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LETTER TO THE EDITOR WOMAN MOTRIA KUSHNIR July 5, 1978 Ukrainian National Women’s League Inc. Our Life Dear Madam: I am enclosing herein a check for $50.00 to the ’’Our Life” fund because it is one publication that the "honorary members" of our branch 28 enjoy as much as the members. Perhaps you are wondering who the "honorary members”, are? In branch 28 we have so many dedicated members that the husbands and fathers of these members are also a part of our branch and there isn’t a program or a Christmas party that they don’t take part in I will not try to mention all of them, but we do have the former president of Shevchenko Scientific Society as one of them. I would like to have this donation of $50.00 be in memory of three of our late "honorary members”, Dr. Elias Karapinka, Eng. George Mussakowsky, and my dad William Dubas. God Bless you and keep up the good work. I’m so proud that I’m Ukrainian and I belong. Sincerely, Anne Dubas of these matters? Perhaps just the idea of ERA is too progressive for us? Why does the Ukrainian woman feel that ERA is unnecessary and threatening to her well being? DIVORCE Two topics which were brought forward for dis cussion by the women’s movement are divorce and abortion. Divorce is not a modern phenomenon. It always existed, but was not socially accepted. A divorced woman was often ostracized by her society. From our questionnaire, it appears that today our Ukrainian women have a rather progressive view of divorce: they feel that divorce is preferable to an un happy marriage. This change in attitude toward divorce probably stems from the fact that divorces are very widespread, especially among young couples. Easy legal access to divorce and the decreased influence of the church on young people bring about more and more divorces among Ukrainian families. ABORTION But secularism is not so extensive as to tolerate abortion. We are a deeply religious nation, and abortion from a religious point of view is immoral. In my survey, answers to the question on abortion could be broken down by age of the respondents: older women felt that abortion itself is immoral, while younger women felt that the woman herself should decide whether or not to have an abortion. Very few women felt that abortion should be legalized. No one chose the answer: "abortion is a means of population control.” VIEWS & NEWS IN WOMAN'S WORLD American homilies about the American family are almost as common as the American family itself. Nevertheless, the fond ness for rhetoric about the sanctity of the family should not be mistaken for a genuine concern about the issues and problems centering around this societal unit. More often than not, "family” is merely another nomenclature for consumer unit — as in "When you Sarah Lee love your family, they’ll Sarah Lee love you back.” Most industrialized countries have what can be called a family policy: for example, Sweden has state-supported child care plus parental leaves from work for women and men, allowing both parents to participate in raising their children. Many nations have family allowances: for every child born, a family receives a given sum of money; in this way, big families are protected from being too poor and a higher birthrate is en couraged. The United States has no overt, comprehensive family policy. What we do have, instead, are policies which favor one sort of family over another, depending upon the biases of legislators who formulate our laws. Moreover, legislation is passed without preassessment of its ongoing impact on families throughout the United States. The Social Security System provides an excellent case in ACTIVISM Are our Ukrainian women active in community life? Some individuals feel that it is their duty to be active, others are active for social reasons or out of need ”to belong." Yes, there are active women who put in a great deal of time and effort into community work: in Ukrainian-language schools, youth, church, women’s and charitable organizations. Unfortunately, I must say that the majority of our women do not belong to any organization and do no community work. While their children are growing, you can see the mothers from time to time in Ukrainian circles, but when the children are grown, the mothers disappear and leave no trace. SUMMARY In conclusion, I would like to summarize: 1. The Ukrainian woman concentrates on her family; her personal ambitions are secondary. 2. The Ukrainian woman takes upon herself the to tal responsibility for child-rearing. 3. The Ukrainian woman, although living at the end of the 20th century, shows little interest in the movements which are a hallmark of our time. 4. Here are some of the statistics from the questionnaire: 95% feel that the family is a strong unity in our society; 70% feel that divorce is preferable to an unhappy marriage; 90% feel that abortion is immoral. 5. ”ls the women’s movement alive in the Ukrainian community today?” Absolutely not! Only certain indi viduals are interested in it, and just superficially or theoretically at that. The majority of Ukrainian women, however, shows no interest in it. Translated by A. H. Sawyckyj
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