PREMARITAL STRATEGIES OF YOUNG MUSLIM WOMEN (BASED ON THE MATERIALS OF SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN THE REPUBLIC OF TATARSTAN)
The article is devoted to the analysis of premarital strategies of young Muslims women. Empirical study was carried out in the period from 2018 to 2021 in Kazan. In-depth interviews and focus group research were conducted. The participants of the research were representatives of young Muslim women, receiving secondary or higher education in religious educational institutions. Premarital strategies include the following points: criteria for choosing a partner, method of dating, distribution of roles in future family and reproductive attitudes. The Islamic creed prescribes its own rules and norms on each of these points. But it is not always possible for Muslim women in the modern world to follow these norms, and sometimes some part is ignored for certain reasons. Thus, our research showed that Muslim women tend to implement a rational strategy of marriage choice, when in the premarital period, future wives are trying to learn more about the family, parents of the future husband, while reducing the premarital period to a minimum according to religious canons. Some factors can influence the process of the choosing a marriage partner, such as social environment, life circumstances, level of education, degree of religiosity, socialization and etc. That is especially vividly expressed in dating methods of young Muslim women. They use contemporary technologies and don't neglect modern forms of interaction (for example, acquaintance on the street, communication in social nets). At the same time while choosing a marriage partner young Muslim women primarily rely on the opinion and approval of their parents. The choice of marriage partner is implemented using special “filter model”, which helps Muslim women to determine for themselves the most demanded qualities that a future life partner should possess. The following “filters” are usually noted by Muslim women: religiosity, ethnicity and universal values (kindness, decency, etc.), as the most important factor they point the intelligence and education. Muslim women tend to be active participants of public life in addition to home responsibilities. It is reflected in the desire of Muslim women to receive not only religious, but also secular education, in self-development in various fields etc. Thus the several models of Muslim families can be construed in process of generalization of young Muslim women opinions about marriage and reproductive attitudes. Traditional model of a Muslim family is an extended, multi-child, and in some cases polygamous form of marriage, in which the woman is a housewife and the man is the breadwinner of the family. The modern model of the Muslim family: egalitarian, nuclear, more often focused on the average number of children, not a polygamous family, where household duties are evenly distributed between spouses, a woman can also engage in work outside home, self-development at her discretion.