Dating Russian women can be an uphill battle if you don’t know how different they are culturally. Women do have similarities but it’s a whole other story when we talk about behavior influenced by culture. That’s why we’ve created this list of 5 must-know cultural differences when dating Russian women.

You Need To Pay Attention To This When Dating A Russian Woman

Russian women like to look good.

This is probably an understatement since Russian women like to dress up even if they’re only going to the grocery store to pick up a bag of potato chips. In most countries in the West, picking up one item at the grocery store calls for jeans (or sweat pants), maybe Ugg boots or flip flops, and a tank top or an over-sized t-shirt. Not in Russia. Women are more feminine so don’t be surprised if your Russian date takes a few hours to prepare even if you’re just going to do a video conference call.

Showering of gifts and romance.

In the West, men may get away with just sweet talking a woman into falling in love with him but in Russia, it takes more than that. You have to add in a lot of gift giving, sprinkled with random acts of romanticism. This is not to say that Russian women are materialistic – NO. Dating Russian women means to adapt to their culture and this is merely the dating culture in Russia (it emphasizes gift giving and more than the usual romantic acts of love).

You’re a gentleman.

You are expected to be a gentleman and as a gentleman, you have to pay on most dates. Now, same ladies may be going, “What? I can pay for my own!” and they can do the same thing in Russia. The thing is, even if you disagree, there’s still that unspoken belief that the gentlemanly thing to do, as men, would be to pay – at least on the first few dates. When you’ve been together for some time and if the relationship is deeper, that’s when you can go dutch (or maybe take turns to pay when you go out).

She’s a lady.

This is another example of how fine the definition of gender roles in Russia is: when dating Russian women, remember that they are ladies. Aside from being a gentleman and paying for the first few dates, you also have to do other things like open doors, make her walk on the side of street away from the passing cars, help her to her seat and etc. A modern day knight in shining armor is what you need to be.

Defining the relationship.

Now this one might not be conclusive but you should remember that Russian women (and men, for that matter) are quicker to get into a serious relationship compared to Westerners. This is probably because Russian don’t really like to play “games” when dating. If you’ve gone out for quite a few times, this most likely means that you’re official. Having said this, you also need to remember that there’s a strict only one dating rule in Russia. If you’re dating A, then it’s A all the way until you both decide that it didn’t work out.

Surprised?

What do you think of these differences in culture? Even if you think that some sound weird, you have no choice but to accept and then research some more differences in culture if you’re really serious about dating Russian women.

If you found these tips useful, visit the rest of our blog for more.