Ukrainian Women’s Movement and Transnational Activism

Thank you

The majority of my reporting is available through this website which will remain active until October 2nd and copies of the full report, including a list of interview sites, references and reading material on women, gender, and feminism in Ukraine, and an extended analysis of the current situation will be available after October 15th and may be requested by email: jforrest25@gmail.com.

Всем моим друзьям, коллегам и наставникам, с кем я познакомилась за три месяца пребывания в Украине, - Спасибо. Ваши программы и преданность делу глубоко тронули и воодушевили меня, и я искренне благодарна за Ваше гостеприимство. Пожалуйста, пишите, и я желаю Вам огромных успехов в Вашей работе.

To the many friends, colleagues and mentors I have found during the last three months in Ukraine: Thank you. Your programs and commitment have been inspiring and your hospitality and kindness have been greatly appreciated. Please stay in touch and I wish you great successes in all of your work.

Jessica

Lviv: A few highlights

Before I arrived, everyone I met told me it was a beautiful city and that it was wonderful I was going to Lviv. «The best» even, said with a dreamy look in the respondent's eyes. It was to the point that I was worried that I would be let down upon arrival.

I have not been. Nor have I been disappointed by the women and organizations whose reputations preceded them throughout the rest of Ukraine. Lviv has the reputation of the progressive, activist heart of Ukraine. The center for the movers and the shakers.

Recently my attention has shifted towards writing a final report, getting in a few last meetings and thinking over what has been an amazing three months, but I want to briefly highlight some of the work being done in Lviv Oblast.

This evening I met for the second time with Dariya Kulchytska, Director of the Lviv Oblast Branch of 50/50 NGO which promotes equal political participation of men and women.  They encorage women throughout the Oblast to run for political office and work on breaking down the stereotypes which have stopped most Ukrainian women from excelling in the political areana. Liliya Gook, who directs the Gender Resource Center and provides analysis and direction to government officials on implementing laws and programs on gender, also joined us. In addition to her voluntary work at the Resource Center (and participation in what was an incredible list of other projects and trainings in the Oblast and nationally), Ms. Gook runs a club for boys and girls called Юнка which is the Lviv Branch of the «The Gender Interactive Theatre of the School of Equal Opportunities». At the club, the students create their own plays about different social issues and then act them out for other schools, younger students, in the streets or at other events. Last year the students made a film that was shown in Belarus, Poland, Germany and Sweden.  Lecia Matviivna, director of the Lviv Oblast Center for Youth hosted us at the Center's office. Ms. Matviivna, like many of the women I have spoken with in Ukraine, went through Winrock International's leadership trainings in the mid-1990s and worked for several years as a trainer in Winrock's programs for middle-aged women in crisis situations and unemployed women. Through that work she realized that very little attention was being given to youth by the government.  She said she now sees the younger generation as a critical target group and wants to encourage young men and women in their choices as they enter the workforce and also to create a productive environment for the many young people who have left Ukraine to find employment to return to.

The name that was most frequently recommended to me before coming to Lviv was that of Lubov Maksymovych, Director of the Western Center “Women's Perspectives.” Women's Perspectives is housed in a shopping center about 2 ½ hours by foot (although it turns out only 20 minutes by bus) from the center of Lviv.  Ms. Maksymovych told me the unemployment rate in this area was particularly high and that a lot of their clients live or work nearby.  Women's Perspectives works on a wide range of issues related to women and they have a shelter for victims of trafficking and domestic violence, although at present they there is no money for operating it. They also have a strong research arm and recently produced a booklet on discrimination in the job market in Lviv Oblast with particular attention to sex and age-based discrimination in hiring and job advertisement.  In the fall, they will publish findings on the prevalence of domestic violence in Lviv Oblast. At present there are no reliable national (or regional that I am aware of) statistics on domestic violence; which unfortunately signifies to many that the problem does not exist. 

Thanks to help from Women's Perspectives, I was also able to meet with Andriy Dobriansky, Deputy Director of the Lviv Oblast Department for Family and Youth a few days later.  Mr. Dobriansky is young and was very engaging and gave me a full hour of his time even though the Prime Minister was apparently due for a visit that day and there was a flood of papers washing in and out of his office to be signed.  As in Kharkiv, Lviv Oblast recently set up a coordinating body of government officials and NGOs on gender issues and Mr. Dobriansky also said that the Oblast had increased the percentage of the Department's budget directed towards gender issues from 4 percent in previous years to 10 percent this year.

A few of the other interesting individuals I have met in Lviv are Oksana Kis, Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethnology and Director of the Lviv Research Center “Women and Society”, and Alison Case, head of the Peace Corp Gender and Development Working Group (GAD) and a Volunteer based in Horokiv (located between Lviv and Lutsk). Dr. Kis was recommended to me for her recent work on images of Yulia Tymoshenko which is fascinating and can be read at the following site: http://www.yorku.ca/soi/_Vol_7_2/_HTML/Kis.html. She has worked since 2000 on introducing classes on gender in Lviv universities and now four universities offer a range of classes. No where in Ukraine is it possible to received a degree in “Gender Studies” or “Women's Studies” but these courses are important for introducing the topics both as a potential career path and an area of academic interest.  Alison Case said GAD recently started a partnership with the International Organization for Migration so that Volunteers can go through IOM's training programs on trafficking and receive a variety of educational materials for their local classes and workshops.

This is only a brief snapshot of the work being done in Lviv and a few of the individuals involved. Since people regularly inquire, I will say that I do find Lviv different in some ways that the rest of Ukraine.  However, the organizations I have met with here maintain contacts with work being done in many other areas of Ukraine and some of the most interesting and successful projects I have heard about were collaborations with Kiev, Kharkiv and other cities.

Lutsk Gender Center: Reaching out to Single Fathers

A few days ago I took a 4-hour mini-bus north from Lviv to Lutsk to spend the day with Oksana Yarosh, professor at Uolyn State University and Director of the Lutsk Gender Center. We had been introduced once before in Kiev and she has been to Washington, DC as the recipient of a Vital Voices Global Leadership award for her participation in the Orange Revolution and it was a great day from discussing political quotas and need for a law on lobbying to touring the city's historic fort.

Through my interviews I have met a few women who I would consider “activists” (as I have traditionally thought of the label), and Dr. Yarosh is one of them. On the eve of the Orange Revolution, when the electoral results came back and were clearly falsified, Dr. Yarosh went to the main square along with many others from the city. The reason she has been recognized for her participation, however, is that when the TV journalists were asking around for someone to comment, she stepped in when everyone else shied away. The interview ended up being broadcast nationally. Dr. Yarosh showed me several other clips of her on TV or in the papers talking about the Gender Center’s programs, particularly a recent one to work with men and women who are single parents.

The Gender Center in Lutsk has also published booklets on the ABCs of Gender and a series of essays on gender issues. I have heard from several sources that students interested in writing about gender issues or using feminist theory for their masters or PhD theses have few available resources or advisors and this information provides a good starting point.

They have also put together information on single-parent fathers in Volynsky Oblast, and booklets on a child’s first years of school. Most of single-parent services provided by the government, NGOs and service providers are geared towards women and the Gender Center’s work with single-parent fathers was particularly interesting. In Volynsky Oblast alone there were at least one thousand single-parent fathers in 2003. One typical situation that Dr. Yarosh highlighted was women going abroad to work for long periods of time, sending remittances home and leaving the husband with the children. The Gender Center is currently providing classes for single fathers and highlighting the problem through the mass media and informational campaigns.

SALUS: a public-private compromise on health care

This afternoon I met with Oleksandra Stuzhyhska, founder and director of SALUS Foundation in the Center “ASTAR”, a private clinic for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Dr. Stuzhyhska is a gynecologist by profession and has a PhD in the study of STIs.

In Ukraine, NGOs are prohibited from diagnosing or treating patients because they lack proper licensing from the Ministry of Health. However, SALUS has worked out an agreement with ASTAR, the private clinic with which it shares a building, so that SALUS can buy equipment and give it to ASTAR for specific purposes and they can also provide high-level consultations on diagnoses. Through this cooperation, SALUS is able to offer free testing and counseling for sex workers, victims of rape, trafficking and domestic violence, and they would like to extend it to single mothers but that has not yet been approved.

The NGO “International HIV/AIDS Alliance,” the biggest (or at least best-known) organization working on HIV/AIDS in Ukraine, has gained the unprecedented ability to give treatments and diagnosis. Right now SALUS is working with Alliance on an outreach project where they give HIV/AIDS tests with instant results to sex workers on the street. If the tests return positive, the women are encouraged to go to the HIV/AIDS clinic.

Due to lack of funding in the past few years there have not been any government attempts to collect data on the number of people living with STIs or HIV/AIDS in Lviv and Dr. Stuzhyhska said one of her goals is to conduct an epidemiological study on the prevalence of STIs in the normal population in Ukraine. Currently, most of the international funding is given to informational campaigns and trainings, versus medical studies.

Governmental involvement

Government-run facilities do exist for STIs but people do not typically go to them. Under the Soviet Union, people were obliged to go to the clinics for testing and there was no confidentiality; if a person did not show up for their follow-up treatment, letters were sent to their workplace informing the manager about the STI and the person’s lack of response. It is understandable that this has made a lingering impression.

One positive step forward is that SALUS has recently won a competition in the local government through which they should receive 19,050 grivnas (around $6350 USD) to continue their work. Dr. Stuzhyhska said it would be the first time they had gotten any money from the government. She had previously noted that she was tired of waiting for things to change and there seemed to be some skepticism about the actual delivery of the funds. Hopefully, it is a signal of future partnerships and increased interest from the government.

Ailments of the Ukrainian Health Care System

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine has been slow to make any substantial improvements in the national health care system. While the center still controls almost all aspects of health care, from the education curriculum for doctors to licensing and local budgets, there is an inadequate level of funding and accountability between the center and local levels to allow for effective delivery of services and responses to need. In theory, health care is ‘free to all’ as it was during the USSR but the entire system and each aspect of service is based on bribes (which can be expected when doctors earn around $150 USD per month). I was told by the head of one private hospital that many public doctors only work ¼ time only to have access to equipment for bribes.

International donors have been a more reliable source of funding for many projects and NGOs keep telling me that HIV/AIDS is receiving the bulk of international funding. When I visited the HIV/AIDS Clinic in Kherson and it was unclear where all of that money was going. In Kherson there is one clinic for the entire oblast that can provide ARVs. While seemingly clean, the equipment was old and open vials of blood were sitting-in-wait for their turn on the test. Around 10 staff members work at the clinic which is a ways away from the center of town and I do not recall any sign on the building to indicate the AIDS clinic was there.

In Lviv, the regional HIV/AIDS clinic only opened 3 years ago because the regional government could not come up with the necessary funds; other neighboring regional clinics have been in operation for 11 plus years.

Back to Soviet Centralization or on to Privatization?

Many doctors and citizens in Ukraine have told me that the health system was better under the USSR because everyone was guaranteed free health care. Regardless of whether this was actually the case, or if it was high quality care, it is a widespread memory and an important comparison point to the system now. Deputy Head of the Department of Youth Policy, Elza Volodymyrivna Leschenko, said that from her personal point of view, health education at least should be implemented as it was in Soviet times. Previously there was mandatory physical education and healthy lifestyles classes but those programs no longer exist. Today kids have a small program on health but it is not about personal decisions and internal factors that influence health but rather on external factors such as snake bits, crossing the road, etc. In Lviv there are optional health classes on sex and healthy behaviors but parents often do not let their children attend (lest they hear about condoms from an authoritative source).

Additionally, rapid staff turn-over was not a significant problem in the Health Ministry as it is now. Continual change in leadership and staff has meant very little progress and a lot of confusion in the ministry. It also leads to the Ministry spending a lot of time and money working on small problems that can be handled in short periods of time but not tackling endemic issues that need a longer period to address. Staff vacancies also put a hold on progress and one international organization told me that they have problems giving trainings because individuals in the ministry need central approval in order to attend and frequently their supervisors are absent. This raises another point of the wasted time and money that has been pumped into the Health Ministry only to have those people who received the training leave.

It seems that the soviet health care system is still in the process of it’s inevitably and timely – however unfortunately slow – death, and yet it refuses to let go of some of its control with its final bits of strength. The intricacies of remaining centralization are amazing. ISIDA private maternity hospital (detailed later) told me that people have certain doctors and areas assigned to them for verifying sick leave from work to the government. ISIDA still does not have the ability to grant sick leave for its patients.

The Ministry of Finance is responsible for deciding the budget of each Ministry, including that of the Health Ministry. This is typically down to the line items, and in many instances, equipment is bought centrally and then distributed to the regions. In addition to providing an opportunity for skimming off the top, it is difficult for the central ministries to have a complete understanding of what is needed at the regional or local level. In other cases the local health ministries can make up their own budget but it still has to be approved by the central government. And the disconnect between local needs and the central authority extends beyond the budget process. Local facilities receive minimal funds but they are not allowed to cut staff or close facilities on their own decision. The extra facilities also spread out resources and in Ukraine there are two times the doctors in Germany and three times the number in France.

ISIDA Private Maternal Hospital

ISIDA hospital in Kyiv is recognized as the best private maternal hospital in the country and the facilities are excellent. The clientèle is limited to those who can afford the top services, but the general manager, Mr. Valery Kidon, indicated a few ways the hospital is beneficial for the entire population. Primarily, the hospital provides another option for those who can pay. In many other areas of health care there are no equivalent services and people who want good care have to go to another country to find it, which is both extremely costly and dangerous. Additionally, the high level of service at ISIDA raises the standards demanded from other facilities.

Dr. Kidon said that ISIDA is frequently audited and not viewed favorably by the Ministry of Health. In part he attributed this to the Ministry’s concern of backlash after they have repeatedly said that a higher level of service and private hospitals are not feasible in Ukraine at present.

I asked Dr. Kidon what he thought foreign governments and foundations should do to strengthen the health care system and without hesitation the answer was to create equal conditions for private and public business. The Ministry of Health should be in a position of providing overall direction and then let the smaller, local issues be taken care of privately. Private health care now covers less than 1 percent of the market (there are 5 private clinics, 1 in Odessa and 4 in Kyiv).

One of the biggest issues in privatizing health care is finding good managers of the facilities. Dr. Kidon said one place to look is in the pharmaceutical business which now employs many doctors who left when their salary was insufficient. These individuals have medical knowledge, pharmaceutical competency and business education

Traditional Provider-Oriented Services

Another problem in the Ukraine health system is that services remain provider-oriented verses patient-oriented. Simple medical problems are met by long stays in the hospital and intensive treatment. And furthermore, all areas are compartmentalized and doctors and clinics are over-specialized for cost effective treatment. One ob-gyn sees a patient for infertility problems but sends them to another for STIs, another for HIV/AIDS and yet another for family planning consultations. This fracturing is not only ineffective and expensive but it means that many problems go undiagnosed and deters patients from seeking services.

Merits of Shelters for Human Trafficking?

In Kherson “Successful Women” remodeled an old apartment with funding from IOM and OSCE to create a transitory center for victims of trafficking. The “fixing-up” which only took one month was nothing short of a herculean task (see before and after pictures) and it is now a very nice facility with one bedroom for women with children, one for transit (very short stays of a few days), one room with two beds, a kitchen, living room and area for private consultations. When I arrived the shelter was empty and I slept in one of the rooms while Anzhela Lytumenko, a psychologist by training and the trafficking specialist for Successful Women, stayed at the center as well. Anzhela is seven months pregnant and rotates shifts with another psychologist at the shelter. Since they opened in 2006, 40 people have stayed there, the majority returning from Turkey. Women can stay at the shelter in Kherson for up to three months and they will refer them to IOM in Kyiv if it is a situation they are unable to deal with or if the person is not from Kherson. Anzhela said the women are expected to cook for themselves but that she helps them if they are unable; she explained that some of the women were young and had only lived with their parents before. There is also a 9 pm lock out time and no alcohol allowed.

Volunteers of Successful Women also ran a domestic violence shelter last year which provided services to 30 women but funding ran out and they had to close the doors. Lydmila Kympan, the specialist on domestic violence, said the government runs  a shelter in Kherson but they allow women to stay for up to a year and just provide for all of their needs instead of offering any real program for reintegration.

In addition to trafficking, another problem they see frequently result from Ukrainian women marrying Arabic men in Ukraine and then return to the Arab country with their husband. Many of women find themselves in difficult situations there but once they get a divorce or leave, it is almost impossible for them to get their children or gain access to them. An organization working on trafficking in Vinnytsia, Springs of Hope (Dzherelo Nadii) also brought this up as a major concern and said that since there are no Ukrainian government posts in many of the Arabic countries, there is no one to help mitigate the situation. Springs of Hope , a new, husband and wife team organization, has seen 40 people since they started providing services.

IOM’s Return and Reintegration

The International Organization for Migration provides return and reintegration assistance to victims of trafficking in Ukraine. NGOs such as the ones in Kherson and Vinnytsia typically refer victims to IOM but sometimes they receive referrals through law enforcement or IOM missions in other countries. IOM also has a new project underway to educate religious leaders about trafficking and available services. Many people, particularly in western Ukraine, go to priests for a blessing before going abroad or making a major life decision so IOM has worked to educate priests about resources available and warning signs of trafficking. Priests can also help identify victims. In Ternopil, one of the main anti-trafficking NGOs reported that 30 percent of identified victims come from priests.

When a person is identified as having been trafficked, they are sent to Kyiv where IOM staff picks the person up at the airport and counsels them on available services such as medical treatment, legal advice, employment counseling and training. Everything is at the discretion of the returned person, however, and some people decide to leave immediately and return home. A woman at IOM who works on return and reintegration told me that many of the people they see are still unaware that what has been done to them is a criminal offense. In the other cases, the person escapes and returns to Ukraine. They are then recommended to IOM through a local NGO or law enforcement and screened by IOM to determine if they are eligible for services.Since 2000, IOM has assisted 4,000 victims.

Phasing-out Shelters

IOM supports five shelters in Ukraine and has a comprehensive transit center in Kyiv at the hospital. I was told that they recently found out that there are also some state shelters but IOM does work with them at present.

The IOM Chief of Mission said they are currently working to phase out shelters for trafficked persons because they realize they are not an appropriate solution. Presently, IOM is working to phase out their shelters; the chief of mission told me that they realize they are not an appropriate solution for most victims of trafficking. People who have come back to Ukraine typically want to return to their home and not stay in a shelter and those who are in Ukraine from abroad are typically trying to return to their own country. Additionally, trafficked persons are usually well-educated, entrepreneurial individuals who do not want to stay in the shelter for any more than the transitory period. In those cases where a person cannot return home, subsidizing the person’s apartment until they can get back on their feet is the best solution and given the expense of maintaining shelters this would also be more cost effective. For those shelters IOM is currently supporting they said they would give the NGO discretion on how to use the facility. In some cases this could become an information center or a shelter for women to escape situations of domestic violence and receive counseling.

Gender in Ukraine: What about the Men?

On a surface, day-to-day level, the gender dynamic appears straight forward in Ukraine: the women are doing all of the work. They sweep the streets, run the shops, staff the kiosks, guard the art in museums, wait tables in the restaurants and sell their vegetables and wares on the streets. Men are generally seen driving taxis and mashruktas, working construction, in police uniform, and then doing a lot of drinking (at all times of the day and in all locations). In the non-governmental sector regarding issues of family, violence, and health, the gender balance also appears clearly defined: women run most NGOs and the information they produce is geared towards women.

Increasingly, there is recognition that men have to be brought into discussions of family, reproductive health, and domestic violence but the changes are only beginning. Elza Volodymyrivna Leschenko, former head of the National Department of Family and Gender Policy and Demographical Development and present Deputy Head of the Department of Youth Policy, told me that she thought men’s reproductive health was the biggest problem related to gender in Ukraine. Interesting that she cited the fact that there is no Father’s Day in Ukraine as one example of society underemphasizing the role of fathers.

    Some of the numbers:

    * Life expectancy of men is eleven years less than the average life expectancy of women;

     * In the age of 28-44 years, mortality of men is four times higher than that of women and 40% of boys aged 16 do not have the chance to live until they reach their pension age

    * Male unemployment in the paid section increases faster than that of females;

     * 90 percent of the prisoners are males;

     * Suicide is mainly among men;

     * A majority of men (57%) after divorce take no responsibility for their children. (Source: UNDP)

Men and Reproductive Health

Dr. Galina Maistruck, director of the Kyiv-based NGO Woman Health and Family Planning said that when a Canadian organization first approached her about working with men in the area of reproductive health, she thought there were few avenues for their involvement. Then the organization did a survey with 1,200 men age 20-35 to find out what they knew about reproductive health, STIs and related topics. The results showed a great deal of ignorance and misinformation and now the organization is re-targeting information to both men and women in schools, doctors’ offices and in public campaigns. Dr. Maistruck said she also gave a seminar for members of the Verhovna Rada about the importance of including men in reproductive health campaigns, creating manuals for family doctors on men’s reproductive health, and creating centers where men can go for counseling and treatment. At present there is one gynecologist or obstetrician for every 3,000 women and 1 doctor for men’s reproductive health for every 50,000 men.

Men Against Violence

In Vinnytsia (three hours southwest of Kyiv) and Kherson (8 hours north of Kyiv) are two branches of Men Against Violence in Ukraine. Vladimir Kozlova, director of Vinnytsia Men Against Violence spoke about the stereotypes facing men as well as women and the lack of outlets for men to openly discuss their problems. It is impossible to say the transition from the Soviet system was more difficult for men or for women, but the lack of socially acceptable “male” jobs has been particularly difficult and led to frustration, alcoholism and aggression. The problem of domestic violence against men has been brought up by several people I have spoken with in Ukraine but there are no services for them to access. Vladimir said that they held seminars and small group discussions for men but had not found a way to engage large groups of men...and he (surprisingly I thought) did not seem to think men would be interested in getting together outside of meeting at bars.

In Kherson, Men Against Violence offers free psychological services for men and women and is starting a ‘young fathers school’ but they said it was hard to tell if there would be much interest. My overall impression of both groups was that they were able to find very little funding for projects working with or targeting men and the majority of their work was working with organizations geared toward women.

Reviving Crimean Tatar Art

     Bakhchesaray, the 13th century capitol of the Crimean Tatar khanate and an enchanting town in lower Crimea, feels like it is worlds away from Kyiv and the rest of Ukraine.  The 5 daily calls to prayer ringing out over the old town and noticeable lack of running water (not to mention the 17 hour train ride to get there) add to the feeling. 

     Organizations I spoke with in Bakhchesaray also have a regionally-specific goal in mind: to restore Crimean Tatar traditional crafts and create a source of income for older women.  Aisha Osmanova directs the NGO “Maramar” and runs the new store “Usta”, or “Master” in Crimean Tatar with her husband.  Maramar is the name of the embroidered head scarves (pictured left) and Aisha teaches women throughout Crimea this traditional art.  She told me that there are very few who are Masters in the craft and that she herself only knows 25 percent of the technique. 

     The Khan’s Palace (a world heritage site), Upensky Monastery built into a cliff-side and 6th-century cave city of Chufut-Kale draw a fair amount of regional tourism to Bakhchesaray the store has been doing very in the first few months it has been open.  President Yushenko saw Usta’s pottery at one of their displays and requested a visit to the store to see more of their work and meet some of the artists.  Zarema Khayzedinova, who like Aisha has returned to Bakhchesaray after growing up in Uzbekistan, is putting together a website to promote Crimean crafts: www.crimeancraft.com.

     Returning Home

In 1944 Stalin ordered wholesale deportation of Crimean Tatars along with 7 other nationalities accused of collaborating with the Germans.  NKVD official statistics say that around 5 percent died in transit but the Tatars report that 46 percent died either in transit or over the first year after deportation.

     Most of the people I met were deported to Uzbekistan and they told me that, while it was extremely hot for too many months of the year, it was not a bad place to live.  Without fail though there was no question – regardless of whether they were born outside of Crimea and had never visited or spent the last 50 years in another country – of whether or not they would come back when given the opportunity.  “Uzbekistan (or Tajikistan) was not a bad life but this is my home.”  In 1989 Gorbachev said the Tatars could return to Crimea and since the Soviet Unioncollapsed around 260,000 Crimean Tatars resettled in Crimea.  However, when they returned there were no houses, land, or jobs for them and it has been an incredible struggle to redevelop their lives…not to mention the communities.

     Deportation was clearly devastating to the culture but this was not the first attack.  In 1920 Lenin targeted the Tatar partisans and intelligentsia and killed an estimated 60,000 in 6 months while another 100,000 died of starvation. Later purges included deportation of 30-40,000 Crimean Tatars.  At that time the Tatar Arabic alphabet was Latinized and then Cyrillicized, cutting later generations off from early Tatar literature.

     Crimean Tatars’ situation is improved in Crimea but they remain subjected to discrimination in all areas of society.  Maramar NGO has been successful in joining with other Crimean Tatars to protest building on an ancient Tatar burial site and will continue to promote both the craft and the community in Bakhchesaray and Crimea.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover

Solomea Pavlychko, born in L’viv in 1958, is considered the beginning of the Ukrainian women’s movement and the first contemporary Ukrainian feminist and she continues to be an important inspiration to Ukrainian academics, politicians, activists and citizens. Tamara Hundorova said, "Ukraine was so fortunate to have Solomea. Her impact was such that we began to think differently. In 10 years' time - and the 1990s were hers - she made a breakthrough in our consciousness” and Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabuzhko, in her reflections on Solomea added, "If someone could be called noble, it was Solomea - not by virtue of her name or position, but by virtue of her dignity and decency, respect for the individual and incredible hard work - she was truly noble in the heart and spirit."

Before she passed away at the young age of 41, Ms. Pavlychko asked Valentyna Kyrylova to be director of Osnovy Publishers, which she started in 1992 to translate scientific books and foreign literature into Ukrainian. Valentyna, recommended as a “walking example of how feminism works in this country,” met with me over coffee in downtown Kyiv yesterday afternoon.

I ask Valentyna why Solomea was considered the first feminist in Ukraine. Her response was that Solomea brought and promoted new ideas and knowledge in Ukraine – and for Ukraine - which became a catalyst for many women to realize ways to better their lives. Previously, she said many women wanted to change their situation but without access to sources of new information, it was extremely difficult to develop a new way of thinking. The publishing house continues this work, translating a wide-range of subjects into Ukrainian to promote both the new ideas and the national language.

Solomea’s father, Dmytro Pavlychko, a famous poet from the Soviet period, served as deputy of the Supreme Soviet and as Ambassador to Poland and Slovakia. From one of his trips abroad he brought Solomea Lady Chatterley’s Lover and she was 24 when she translated the book into Ukrainian. Taras Koznarsky, in a tribute to Solomea says, “her own translations from English, especially of the D. H. Lawrence novel Lady Chatterley's Lover, lifted taboos of what could be expressed with taste and grace in Ukrainian literary language.” Valentya said there remains a misconception that the Ukrainian language is not rich enough for some translations and the majority of books for sale and in universities are still in Russian language.

Pavlychko received her Ph.D. in American literature at the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv State University and in 1985 began working at the Institute of Literature of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences as a leading specialist in literary theory. From that position she traveled to the U.S., Canada and England and when she returned to Ukraine she wrote an article for the newspaper that received a great amount of attention entitled The New Position of Ukrainian Women in Ukrainian Society. In the article she urged women to take a new role in all areas of society including the political sphere (she said her own love of literature stopped her from pursuing a political career).

Ms. Kyrylova also spoke about her opinions on the women’s movement today in Ukraine...and she said she thought the discussion of feminism was enough for now. Many women who are successful and wealthy do not like the idea of ‘feminism’ - and do not realize they are feminists - but she thinks the issues will reemerge as society and democracy develops in Ukraine.

Opening Doors in Ukrainian Politics

Yulia Timoshenko has been an impressive and inspiring female political leader and is the oft cited example of women’s growing participation in government.  She remains, however, an exception to the rule in Ukraine, where women make-up around 8 percent of the 450-member parliament (5 percent in 2002), hold no positions in the Cabinet of Ministers and are poorly represented in other central bodies of executive power.  According to polls, research and individual accounts, Ukrainians are not opposed to having women in leadership positions but the current party nominating practices create the main barrier for women in entering political life.  Stereotypes of women and men’s roles have also precluded many women from pursuing a political career.

     During the 2006 Parliamentary elections all leading party blocks and parties included at least one woman in the first five spots on their party lists. The party in power "Our Ukraine" included even two women.  It is notable thought that many of these women are well-known actresses, singers and TV commentators and their ‘star-power’ is a clear motivation for promoting their name in the party.  Overall, women make up a small percentage in party lists: in the Block "Our Ukraine" among the first 100 candidates - 8 percent women; Yulia Timoshenko's Block - 5 percent women; "Party of Regions" - 5 percent women; and, Socialist Party of Ukraine - 4 percent women. 

     The 2007 EU Gender Watch Report contrasts the current situation with the process of visible gender change that was seen in the second half of the 1990s. At that time Ukraine had two women ministers and three women had the position of state committee heads. There were also five political women’s parties.  NGOs and other individuals in Kyiv and Kharkiv have spoken with me about the surge in the women’s movement in the early 1990’s and then the subsequent decline once the overall situation and opportunities for women improved which is likely reflected in these national trends.

     At the local and oblast level, nearly all the heads of villages, rayons (districts) and oblasts are male.  No oblast council has a female head and there are only five women among 159 city mayors. There are about six per cent female regional council heads in rural areas and nine per cent female local district heads in the cities.

Parliamentary Development Project

Without a parliament, development projects are clearly at a standstill, but by early October a new parliament should be in place and the Parliamentary Development Project (PDP) began in 1994 so it has seen its share of changes in government.

    The PDP is a partnership between Indiana University and USAID, and the most recent phase (2003-2005) is a Democratic Parliamentary Strengthening Program with the goals of improving the quality of the legislative process, improving the relationship between the legislative and executive bodies and improving the access of citizens to the legislative process.  Included as a cross-cutting theme is the “Gender Focus” to facilitate participation of parliamentarians on gender issues and to introduce an institutionalized mechanism into the Verhovna Rada to develop and implement gender sensitive legislation. 

     PDP gender expert Olena Suslova said that one of the major successes in the last year has been a mandate that each committee (before the parliament dissolved there were 26) has to have at least one person within the secretariat responsible for gender.  A booklet on the new equality law was published for MPs as well as a manual on gender analysis but the problem remains that while the mandate calls for ‘gender experts’ there are few trained professionals to fill the positions.  PDP and the UNDP Equality Program also now support regular gender ‘focal points’ where experts on different gender issues come in to speak with MPs.  Suslova said parliament has become much more receptive to the terms ‘equal opportunities’ and ‘gender’ but there is still often the perception that this refers to protecting (versus including) women.  Compared with similar countries not in the EU, Suslova believes that Ukraine is a leader in its progress toward sustainable gender equality.

     Olena Suslova is also founder and director of Empowering Education which began 12 years ago.  She said one of the biggest changes she has seen is the improving relationship between government and NGOs.  Ten years ago it was impossible for NGOs to work with parliament and now the government calls on NGOs for some information and assistance.

 

Advocacy and Practicalities

It was interesting to get more of an insider’s perspective on the recent gender legislation in Ukraine.  Suslova discussed the disconnect between NGO’s complaints and the legislative process in Ukraine.  Two of the major issues raised by NGOs regarding the equality law are: 1) there are no sanctions or punishment for discrimination, and 2) there are no quotas for women’s participation in government.  However, very few laws are passed with sanctions.  Instead there is a line at the bottom directing the Ministry of Justice to institute the punishment if needed.  In terms of the quotas, the law on Equal Opportunity passed one year before elections were scheduled and no one in parliament wanted to create room for more competition.  The amendment was denied on the first hearing and it is impossible to re-instate it after that unless an entirely new bill was to be brought forward. 

     Other sections of the law are positive steps forward and ‘victories’ for advocates but hard to implement.  For example, the law states that there should be gender advisors for each committee and recommends having a gender advisor responsible for each branch of the executive.  However, there is no official program for ‘gender studies’ in Ukraine and there are not enough qualified persons to fulfill these positions.  (UNDP’s Equal Opportunities Program is currently pushing for expansion of a basic introduction to gender course in the school system and has received support from the Ministry of Education).

    Additionally, the Equal Opportunities law requires that the Ministry of Justice to review each draft law to analyze whether it is gender sensitive.  This requires looking through an incredible amount of legislation and furthermore, there is no structure in place for how this analysis would be conducted.

    Needed laws on equal participation and rhetoric on gender equality and analysis are important steps towards women’s political participation, and leaders such as Yulia Timoshenko, MPs Olena Bondarinko, Katerina Levchenko and Ludmilla Saprun provide important role models and examples for the country.  Hopefully - in time - more women will join their ranks. 

Women’s Coffees: Political Participation at the Local Level

In Ukrainian village councils, the lowest level of administration, women make up the majority within the local government system and Brian Mefford, International Republican Institute (IRI) Program Director, said they also found that the majority of leaders in small villages to be women.  Typically this is a function of men moving to cities and women playing important community roles such as school teachers. 

The International Republican Institute (IRI) supported programs targeting women’s political participation from 1996 – 2006 including training and consultations for around 4,000 women in deputy positions.  One of IRI’s programs Mefford highlighted sprang from the concept of ‘Kennedy’s Coffees’ which were used to raise support for JFK’s presidential candidacy.  They found it was difficult to interest local women in politics and to get information to them on their rights as voters.  This was particularly important during the Kuchma regime when the government threatened individuals with confiscating assets and land if votes were not cast a certain way. 

IRI found the Ukrainian women to be most comfortable talking openly in their kitchens or a private place so they began holding “Women’s Coffees” where a lawyer would come and offer free advice and then they would talk about voting, rights, elections, etc.  The lawyer drew many people in to ask advice on property, loans, school for their children, and a wide range of issues and then there was the opportunity to speak afterwards about politics and upcoming elections.  Mefford said this was among their most successful efforts because one of the biggest challenges in the villages is simply educating people on their right to political participation.