A chronic shortage of men has prompted desperate Latvian women to hire “husbands for an hour“. Reports suggest that the Baltic beauties are better educated, healthier and live longer than men in the former Soviet Republic. Hence, many of them have started fleeing the country to find partners, while those left behind often hire men for household chores and repair works. After considering the situation, various companies, like Komanda24, have come out with the Men with golden hands service. Under this scheme, men could be hired for a few Euros to fix leaking taps, mount a television or to assemble flat-pack furniture. This service encourages women to book a “husband for an hour” online. Another company, Remontdarbi.lv, has taken the concept even further by branding its handymen explicitly as rented husbands. Customers book online or by phone, and a man appears at the door within a short time to paint the walls or fix the curtains, and not to flirt or argue about weekend plans.

Author Dace Ruksane, who has dubbed the Latvian version of Carrie Bradshaw, has said that the highly educated and successful women often stay single as they struggle to find partners who match their ambitions. She stressed: “The smartest girls are alone. The really beautiful girls are alone if they are smart. They want to find partners who are equal to them.” Ruksane told the media: “But a man, having all this choice, doesn’t need to be very perfect. He just sits in front of the TV and knows he can get a woman. And if she doesn’t suit him, he will get another.“

Sociologist Baiba Bela has claimed that the gender imbalance becomes sharply visible between the ages of 30 and 40 in the Baltic nation, stating: “In this age group the mortality for men is three times higher than the same age group for women.” In fact, the overall life expectancy gap is the widest in the European Union (EU) and women live 11 years longer (than men) on average in Latvia. As per a survey, Latvia has 15.5% more women than men and the figure is more than three times the EU average.

Dania, a 29-year-old Single Festival worker, is of the opinion that nearly 98% of her colleagues are women. “There’s nothing wrong with that… but just for the good balance you would want to have some more men to flirt or chat with. It’s just more interesting,” she said. Her friend Zane explained: “That’s why all my friends have gone abroad and found boyfriends there.“

The survey has further revealed that high male mortality is behind the shortage, as men die younger and four times more likely to commit suicide. The average age of Latvians is 44, while its crude death rate 14.9 per 1,000 and more than 80% of suicides are committed by men.

Meanwhile, researchers have opined that there is no mystery behind this imbalance, stating that the Latvian men simply do not live long because they smoke far more frequently. Nearly 31% of men smoke in Latvia compared to just 10% of women. Hence, they carry higher rates of overweight and obesity. According to researchers, poor diet, inconsistent healthcare habits and leftover post-Soviet lifestyle patterns, too, have caused men to die younger for decades. Hence, fewer men reach middle age and even fewer make it into retirement. This imbalance has quietly reshaped the Latvian population.

While demographers debate the health crisis, Latvian women have adopted a quite immediate solution: If the country does not have enough men, they will hire one.

Meanwhile,

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das