Latvia

Contemporary Latvia

Far from the stereotype of the eastern European peasantry, modern-day Latvians place great emphasis on their historical and cultural heritage, and on education. Girls, on average, receive more education than boys: while the average age at which a Latvian male leaves school is 14, mainly to get jobs—the average age for a Latvian female to leave school is 17. Despite this, the literacy rate is marginally lower for women (99.7 percent) than it is for men (99.8 percent), though both literacy rates are very high; the discrepancy is possibly explained by a population of very poor women who left school at a young age or never attended at all. Education is mandatory until ninth grade, and free except for college.

Shortly after independence, Mother's Day was adopted as an official holiday in Latvia, as part of the country's identification with the West. Falling on the second Sunday in May, Mother's Day in Latvia is a day when mothers are given the day off from cooking for their families. Most Latvians (88 percent) live with their family, rather than alone or with roommates. Most of those who live alone are elderly women, whose husbands have died and whose children have made homes of their own. Other than on Mother's Day, mothers or grandmothers are traditionally responsible for cooking three meals a day for the family.

About 8 percent of Latvian households consist of single parents with minor children; the divorce rate is low (3.3 per 1,000 population in 2007), though divorce does not carry the stigma it once did. Three-generation households—in which grandparents live with the family—still account for about a third of the rural population. But Latvian families tend to be as small as in the West, with couples planning two children on average. The birth rate has fallen along the standard of living, and the state offers incentives for families to care for their children: working mothers are entitled to maternity leave of four months at full pay and benefits, and unemployed caregivers (whether the mother or the father) receive a childcare allowance until the child is 15 years old. Younger Latvian parents (under 40) are likely to share childrearing duties, and are the group most likely to consist of an employed mother and “househusband” father, [Page 635]though even in such circumstances, the women perform the bulk of domestic chores, including cooking and cleaning.

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