Women pick up the gauntlet

In the leading countries of the world women comprise up to 50 percent of policy-makers, which is a good example. Ukraine is still far behind, yet the public opinion on having women in high offices has obviously been formed. According to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, about half of Ukraine’s population believes that the state must make legislative provisions to allocate quotas allowing women to participate in politics.

How successfully can we move from good ideas to practical measures? Most importantly, what is happening in Ukraine, on the legislative level, in terms of securing women’s participation in state-building processes? On Nov. 6, 2008, these issues are to be discussed at the roundtable “Women’s Participation in Political Life and Women’s Leadership in Ukraine” supported by the United Nations Development Program in Ukraine. Politicians, members of the Verkhovna Rada, ministerial officials, representatives of universities, and researchers specializing in gender equality are to share their views.

The participants are going to discuss whether the state is capable of implementing gender equity laws in various spheres of public life. The results will be included in the UNDP Regional Bureau’s report on women’s participation in the political life of Eastern Europe and CIS countries and the development of women’s leadership.

COMMENTS

Svitlana OKSAMYTNA, Ph.D. (Sociology), the dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Social Technology, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy:

“I have prepared the results of a public opion poll on whether the state should introduce gender quotas: at least half of Ukraine’s adult population supports the idea. This response is backed by at least three all-Ukrainian polls carried out by the Kyiv Inter­na­tional Institute of Sociology over the past three or four years. What I mean is that this idea finds support among both men and women.

“This problem has not been previously studied in Ukraine and was first raised in 2005. I have no data pertaining to any previous studies, and I think that these questions have never been asked before, so we can’t discuss any long-term trends. However, I can say that this trend has shown stability over the past three years. Although the support rate has fluctuated, it has not been steadily decreasing. Naturally, the biggest support has been provided by women aged between 40 and 50. This can be interpreted in different ways: the supporters may be successful businesswomen or, on the contrary, those who came to understand that it is very hard to achieve these days without women’s active involvement in decision-making processes at the highest level.”

Tamara MELNYK, advisor to the Minister of Family, Youth, and Sports:

“Gender equity is required by the Constitution of Ukraine, as well as by present realities. If Ukraine declares that it is a democracy, it must also develop gender democracy; if it says that it is a social state, there must be balanced relationships in society, including the government system.

“Women aren’t on equal terms with men, specifically in economic and social terms, when men own property; when women return home after carrying out their professional duties and have to spend another four to six hours doing household chores while men spend an average of 40 minutes doing them; when a woman spends an average of 40 minutes helping her child do his homework while her husband spends four minutes. As regards life span, in Ukraine men live, on average, 12 years less than women do, which also puts women at a disadvantage today and in the future. Therefore, if Ukraine wants to be a rule-of-law state, it must balance out the status of men and women using legislative tools, including quotas, for no one has come up with a better idea as yet.

“Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice recommends introducing such quotas, based on its analysis of the results produced by an expert evaluation of our legislation from the point of view of gender equity. Our parliament will never be able to find optimal solutions to social problems until women take part in the decision-making process. Proof of this is found in international experience. UN research centers show that a parliament won’t be able to adequately handle any social problems unless 40 percent of its members are female MPs.

“Constitutional regulations themselves require legislative provision. Article 24 of the Constitution of Ukraine reads that men and women are equal before the law and have equal rights and opportunities. While the rights are adequately reflected in our legislation, both men and women have many problems with exercising them. Here some balancing is required, considering that the status of a man is also a burden on his woman’s shoulders. These situations cannot possibly resolve this problem in Ukraine. This doesn’t seem to bother our men in parliament the least bit.

“According to a sociological and demographic analysis, a mere 40 percent of our boys and girls will reach retirement age because four times more men than women die between 28 and 45 years. According to the Ministry of Family, Youth, and Sports’ statistics, there are 38 percent men and 62 percent women in Ukraine. This problem doesn’t seem to bother our male MPs either.

“Eastern European countries are already said to be gradually dying out, based on environmental, medical, and other criteria. Nevertheless, our men-dominated high society is unwilling to introduce women into parliament due to its existing corporate relationships. If we continue with this practice, it will slow down the evolution of democracy and society. The viability of our very nation is at stake here. The presence of women in parliament will attach national importance to these issues. The gender problem is the problem of development, and forward-looking countries understood this a long time ago and have acted accordingly.”