Ukrainian Women Have Their Own Parliament

The newly elected Ukrainian parliament has only 6% female deputies, which is 2% less than the previous one. Under such terms Verkhovna Rada can hardly be referred to as a women’s one, which will likely stimulate the women’s movement in Ukraine. Taking into consideration lack of representation of the fair sex in Verkhovna Rada, activists of this movement stepped forward with an idea to create a Public Parliament of Ukrainian Women [PPUW]. “Only twenty-two women have been elected to the 2002 parliament so far. For this reason we believe that our parliament would be a weighty supplement to Verkhovna Rada’s first team,” said PPUW Speaker Kateryna Vashchuk. Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ukraine on the fuel and energy complex Olena Zolotariova was elected PPUW first vice speaker, and people’s deputy of the third (now also fourth) convocation Liudmyla Suprun as vice speaker.

When asked by journalists about the common sources of the PPUW and Women for the Future Party, active members of the women’s movement came up with a formula, “Our ideology is not the future but the present.”

According to Ms. Vashchuk, the women’s parliament will work as a mini-model of the acting one. It will be unicameral, include committees, and consist of 450 members. What distinguishes it from the regular one is the fact that deputies will work on an unpaid basis, since, according to their speaker, they are “self-sufficient in terms of finance.”

PPUW active members admit that the alternative parliament was created on the basis of women representing the For a United Ukraine bloc. In Ms. Vashchuk’s view, women should not declare their separateness from men. “We are far from being feminists and, no doubt, will cooperate with men,” she stated. Such a position reminds one of the Amazons’ sentiments, though with a more civilized approach. It looks like soon Ukraine will have a kind of women’s parliament on a male basis, reports Iryna KUKHAR .