As a rule the curricular are the same for boys and girls as they study together. The only essential distinction lies in courses of housekeeping activities. During this course girls study the ABC of cooking, dressmaking, embroidery, designing and housekeeping.

Choosing a University and a Faculty to enter a Russian girl acts in accordance with her preferences, aptitudes, interest, prestige of a certain profession, a possibility to get a well-paid job after graduation. But we have to admit, to our regret, that a diploma of any educational institution of any level even if there are only top marks there doesn't guarantee a Russian girl the job she has been trained for. Her knowledge turns to be unnecessary. This is a paradox of nowadays: the Russian state, having invested huge sums of money in education of top-class specialists, doesn't expect the repayment in any kind of equivalent.

In most cases there is no sex discrimination in receiving training in any profession. Not long ago girls were not admitted to military or marine schools but in recent years this restriction has been lifted so that everybody who passed the entrance exams and was approved by the medical board could get the profession of a policeman/woman, an army officer, a captain of a sea vessel, etc.

The sociological poll on family income, conducted in 1999, showed that an average woman's contribution to the family income is at least 50 per cent more than an average man's.

I have graduated from Moscow state university, philological faculty. We called it "girl faculty", when I studied there, because there were very few boys there. We studied literature, languages and history. We liked studying and our University very much. Unfortunately after finishing the University we practically "lost each other", because many of us left for different towns and cities. But now we "found ourselves" on the web at the site "odnoklassniki.ru" (classmates). Some of our ex-students left for different countries, where they work and live now, but most of us are here, in Moscow. The girls from our group work at the University, some work as translaters and interpreters, managers, do business. This winter we decided to get together in Moscow. We reunited at last!

To receive a higher education in the Soviet Union was not actually a question of prestige, but one of the values which an average person could possess. It was impossible to brag of successful business, a smart new automobile or an elite private residence constructed on one’s own design. None of the things existed in the Soviet Union. Well, to tell the truth, many of the things mentioned did exist somewhere, and, of course, someone had and used all these unearthly blessings, enjoying the life, but the entrance there where all this could be found, was kept under the strict secret! Education and a great collection of books in the house - everything, the Soviet people could be proud of.