The UN Commission on the Status of Women recently ended its 49th two-week session, which was attended by 6,000 delegates from 165 countries, including 80 government ministers. The goal of the session was to adopt a declaration outlining the main directions in global efforts to achieve gender equality. Commission Chairperson Kyung- Wha Kang will submit this document to the 60th session of the UN General Assembly slated for September 2005.
In the following article psychologist Oleksandr HUBENKO discusses gender equality in Ukraine.
“Women make up half of the world’s population, work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, earn one-tenth of the world’s income, and own less than one-hundredth of the world’s property.” These facts from the 1996 UN report are graphic evidence of the real inequality between men and women in terms of rights and opportunities, which is a major problem in all countries, Ukraine being no exception. To love and respect women in our time means to change the social system that breeds this inequality and to provide women with equal rights and opportunities. This is especially crucial for our society, where the women’s question is especially acute.
Women make up 54% of Ukraine’s population. They are generally better educated than men. Among people with university and college degrees, 64% are women. They dominate in many spheres of social life, for example in culture and health care. The women’s role in educating children cannot be overemphasized. It is traditional in the Ukrainian culture for mothers to establish the fundamental guidelines for the development of their children’s personalities. They play a decisive role in both the family and school setting, because an absolute majority of educators are women.
In the Cossack period men went to war, leaving their women behind to independently manage families and households. This probably explains the historical pattern whereby Ukrainian women were independent in family and social relations. Ukraine never had patriarchal families in the classic sense, because young women, wives, and mothers always had a say in family matters and influenced decisions as much as men did.
Women’s role is becoming more important in our days. In western Ukraine, for example, family roles are changing, with men staying at home to raise children, while women travel to Western Europe to earn a living. Nearly 70% of Ukrainian labor migrants in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and elsewhere (between 600,000 and 5 million, according to different estimates) are women. In our difficult times women are proving to be more mobile, flexible, and capable of adapting to new conditions than men. That’s why they often have to shoulder the burden of supporting the family.
It is interesting to analyze the extent to which the major role played by women in our society, their interests, and needs are reflected in the country’s political life. Consider some facts and figures. Women account for 4% of lawmakers in parliament. This figure was 8% in the previous Verkhovna Rada. Thus, their representation in parliament has declined twofold. The current percentage of female members of local assemblies is between 7% and 10%, down from 10%-15% in assemblies from the previous convocation.
However, for the first time in Ukraine’s history a woman has been appointed prime minister. Yuliya Tymoshenko is the epitome of what a woman can accomplish in politics and society. For men to place a woman at their helm was unheard of since the times of Roksolana. This is a victory not only for Yushchenko’s coalition but also for women in Ukrainian politics.
This brings us to an important question. Does the new government intend to bring about revolutionary transformations in the sphere of women’s rights protection in order to defy the unfortunate trend whereby women are pushed to the sidelines of the country’s public life? Who else, if not the executive headed by a young and energetic female politician, should effect transformations in this sphere?
At one time, another woman in the new government, Minister of Culture Oksana Bilozir, introduced the original idea of a gender quota whereby at least one-third of all posts in government structures were to be reserved for women. Who else, if not women in the government, can better protect the rights of their sisters? Of course, let us hope that their revolutionary fervor with respect to the women’s question has not abated since they have come to power.
Let us compare statistics on women in leadership positions in other countries. The highest percentage of women’s representation has been recorded in Northern Europe — Denmark, Sweden, and Norway — where women account for 40% to 50% of lawmakers. The average percentage of women in parliaments worldwide is 12%. In Western Europe it is higher than average — 20% to 30%. To encourage women’s representation and protect women’s rights in Third World countries, their parliaments have introduced quotas for women’s presence in government bodies. For example, the Bangladeshi parliament may not have less than 10% of women lawmakers. This figure is 20% for the legislative assembly of India. Apparently, in terms of gender equality Ukraine is far behind other countries, even those that have traditionally been considered conservative and patriarchal.
Ukraine, the Central Asian republics, Moldova, Russia, and Belarus are outsiders when it comes to resolving one of the most urgent problems of our era: women’s political equality.
Women have also been the hardest hit by economic transformations and are the least protected social group. Women account for 80% of jobless Ukrainians. On average, women are paid 14% less than men for the same type of work.
While the number of women in demanding and hazardous occupations has sharply increased of late, women account for a mere 5% of all business executives. They have been almost completely ousted from politics and business life. It is therefore not surprising that 100,000 women leave to go abroad every year. The birth rate has plunged in the past 12 years. The crime rate among women is rising, with 100,000 female convicts presently doing time behind bars.
What immediate steps should be taken by women’s rights movements to end this social and political injustice with respect to women?
First, political parties and movements should make the protection of women’s interests the central plank in their platforms. So far none of the main political forces have done this.
Second, lawmakers should pass a bill on women’s representation quotas in representative bodies of government, which would reserve at least 20% of the total number of seats in parliament and local governance bodies for women.
Such measures serve to protect women in the political sphere. But there is also an urgent need to protect women’s rights in the spheres of employment, business, and education. The next step in the struggle for equality should be a law against gender discrimination, which would outlaw restrictions of personal rights and opportunities based on gender in the spheres of employment, education, public services, and business. A similar law was passed in Great Britain in 1975.
Resolute action is needed to eradicate such a humiliating and degrading phenomenon as trafficking, which has reached catastrophic proportions throughout the world. This phenomenon threatens to undermine both the physical and moral health of the Ukrainian nation.
Finally, it is very important to take a number of steps aimed at supporting women and strengthening their social positions in the labor market, business, and life.
One of the biggest problems is women’s unemployment. There is a need for normal legal and organizational conditions for the development of small and medium businesses, which would resolve the problem of women’s employment and help them become financially independent. Retraining courses, as well as business and psychological training should give women a competitive edge in the labor market and promote their self-confidence and entrepreneurial spirit.
The new leaders who have come to power on the cusp of the revolution should finally grasp the simple truth that a democracy without women is not democracy.
