Materials of the V International Gender Workshop “Gender and (Military) Conflicts in Easter-European Countries through Feminist Lenses”

On March 8-10, 2017 in Lviv, the V International Gender Workshop took place organized by Heinrich Boell Office in Ukraine in cooperation with hbs offices in Eastern European countries and the Caucasus. Researchers and activists from Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Poland, Macedonia, Serbia, Czech Republic and Germany discussed military conflict situations in the region from the perspective of feminist critique. This publication collects texts created on the basis of some of the presentations from the event.

Исследование проблемы насилия в отношении женщин, живущих с ВИЧ, в Восточной Европе и Центральной Азии. Аналитический отчет 2019

В исследовании были проанализированы проблемы, с которыми сталкиваются ВИЧ-позитивные женщины, подвергшиеся насилию после того, как им был постав- лен диагноз «ВИЧ-инфекция». Уникальность исследования заключается в том, что оно было разработано, организовано и проведено сообществом женщин, живущих с ВИЧ и уязвимых для ВИЧ, в рамках региональной кампании против гендерного насилия «Насилию нет оправдания!». В этом исследовании приняли участие 464 ВИЧ-положительные женщины, пережившие насилие, и 120 женщин специалисток из 12 стран региона Восточной Европы Центральной Азии (ВЕЦА). Исследование подтверждает важность приоритезации вопросов насилия в отношении женщин, живущих с ВИЧ, в повестке дня, касающейся раз- вития стран региона ВЕЦА.

"Prostitutes" and "Defectors": How the Ukrainian State Constructs Women Emigrants to Italy and the USA

Scholars of sending countries emphasise the role of economics in shaping state policies towards emigration. They argue sending states are converging around a set of discursive strategies that aim to facilitate the influx of remittances from emigrants. One such strategy uses discourses of cultural nationalism to celebrate emigrants as ‘heroes’ of the nation. Drawing on a state sponsored media campaign and ethnographic data, I found the Ukrainian state does the opposite. It stigmatises its emigrants to both Italy and the USA as ‘prostitutes’ and ‘defectors’ respectively. However emigrants are differentially stigmatised. Emigrants to the USA are simply dismissed, but the Ukrainian state constructs migration to Italy as a shameful social problem. It does this even though emigrants to Italy send back significantly more remittances. Economic interests cannot explain Ukrainian state practices towards emigration. Instead, in the context of post-Soviet transformation, I suggest the Ukrainian state has prioritised the construction of a national identity. The state then constructs policy with an eye to cultural rather than economic outcomes. I argue the Ukrainian state actively stigmatises the migration to Italy because it poses challenges to the nation-building process, whereas the migration to the USA is peripheral to this key state concern.

Crisis, War and Austerity: Devaluation of Female Labor and Retreating of the State

Following the Euromaidan, the outbreak of war and ensuing economic crisis, the Ukrainian government introduced wide-ranging reforms guided by the neoliberal idea that stability and economic growth can be generated by cutting social spending.

Despite the government’s proclaimed intent to support the poorest and weakest members of Ukrainian society, the opposite has occurred, and the negative effects of the new reforms have ended up targeting them most. Women in Ukraine are particularly harshly hit by these savings measures. Despite superficially pro-women legislation, women tend to have the opposite experience. Cuts to the civil service and social spending generally lead to lay-offs and thus to the firing of women, who overwhelmingly work in these sectors.

Further consequences of Ukrainian austerity policies are, among others, an ongoing devaluing of reproductive labour (care, education, etc.), the dismantling of social infrastructure and a neoliberal, profit-oriented restructuring of the education and health care systems.

The Ukrainian left is faced with the challenge of fundamentally criticizing these processes and articulating alternatives. Left-wing feminists must build a strong network of allies in order to lead the fightback.​

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.

«Если женщина больше не слабая, зачем ее беречь». Социолог Елена Гапова о «сильных женщинах», «безвольных мужчинах» и советском гендерном проекте

Женщины в СССР одними из первых получили права, о которых гражданки других стран могли только мечтать, но сегодня Россия заметно отстает от Запада в том, что касается гендерного равенства. Каково положение постсоветской женщины сегодня? С советским наследием, стереотипами из «Служебного романа», растущей популярностью курсов по ведической женственности и молодой рыночной экономикой. Republic поговорил с Еленой Гаповой, кандидатом филологических наук и доцентом кафедры социологии Университета Западного Мичигана о том, почему идеал буржуазной семьи доступен не всем, что такое эротический патриотизм и зачем обществу «публика» на утренниках в детском саду.

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.

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.