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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

More and More Women Want to Be in Driver’s Seat

7 December, 1999 - 00:00

They say that concern about continuing the family line
is woman’s highest destiny. But when concern turns into continuous struggle
for the survival of an individual and a family, women demonstrate striking
self-assertion and do some things strange from the male viewpoint. For
example, they form a party of their own (in this case, on the basis of
the Solidarity all-Ukrainian non-governmental organization). Incidentally,
nobody knows quite why the orange-vested women who lay railroad tracks,
matrons who drag to the market-place several luggage carts at once, or
ladies who divide their time between the laundry and borscht, are accepted
by men quite calmly and normally, while women who unite for the sake of
political activity are looked upon as an aberration and simultaneously
evoke in men surprise, sarcasm, and a condescending smile.

Meanwhile, the legendary Institute of Culture has hosted
on a Saturday morning the founding congress of a party called Solidarity
of Ukrainian Women. The need for creating a party like this, speakers at
the gathering held, resides in the fact that woman, “as a more spiritually
developed, more responsive, and practical creature,” is capable of resolving
some state-related problems much better than man. Controversial perhaps,
but the point is something else. There is a different sign of the time.
Women, yearning for political changes and apparently not quite satisfied
with the political activity of men, intend to bite off a piece of the political
tiller and steer on their own. But still, what makes them enter the battle?
What in today’s society frightens them? Do they have their own feminine
prescriptions to remedy the unsatisfactory state of the Ukrainian social
body? Such questions were by

The Day’s correspondents Natalia TROFIMOVA and
Volodymyr RASNER (photo) to participants of the new party’s founding
congress (parenthetically, these women admit that the party’s doors are
also open to men).

 

Valentyna HOSHOVSKA, People’s Deputy; Chairperson,
Solidarity of Ukrainian Women:

“What frightens me is our uncertainty on the geopolitical,
political, and ideological planes. We still don’t know which way to go,
liberal or social democratic. I think we should go our own, Ukrainian,
way. We cannot completely extrapolate the Swedish model, no matter how
hard we would like to. For they produce a per capita GDP of $10,000-12,000
a year, while ours is only about $400-500. I am frightened by our lost
opportunities and objectives. But at the same time I think we still have
grounds for optimism in society. I have already got over the shock, when
I did not believe that people and political forces could do something in
our state. Earlier, I emphasized my work in my constituency because I could
really help at least ten people there.”

Iryna HOLUBEVA, Deputy Chairperson, State Committee
for Family and Youth; Chairperson, National Council of Ukrainian Women:

“What frightens me most is the predominance of masculine
features in our society. Women account for 54% of our population, but the
higher echelons of power are occupied by men, with their own specific approach
to solving problems in politics and the economy. It is time to switch over
from de jure to de facto. Legally, women in this country
have equal rights with men (an analysis of Ukrainian legislation did not
find a single law discriminating against women), but in fact the situation
is that, as Valentyna Hoshovska said, a glass ceiling, i.e., existing conventions,
prevent a woman from attaining her full self-realization.”

Natalia PINCHUK, Deputy Chairperson, parliamentary
Committee for Geology and Mineral Development:

“I am most frightened by such features of our society as
indecency and ill breeding. Suffice it to look at how Verkhovna Rada sessions
are conducted. These people should be a model for everybody else. The point
is that many of them must be pursuing their own interests solely. Transformation
of our Solidarity women’s NGO into a political party is also a very painful.
Today, on the eve of a new millennium, there is an obvious need to define
the role of modern woman. Women are more meticulous, more balanced, and
more conscientious.”

Larysa TROFYMENKO, People’s Deputy of Ukraine; deputy
head, Solidarity of Ukrainian Women Party:

“What scares me is the confrontation in our society. This
wormhole keeps Ukraine from becoming a civilized and democratic state.
This in fact gave birth to the idea of adopting our Charter of Women’s
Solidarity. This should become a mechanism for the coherence of all the
healthy forces in our society. Women have great intellectual potential
capable of participating in the resuscitation of our economy and bringing
morals into our political culture. We have united not to register one more
party but to contest the parliamentary elections in a single bloc consisting
of political parties and NGOs. We need to cultivate what we lack today,
i.e., intellect and national culture.”

Tetiana ZADOROZHNA, People’s Deputy, member of the
parliamentary Committee for Human Rights, Ethnic Minorities, and Interethnic
Relations:

“I am very worried by the degree to which attention is
concentrated to whether an individual belongs to Western or Eastern Ukraine.
The human being and human relationship should be the highest of all values.
One should not be fixated on the language of communication, for history
has decreed that we have a fifty-fifty ratio of the Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking
populations. In Switzerland, for example, 7% speak Italian, so this language
is considered official, not to hurt the Italian-speaking population and
representatives of this minority in Parliament.”

Olha PARIYENKO, head of the information and analytical
service, SDPU(o) Executive Committee:

“Today’s Ukrainian society frightens me with its unpredictability.
Most people living in Ukraine are not clearly aware of what awaits them
and their children in the future. They lack a thought- ful approach, but
a person should always know what he/she wants and claims, and what kind
of responsibility he /she bears for it.

“At the same time, our national mindset could feature mutual
respect and harmony in the relations among people irrespective of their
social status. The society we want to build should be just. And we must
show solidarity to achieve this. Other nations have long been implementing
such principles.”

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