The babushka and woman voice in russia is mostly supressed, but if there is protests, it is mostly the mothers and babushka that voice their protest more fearless. It was again visible during the demonstrations against the war in the first weeks. While some man do protest too, the mothers and elder woman feel more “invincible” while the male russian is mostly complicit of the state narrative because of the violence they can receive. Many russian protest in the past were started or hold up by russian (mostly older) woman. I think the reason is mostly that they do not fit into a righteous narrative of the state. Russian State TV is mostly right wing Police/Justice content showing bad people getting locked up. The famous cells inside the courtroom are to some degree a invention of the russian TV propaganda. Putting people behind iron bars does always look guilty on TV. Nobody feels sympathy for someone talking through iron bars. But it does not work for Babushkas. State TV could never show a old russian woman (or multiple thereof) like that and have the majority on their side. It would always look deeply inhumane to (even) russians from every generation, seeing their elders portrait like that. People would be outraged. Therefore older russian woman are more fearless in groups to state their protest, because they know the state can not (in general) beat them up like they do with male protesters. During the protest they had to carry them away one by one without first beating them down like they normally do. And I am sure the (young) male were more tortured by OMON Troops than the older russian woman - if at all. So paying the woman is a solution that works for russia and china and some other asian countries, where there is a deep rooted respect for elders and mothers that are able to state protests, that can only hardly be controlled by strong force when erupting. Better pay up before than risking the images.