Babushki as Surrogate Wives: The Negotiation of Reciprocity between Single Mothers and Grandmothers in Russia.

Using interview and ethnographic data collected in Russia, this paper describes how single mothers and their children's grandmothers, or babushki, straddle the generational divide to support one another. In this dual-parenting system, babushki facilitate the relatively smooth functioning of single-mother families, serving as surrogate wives to their daughters. Negotiations between mothers and grandmothers are just as complex and potentially conflict-ridden as those between husbands and wives over the sharing of work and home responsibilities. Yet the rules of reciprocity are relaxed within this two-woman support system and conflicts typically lead to diminished support rather than divorce. Comparing the negotiation of reciprocity between mothers and grandmothers to the more well-known conflict between husbands and wives over the second shift, the author argues that both parenting ideologies (traditional, egalitarian, and transitional) and economic situation influence how women ultimately share responsibilities and manage conflicts. When a mother and babushka pursue similar parenting strategies, there is less conflict in the relationship. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]