Why Russian and Ukrainian women don’t smile?

In Europe, Australia, Canada and the USA, smiling is an extremely appreciated as a social and positive action. A smile in the West first of all shows kindness and politeness. Ukrainian and Russian women smile only when there is a logical cause and reason to smile.

Ukrainian and Russian women smile only when there is a reason to smile

When Ukrainian and Russian women don’t smile

- When Russian and Ukrainian women are around people, who experience any troubles or sorrow, smiling is considered improper and inappropriate. So smiling when somebody shares bad news is considered extremely insulting and offensive

- If a woman has any problems or troubles, they are not expected to smile to others. They are expected not to smile, if not people will consider this woman apathetic and careless.

- Smiling at work is not proper (except for women working at foreign companies or organozations, who are usually expected to follow company's standards and communication style).

- This starts from school in Russia and Ukraine. If a teacher hears laugh and giggles in the classroom, ordinarily the reaction would be: (why are you smiling? Did I say anything comical?” No wonder that immigration officers in Russian and Ukrainian airports never meet incoming passengers with a smile. They are at work and there is no place for smiles here.

When Ukrainian and Russian women Smile

- When a woman see a relative or a friend. Not smiling to strangers is a cultural rule and norm in Russian and Ukraine, as there is no particular reason why a woman should welcome a stranger in that approach. In contradistinction to European and American women, who treat strangers as good people until some of them act otherwise, Russian, Ukrainian and Belarus women treat strange man as an alien until he becomes and friend or better proves that he can be trusted.

If you ever tried smiling to strange women on the streets of Moscow or Kiev, this will make women embarrassed and uncomfortable. They will get very confused and will never smile to you in return.

- When there is a particular cause for them to smile and people around you are aware of it.

- When they see or hear something truly comical and funny. If somebody told them a joke or they are watching a comedy, they are smile and laugh

When Ukrainian and Russian women travel abroad, at first they really love that people around them smile all the time. But soon they will understand that these smiles do not mean that people are pleased and happy to see them and it is just a common norm. So some Russian and Ukrainian women come back home saying that foreign people have “hypocrite , double-faced and insincere smiles”.