Ukrainian Women: From Princess Olha to Our Day
The biographical encyclopedic dictionary, Women of Ukraine was officially presented as the common child of the Women’s Association of Ukraine and the Ukrainian National Progress Academy’s Institute for Humanitarian Studies. The dictionary boasts over 2,500 biographies, among them stories about celebrated women excelling in various fields of endeavor (actresses, businesswomen, politicians, civil servants...) and making their names in different epochs (from Princess Olha to this day). Here one finds well-known and not-so-well-known names, including Lina Kostenko, Olha Herasymyuk, Natalia and Olha Sumska, et al. Incidentally, The Day’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna is also there.
Mariya Orlyk, chairperson of the Women’s Association of Ukraine and the encyclopedia’s main editor, says all those contributing to the edition on a voluntary basis [meaning no pay ever coming their way] started work in 1997. Names and stories were selected (using the criteria adopted by the editorial board) relying on data provided by regional and city state administrations, ministries, agencies, Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea, research centers, union, veteran, and women’s nonprofit organizations in Ukraine. Encyclopedic entries were made by experts with the Humanitarian Studies Institute, relying on biographic sources provided by women whose names would figure in the scholarly edition. Entries relating to women long since dead were composed relying on established reference sources, archives, etc.
Some of the data scheduled to be entered was not (due to reasons such as delayed contribution), so Ms. Orlyk believes an updated edition is in order.
Women of Ukraine has a print run of 2,000 and the project was made a reality largely thanks to the City Hall of Kyiv and State Committee for Youth Policy. Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko attended the presentation and said he was willing to help publish an updated version, also a separate one titled Women of Kyiv, is currently underway.
Women of Ukraine should be praised as both recognition of the merits of the fair sex and another contribution in the foundation of Ukrainian independence, implying that Ukrainian women do play an important role in this society. The sad fact remains that women did most of the work to make the encyclopedia a reality. The men should have, all things considered.
