The energy of women’s unity

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko believes that women began to enter politics because governments were unable to carry out their duty of protecting their people from dangers and injustice. She made this statement in Brussels during her speech entitled “The Role of Women in Stabilizing a Dangerous World.” According to Ukraine’s prime minister, a government’s number one-duty is to protect its citizens from all dangers and injustice: “We, women, went into government precisely because we have so often witnessed government’s failure in carrying out this key mandate.”

She added: “It is often said that women in power tend to make too many plans, with an eye to objectives that are too high, almost idealistic and unrealistic.” This impression is formed because “the adoption of immoral and dishonest decisions by governments against their own people is becoming a cynical standard today, and any honest goal looks idealistic and almost naive against this background. It is our duty to make people aware that they deserve more. If we are not able to sense the subtlest and deepest feelings of our people, we should not be in politics, period. Although we are really cautious about using weapons, I believe that women as political leaders are better prepared to defend the freedom and security of their people.

“We consistently defend the national interests of our countries...We are not afraid to act where our predecessors backed down because sometimes decisive actions are the only way to preserve stability in our unstable world,” Tymoshenko said. “When women are called upon to head nations, as a rule they see people’s hearts and minds and are capable of opening their own hearts and minds to their people. This is that higher level of trust and unity which opens the way to great accomplishments.

“In times of instability and new challenges in the contemporary world, we are confronted primarily by moral problems that are as old as the Bible... The crux of the matter is whether all people should obtain equal rights and equal opportunities; whether we treat people the way we want to be treated. Which of us will be satisfied by the advice to suffer some more, which is what the poor often hear?

“Women who know what unequal treatment means feel this problem particularly keenly, no matter how it is camouflaged... Women understand that the threat facing the world is essentially a moral crisis. It is a crisis that cannot be overcome only through political measures or weapons...It cannot be resolved at a rally. It cannot be stopped by symbolic gestures or conversations. The time has come for our decisive actions in government.”

Tymoshenko attended the Brussels meeting with her daughter Yevhenia Carr, so that she too could “sense the energy of women’s unity.”