The head of the lower house Committee for Women, Family and Children has proposed that Russia institutes a separate holiday honoring fathers, in addition to Mothers Day, which was introduced 20 years ago.
The draft bill submitted to the State Duma by MP Tamara Pletneva provides that, starting from 2019, Russia would celebrate Fathers Day on the last Saturday of October.
In an explanatory note attached to the bill, the lawmaker wrote that the measure would add some balance to the situation by which Russia has celebrated Mothers Day for 20 years, but fathers dont have their own holiday.
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“Fathers need a holiday too because women have various holidays and men only have February 23, but it is not for all men, it is the holiday honoring the Defenders of the Motherland. But the roles of the defender of the family and the bringer-up of children are equally important,” she wrote.
The official also wrote that the move was supported by the “Union of Fathers of Russia” movement and the participants of the “Strong Family” project, backed by parliamentary majority party United Russia.
A poll conducted by the state-run public opinion research center VTSIOM in mid-2017 revealed that 62 percent of Russians supported the idea of having a special national holiday for fathers. Respondents said that another holiday would help citizens to remember family values, give them time and opportunities to spend more time with their families, and to thank them for caring and supporting them.
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