Amid the war and a declining birth rate, the Kremlin has introduced a new holiday: Pregnant Women’s Day. To mark the occasion, maternity clinics, hospitals, and even vocational schools hold workshops on newborn care, share information about state support programs, and hand out gifts. Officials hope to address the country’s demographic crisis by reframing pregnancy as a public contribution rather than a private milestone, but sociologists warn that such efforts do little to change the material realities facing young families. The independent outlet Glasnaya investigated how and why Pregnant Women’s Day came to be and what role gendered holidays play in Russian society. Meduza shares a translation of their reporting.

In 2023, Russia officially recognized Pregnant Women’s Day as a national holiday. Across the country, regional governments now mark the occasion with events held in maternity clinics, hospitals, family consultation centers, libraries, and even museums.

In Khanty-Mansiysk, pregnant women were invited to attend an exercise class designed to “strengthen muscles and prepare them for childbirth.” In Yekaterinburg, participants learned how to swaddle a baby and choose the right stroller. In the city of Volzhsky, in the Volgograd region, local officials spoke about the government support available to families with children. At the end of these events, participants are often given gifts — such as hand-knitted baby clothes made by volunteers and “Two on Board” car decals.

Most attendees are pregnant women already registered with clinics or enrolled in prenatal education programs, though Pregnant Women’s Day events are also held for students from local vocational and technical schools.

“This is about promoting care and respect for pregnant women, a culture of motherhood, and traditional family values,” says Yekaterina Kirichenko, a pro-government activist and director of the Urals for Life foundation. “We want them to feel proud of carrying new life, to find joy in it, and to share that joy with others,” she added. “When a woman is pregnant, she is beautiful.”

Motherhood, no exceptions How a Russian organization takes state money to lie to women about abortionMotherhood, no exceptions How a Russian organization takes state money to lie to women about abortionFrom private life to public significance

Russia has introduced a number of new gendered holidays in recent years, in addition to ones dating back to the Soviet era, such as Defender of the Fatherland Day on February 23 — traditionally seen as “men’s day” — and International Women’s Day on March 8.

In 2008, with the backing of both the government and the Russian Orthodox Church, Russia began celebrating another holiday — Family, Love, and Fidelity Day. It emerged amid growing concern from both the state and the church over the country’s demographic crisis and what they viewed as the cultural encroachment of the West.

Officials in the city of Murom, who first introduced the holiday as a local one in the early 2000s, promoted it as a homegrown alternative to Valentine’s Day. In the eyes of state officials and church leaders, Family, Love, and Fidelity Day was meant to embody so-called “traditional family values,” in contrast to the values of a “depraved West” associated with Valentine’s Day.

Celebrated on July 8, the holiday coincides with the feast day of Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom. At the heart of their story is a couple’s desire to stay together and their loyalty to one another — an ideal that aligns with Orthodox views of marriage, according to Diana Dukhanova, a professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. While procreation is not central to that religious tradition, Russian Orthodox Church leaders and government officials have used the story of the childless saints to promote their agenda for addressing the country’s population decline.

‘Church and state have long since fused together’ Why Russian religious leaders’ efforts to restrict abortion may soon succeed‘Church and state have long since fused together’ Why Russian religious leaders’ efforts to restrict abortion may soon succeed

Russia’s official “men’s” and “women’s” holidays have played a significant role in shaping the country’s gender ideology, both at the institutional level and in private life. As gender studies researcher Olga Voronina writes, by the late 1980s — when Russia once again faced declining birth rates — the meaning of these holidays began to revolve around the idea of a “traditional female destiny.” Since then, state ideology has increasingly reinforced an archaic division of gender roles: the woman as mother, and the man as warrior, protector, and victor.

In May 2021, then-Children’s Rights Commissioner Anna Kuznetsova told President Vladimir Putin about a regional initiative called Father’s Day, launched by a group known as the Union of Fathers. Just four months later, the holiday was granted national status. Officials said it was needed to “strengthen the institution of the family and raise the profile of fatherhood in childrearing.”

After Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the state’s confrontation with the West took on the language of a civilizational clash — one in which Russia cast itself as the defender of traditional family and moral values. But even as state messaging around large families and motherhood has grown louder, the country’s birth rate continues to fall, according to a sociologist who spoke with Glasnaya on condition of anonymity. “President Putin has repeatedly described the demographic situation as ‘extremely difficult,’ requiring decisive action,” she says.

In light of this, the state appears to be turning once again to gendered holidays. Family, Love, and Fidelity Day was granted official status in June 2022, and in April 2023, Pregnant Women’s Day was made a national holiday. According to the sociologist, these holidays are part of an effort to transform pregnancy from a private life event into a matter of public significance — something worthy of official recognition as a personal “contribution to the common cause” of overcoming the demographic crisis.

No births, no deaths, no data Russia is pulling demographic stats from public view. What’s the Kremlin trying to hide?No births, no deaths, no data Russia is pulling demographic stats from public view. What’s the Kremlin trying to hide?One-day Madonna

Pregnant Women’s Day was first launched locally in 2022 with the support of the Russian Orthodox Church and the ruling United Russia party. Rolled out across 16 regions, the initiative was organized by activists from Everything for the Pregnant! — an anti-abortion group founded in 2015. Its motto: “Pregnancy should go so well that you’ll want to do it again!”

The group proposed celebrating the holiday twice a year, on April 7 and October 7 — “in spring and autumn, when life renews itself and then bears fruit,” said project coordinator Ioanna Pavlova.

In the 2000s and early 2010s, Pavlova went by the surname Kerestyn, lived in Dnipro, Ukraine, and was active in opposing juvenile justice reforms and what she called the “promotion of homosexuality.” She also organized pro-Russian forums in defense of “family values” and drafted templates for Ukrainian parents to opt their children out of a health education class that included basic sex ed.

“They probably want our territory emptied. Why else would a teacher be showing children how to use a condom?” she said in 2010. “A teacher should be talking about family values and morality — not corrupting minors.”

Since the mid-2010s, Pavlova has been promoting “traditional values” in Russia. In 2016, she led a campaign by the anti-abortion movement For Life to collect one million signatures in support of banning abortion. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Everything for the Pregnant! project, which Pavlova founded, gained new prominence.

The group not only introduced Pregnant Women’s Day but also launched a lecture series on how to “properly” dissuade women from having abortions. According to reporting by Verstka, around 400 gynecologists, obstetricians, and pre-abortion counselors have participated in the program.

‘What kind of life will they have?’ Russian doctors on what the country’s anti-abortion shift means for their work and the pregnant women in their care‘What kind of life will they have?’ Russian doctors on what the country’s anti-abortion shift means for their work and the pregnant women in their care

The group also distributes and sells anti-abortion materials, including booklets titled Life Before Birth and Pregnant = Already a Mom, as well as pregnancy journals and fetal development models. None of these materials mention the physical, professional, or emotional challenges that pregnancy can pose — or the potential negative consequences for a woman’s health or career.

The same is true of the group’s publicly posted guidelines on how to organize Pregnant Women’s Day, notes the sociologist who spoke to Glasnaya. The recommendations include offering gifts, free event tickets, and front-of-line service in shopping centers, medical clinics, and other public institutions. They also suggest inviting pregnant women to meet with officials.

The aim, the sociologist suggests, is to signal public recognition of expectant mothers — through gifts and symbolic honors — in hopes of making the idea of having children more desirable. But this celebration, she says, highlights the state’s symbolic valuation of pregnancy for a narrowly defined moment in time.

“A brief elevation of a figure seen as secondary in the everyday social hierarchy doesn’t challenge that hierarchy — in fact, it reinforces it,” the sociologist said. “For one day, a pregnant woman becomes the object of public veneration. But it has no impact on her actual living conditions.”

According to Everything for the Pregnant!, the holiday is meant to help foster a “special culture of respect” for expectant mothers. In practice, however, Pregnant Women’s Day events are aimed exclusively at women of reproductive age — many of them already expecting — and don’t engage broader communities or segments of the population who may feel indifferent or even hostile toward pregnant women in Russia. The group makes no secret of its broader goals: to boost birth rates and reduce the number of abortions.

To tackle Russia’s ‘demographic problem’ schools prepare to teach children the virtues of home, marriage, and reproductionTo tackle Russia’s ‘demographic problem’ schools prepare to teach children the virtues of home, marriage, and reproductionA holiday instead of real support

The creation of a new gendered holiday is a clear example of replacing meaningful, structural support with symbolic gestures that are cheap to implement, says demographer Salavat Abylkalikov.

“Expectant parents aren’t concerned with symbolic days on the calendar,” he says. “They care about practical things. Can you push a stroller down the sidewalk in winter or during the muddy seasons of spring and fall? Are there enough ramps? Is there a good clinic nearby? Instead of addressing the countless large and small problems young families face, they’re offered a holiday.”

Russia’s spending on family policy remains “extremely low,” Abylkalikov points out. The share of GDP allocated to family support fell from 1 percent in 2017 to between 0.5 and 0.8 percent by 2020. But boosting birth rates typically requires investments of 2 to 3 percent of GDP, as seen in countries like France, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, and Finland.

From this perspective, he says, Pregnant Women’s Day can be seen as a form of reproductive pressure — one that, in the long run, could actually contribute to a decline in birth rates. A more effective approach, he says, would be to build an environment in which people are able to have the number of children they want. “That includes gender equality, economic security, access to housing, quality healthcare and childcare, and confidence in the future,” he explains.

According to the sociologist who spoke to Glasnaya on condition of anonymity, the Russian government is effectively communicating that a woman’s value is measured primarily by her reproductive function and her contribution to solving the country’s demographic challenges. This framing, she says — tying national interests to a woman’s reproductive role — serves as a tool to legitimize state control over reproductive behavior.

“Under the banner of care for the state,” she says, “a normative model of womanhood is being reinforced — one rooted in motherhood as a social duty and political loyalty.”

Invisible barriers Do Russian politicians really want to ban abortion?Invisible barriers Do Russian politicians really want to ban abortion?Inventing tradition

To help new holidays gain traction with the Russian public, government officials and pro-government activists often frame them as rooted in the nation’s historical legacy, writes gender studies researcher Olga Voronina. Pregnant Women’s Day is no exception.

On its website, Everything for the Pregnant! publishes materials highlighting how Soviet authorities supported motherhood during World War II. The Great Patriotic War — as it’s known in Russia — remains the central myth of modern Russian statehood, a lens through which the government legitimizes itself and casts the present in heroic, patriotic tones, notes another sociologist who also spoke to Glasnaya on condition of anonymity.

One such article cites wartime measures such as the honorary title “Mother Heroine,” awarded to women who bore and raised ten or more children; medical care for women working in classified defense plants; and the Soviet campaign against abortion, which was banned at the time. These measures were inadequate, the article notes, but “in the extreme conditions of war,” supplying the front — through the labor of women — took precedence.

“This creates a militarized image of motherhood,” the sociologist explains. “Motherhood is equated with service at the front, and pregnant women are cast as home-front heroines whose contribution is seen as an act of valor in the fight to preserve the state. The message reads something like this: ‘If our grandmothers hadn’t given birth during the war, hadn’t cared for their children while the men fought, there would have been no victory. Now it’s our turn to ensure the country’s future in a new historic challenge.’”

Russia is putting pressure on women to boost the birth rate — but demographers say the main problem is too many people dyingRussia is putting pressure on women to boost the birth rate — but demographers say the main problem is too many people dying

For now, Pregnant Women’s Day remains a top-down initiative, largely disconnected from the personal lives of most Russians, says the first sociologist.

It’s possible that over time the holiday could develop some rituals. For example, employers might start congratulating pregnant employees, schools could hold classroom discussions about motherhood, and husbands might begin giving flowers. Businesses might also pick up on the theme — as they have with Valentine’s Day or Halloween — and start offering discounts for expectant mothers. But for that to happen, it would take more than government effort — it would require genuine public interest.

At this stage, she adds, Pregnant Women’s Day seems likely to remain a formal, bureaucratic event, carried out on orders from above as part of the national “Demography” project — rather than a grassroots celebration.

This sociologist also believes that Pregnant Women’s Day is unlikely to rival more established “women’s holidays” in cultural importance. “Ordinary families are unlikely to mark April 7 or October 7 in any special way unless someone in the household is actually pregnant,” she says. International Women’s Day, by contrast, applies to all women — mothers, grandmothers, coworkers, wives, and friends alike. “For a holiday to truly become part of family life, like March 8 has, it needs a long-standing tradition and an emotional connection,” she explains.

We usually do the talking at fundraisers. This time, we’ll let our readers speak for us. “I live in Russia and cannot send donations to Meduza, which is incredibly important to me as a source of reliable information. I have no friends abroad, and I ask you, a stranger to me, to support Meduza, and with it, hope for a normal future for Russia. This hope fades with each passing day. It’s unbearable to listen to propaganda and encounter people poisoned by it, especially children.” — Svetlana