Soft forms, hard sword: The 85-meter-high statue “The Motherland Calls” in the southern Russian city Volgograd symbolizes a country that unites female tenderness and male toughness. Photo: art_zzz/Fotolia How nation and gender are connected and why Eastern and Western Europe have trouble understanding each other Mother Russia by Rimma Gerenstein How nation and gender are connected and why Eastern and Western Europe have trouble understanding each other 28