What is the meaning of International Women’s Day in Ukraine? Have the issues facing women changed since Ukraine gained independence in 1991? What does it mean to be a women’s activist in today’s Ukraine?
AUTHOR
James Bolton-Jones, Master’s student in Post-Soviet Politics at UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies
What is the meaning of International Women’s Day in Ukraine? Have the issues facing women changed since Ukraine gained independence in 1991? What does it mean to be a women’s activist in today’s Ukraine? All these questions and more were discussed in fascinating detail at an online event held by the Ukrainian Institute London on 8 March.
With the Institute’s Director, Dr Olesya Khromeychuk, moderating, this event brought together three inspiring and expert speakers from activism and academia:
Sociocultural anthropologist Dr Emily Channell-Justice is the Director of the Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program at Harvard University, and has researched political activism and social movements among students and feminists during the 2013-2014 Euromaidan mobilizations.
Dr Tamara Martsenyuk is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology at the University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and author of more than 100 academic publications as well as chapters of textbooks and books. She teaches courses like ‘Gender and Politics’, ‘Masculinity and Men’s Studies’, and ‘Social Problems in Ukraine and in the World’.
Based at the University of Alberta in the Contemporary Ukraine Studies Program, Dr Jessica Zychowicz recently published the monograph Superfluous Women: Art, Feminism, and Revolution in Twenty-First Century Ukraine.
Tamara Martsenyuk 
Jessica Zychowicz 
Emily Channell-Justice
The meaning of International Women’s Day in Ukraine
Some see 8 March as a continuation of Soviet tradition, recalling the ‘double burden’ born by working women simultaneously tasked with an unequal share of domestic activities. Others disagree, seeing the day as a good chance to discuss pressing issues.
Dr Martsenyuk emphasised the role of women’s marches, which happen in several cities all over Ukraine. This year the focus was on ‘the female face of the pandemic’; a wide range of women and men represented diverse branches of feminism.
Dr Zychowicz meanwhile focussed on the transnational nature of International Women’s Day, which is often separated into national stories when in fact it is a global phenomenon. In particular, she noted how her experiences marching in both Ukraine and the USA, and her interactions with the people involved, have helped shape her research and made tangible the power to connect across oceans.
For Dr Channell-Justice the day is becoming increasingly politicised in Ukraine. Whereas before it was more about celebrating women for being women, without discussing what this meant, there is now an effort to focus the day on political demands and women’s rights.
Changes and continuities since 1991
Dr Channell-Justice focussed on how economic instability affected women of different social and economic backgrounds in the 1990s. Often the challenges women face in post-Soviet countries have been defined by international organisations as all the same, whereas in fact, the experiences of women and the development of women’s rights have not been uniform in former Soviet countries. This is why we have seen women reacting in different ways to activism in different post-Soviet countries.
For Dr Zychowicz, a prominent development has been the growing importance of art in activism. There has been an ‘explosion of creative expression’. New forms of media have made things travel around much faster, and individual artists have become increasingly important in challenging mass propaganda and disinformation campaigns.
The role of women in the conflict in the Donbas
Because of increased cooperation between various actors such as scholars, journalists, politicians and people on the front line, servicewomen’s labour rights have improved, said Dr Martsenyuk. But, as her own studies have shown, violence and discrimination against servicewomen, as well as in other spheres like universities and the workplace, is a serious problem.
Dr Martsenyuk believes better legalisation is needed, more forms of sexual violence against women should be criminalised, the courts must be reformed, and the Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence should be ratified.
What does it mean to be a woman activist in Ukraine?
Historically, noted Dr Khromeychuk, women have been relegated to the private sphere, with the public sphere dominated by men. In her own research on women on the Maidan during the 2012-14 protests, she noticed how women had to stand up for their rights not just as citizens but also had to struggle to make their voices heard in the public space.
In her research, Dr Channell-Justice has studied how women on the Maidan made demands to be heard in the public sphere, but that this was not always well received. As a result, lots of activism went online. But there have been lasting legacies, such as the women’s unit (sotnia) on the Maidan. Dr Channell-Justice also observed different reactions among feminists. Some organised self-defence classes, while others did not want to imitate male standards of protests and recreate patriarchal structures. The Maidan, then, saw a plurality of different kinds of feminism and activism.
The large audience showed their appreciation for the speakers by asking a range of thought-provoking questions, including on the nexus between feminist and environmental activism and the role of the Ukrainian’s Women’s Congress.
Watch the full event recording on our YouTube channel.
