As before, Russian women said flowers are the best gesture of courtesy - 40 percent of the questioned would like to get them, and 45 percent of men replied they would buy flowers to make women happy. Romir's statistics look somewhat different - more than half of women (58 percent) would like to get flowers, and 70 percent of men would congratulate ladies in this way.

Cosmetics, perfumery and jewelry hold second line on the popularity lists. Eleven percent of Russian women would like to receive such presents. As follows from the results of the opinion poll, practically all of women's hopes for cosmetics will come true - ten percent of men are preparing to give such gifts. As for jewelry, there may be problems. Only six percent of men said their ladies would get new jewelry to wear.

Ten percent of women are looking forward to cakes, candies and chocolate, but in reality almost twice as many will get them, because seventeen percent of men will offer 'sweet congratulations'.

Amid the economic turmoil, the poll has found, more women may count on a cash bonus. One in ten Russian men have opted for this most simple solution (9 percent in contrast to 5 percent a year ago), and six percent of the most materialistically-minded women wish to get money more than anything else.

Also, ten percent of Russian women would like to be presented with new clothes or household appliances, although a year ago less than three percent of the polled mentioned this possibility.

However, some representatives of the stronger sex have no gift-giving plans for March 8, and there are quite a few of them, indeed - six percent. Incidentally, eight percent of women are waiting for no gifts, says NEWSru.com.

March 8 gifts will be more expensive than a year ago. This year men plan to spend an average of 4,889 rubles (about 130 dollars), which is more than last year (4,786 rubles).

Demand for flowers on the eve of the holiday has been stable despite the crisis, although the prices of roses, tulips and mimosas are climbing. According to the Discovery Research Group, says the daily Noviye Izvestia, imported flowers account for 90 percent of the Russian market. Last year experts estimated it at two billion dollars. For the past few years the market kept growing by a quarter, but this year the crisis will most probably slow it down. Not on the eve of March 8, though.

One tulip, which in the Netherlands costs 30 cents, in Moscow is sold for 1-1.5 dollars. On ordinary days. On the eve of women's holiday the very same tulip cannot be found anywhere for less than 60 rubles (over two dollars), and one rose will cost 5-6 dollars.

The ruble's 'soft devaluation' makes the situation still worse. This means that for the flowers the importers had bought for dollars or euros Russian buyers will have to pay more than before.

The crisis has forced companies to save on corporate parties. Some employers have confined themselves to greeting female personnel with postcards. And this is not the worst insult of all, as an opinion poll by the trade union daily Trud has found.

Even those employers whose women employees invariably received valuable gifts on March 8 before this time have decided to cut costs.

A women aide to the general director of a large Moscow company recalls that last year all women received expensive sets of perfumery. This time - a postcard per lady and a bottle of sparking wine per room.

"That's awful. Everybody feels shocked. We had thought that for the employer our value is a little bit higher than that of a 20-ruble postcard," the young lady said.

"I'll go bankrupt even if I give one rose to each woman," said the boss of the angry women employees, adding he could only hope for his subordinates' understanding.

It is possible to do without buying flowers, though. The more so, since the Muslims resident in the Nizhni Novgorod Region have just called one and all to boycott Dutch flowers, which keep flooding the Russian market, in protest against the showing in the Netherlands of a film about the wives of the Prophet Mohammed.

The Nizhni Novgorod Region Muslim Board has called upon all devout Muslims to boycott Dutch tulips and roses on March 8. The board's deputy chairman for education and upbringing, Abdulbari Muslimov, addressed this call to all Muslims of Russia.

"Regrettably, there has been confirmation of the public showing in the Netherlands of a film insulting the wives of our dear and loved Prophet Mohammed," Muslimov says on the official website of the Nizhni Novgorod Muslim Board. "None of us can directly influence decisions by the authorities of the Netherlands, which is an independent state, but we can speak our mind and we can act. How? We can boycott goods, we can voice public criticism and we can pray for correction - these are the available and legal means of our resistance to the evil."

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Source: Itar-Tass