Sexuality and Revolution in Post‐Soviet Ukraine: LGBT Rights and the Euromaidan Protests of 2013–2014

While some attention has been paid to the role of women and gender aspects during the Euromaidan protests (2013–2014), there is a lack of research focusing on questions of homosexuality in this connection. This article examines the evolution of the situation regarding homosexuality and LGBT rights during the Euromaidan protests. The empirical base consists of 20 interviews conducted in July–August 2014 with LGBT rights activists, all of whom were involved in the Euromaidan protests. The respondents were asked a number of questions about the visibility of the LGBT community during the Euromaidan; about which events they considered to be significant for the LGBT community; and about the positive and negative aspects of the Euromaidan with regard to the human rights situation for LGBT people. The “strategy of invisibility” chosen by LGBT activists during this protest is analyzed and criticized here with the help of the concept of “homonationalism.” In addition, the article investigates the ways in which LGBT activists in Ukraine reproduce the West vs. East and EU vs. Russia binaries.

Why Women Protest: Insights from Ukraine's EuroMaidan

This article examines why Ukrainian women participated in the 2013–14 anti-government protests, widely known as the EuroMaidan. Based upon in-depth interviews with female protesters, the study uncovers a wide range of motivations for women's engagement in the revolution, including dissatisfaction with the government, solidarity with protesters, motherhood, civic duty, and professional service. Political discontent was the most cited reason for protesting. Solidarity with protesters was another major catalyst for political engagement. In addition, women who were mothers invoked the notion of mothering to provide a rationale for activism. The study contributes to the growing literature on women's participation in contentious politics in non-democracies.

Запрещенные женщинам профессии – гендерная дискриминация

Отчет посвящен «спискам профессий, запрещенных для женщин», – дискриминационным подзаконным актам, унаследованным от советского законодательства и до сих пор действующих во многих странах бывшего СССР.
Отчет выпущен в рамках кампании АДЦ «Мемориал» #allJobs4allWomen.

Ukrainian Feminism at the Crossroad of National, Postcolonial, and (Post)Soviet: Theorizing the Maidan Events 2013-2014

The study is an endeavour of critical feminist analysis of well-known Ukrainian events in the winter of 2013-2014, called #EuroMaidan protests (further we shall use the shorter title – “Maidan” or "Maidan protests"). Some reflections on the war in the Eastern part of Ukraine are also included. We would like to discuss how discourses of feminism, nationalism, postcolonialism and (post)Sovietness are intersected in the production of meanings within the Maidan protests and the war that followed.

Belarus in Social Institutions & Gender Index 2019

The SIGI 2019 shows that clear progress has been made with political commitments to eliminate gender inequality. New legislation enhances equality and abolishes discriminatory laws, including through gender-transformative programmes and action plans. However, political commitments, legal reforms and gender-sensitive programmes in many countries are still not being translated into real changes for women and girls.

Non-territorial spaces of Belarusian political nomadism

In Belarus the state systematically hinders the development of civil society. NGOs have difficulties registering, functioning and sustaining their organisations. Some individuals related to the civil sector are persecuted, fined, imprisoned. Therefore a number of NGOs are registered abroad and civil society activists move with them to continue their work on Belarusian issues. In this article we aim to define people who left Belarus in order to work for Belarus as Belarusian Political Nomads, using the notion of transnational subjectivity to explore their migration strategies.

Monitoring report “Problems of gender-based violence in the conflict zone” on results of monitoring visit of human rights activists to the ATO area

The monitoring visit has been conducted by the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union in summer 2015 to the city of Kramatorsk together with Women’s Information Consultative Center. It is aimed at collecting data on gender-based violence in the conflict area (occupied and liberated territories, during the conflict and after it) in order to summarize information, develop recommendations to relevant structures for victims’ protection. Also, the cases on human rights violations were transferred to the UHHRU lawyers to form the claims to the European Court of Human Rights.

The Gynaecologist’s Gaze: The Inconsistent Medicalisation of Contraception in Contemporary Russia

This essay discusses the medicalisation of contraception by gynaecologists in present-day Russia. I explore the disciplining discourse and tactics of gynaecologists as experts who aim to orient women towards properly planned and prepared pregnancy. Gynaecologists are important agents of reproductive control because they instruct women in detail about reproductive health and contraception. However, these disciplining medical discourses and professional practices are characterised by inconsistency. In accordance with the demographic priorities of the state, doctors are more oriented towards pregnancy treatment than consultation on contraception, and they are inconsistent in their regulation of contraceptive use. This biopolitical regime reflects the demographic priorities of the Russian state – to increase the population of Russia – and the role of women as the primary objects of this policy.

Feminism in Post-Soviet Belarus

How does a society with a lengthy period of socialist experience in its recent past think of the oppression of women? Would it recognize the issue at all? How would it see the origin of this oppression? Finally, what needs to be done for the world to become a better place? The way these issues have been theorized in the former socialist region was quite different from how they were seen in the West.