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tical data which shows the “equality of women” in the communist system: *51.5% of laborers and office workers are women: *80% of workers engaged in heavy labor are women (in the U.S.A. only 4% women are engaged in what is clas sified as “men’s work”); *83% of Soviet women are engaged in physical labor; *in contruction work 25% are women; ‘women have a majority in the night shift jobs; *only 7% of women with a middle or high educational level have important positions in the party, in educa tional institutions or in industry; ‘they pay scale of women is 25% to 30% lower than that which is considered average; In the collective farms women hold physically de manding jobs, while men, the local party leadership, work in offices. While building roads, dressed in orange jackets and manning shovels, women are the heavy laborers, while nearby a man, the supervisor on the job hangs around and smokes a cigarette. Women are city street sweepers. Similar scenes are depicted by other authors. Doc tor Arnold Reshetiuk in his article “Why we don’t like women” writes that women carry bricks to top floors of highrisers. “...as if elevators and cranes have not been invented yet... .” He makes it a point to say that a hundred years ago only men worked on construction in Russia. Women were called only to mix the cement with their feet and remained in jobs such as these to our day. Up to the time of the revolution only men worked in tex tile mills, because such work was considered too diffi cult for women. Today, as far as the author knows, in Ukraine there is only one male weaver. He works in Chernyhiv and is considered an oddity. Then there is a photo of a women with a long knife in her hand. She is attempting to dismember a carcass of a cow. The author concluded that society really does not like women. With the article “Mona Lisa with a pick ax and crow bar,” Jurij Briazhunov offers a photo which shows women repairing railroad tracks. He writes: The horror here is not in its cynical interpretation what is easy or difficult for a woman. It lies in the fact that the soviet legislature allows our dear mothers, wives and sisters to do all this and does not see in these activities any harm to their health, to the self confidence of their as-yet unborn children, and to the future of the nation.” R adianska Szinka (Soviet Woman) is the only women’s magazine published in Ukraine. Until recently, like all other publications, the magazine propagated communist ideology, thus adding its bit to the enslave ment of women. The covers of the magazine frequently featured photos of dairy maids dressed in red jackets, decorated with medals given to them for extraordinary work achievements. In 1990 the editorial board changed somewhat, and the readers began to see articles which dealt with the problems of working women. In the arti cles of Tetiana Chernyshevsky “Unfortunately, my mother is a dairy maid” and in that of Mykola Petru- shenko “Who will protect Nina Oleksiivna” the unenvia ble fate of the dairy maid is presented. T. Chernyshevsky talks of one working day in the life of her mother, which begins at 4 a.m. and with breaks, ends at 11 at night. She sleeps about 5 hours a night. She has worked on the collective farm for 33 years and her daughter doubts that she will last until her retirement, another 7 years in such a life. The work of dairy maids is considered most important in the farm environment, since mechanizati on here is nonexistent. M. Petrushenko writes about the life of Nina, the dairy maid. When she started her job there was talk of mechanization which was slated to drastically change the work of the dairy maids. Fifteen years later and there are no changes. The following excerpt highlights the gist of the article: “Nina Oleksiivna Bujalo is not only the foremost dairy maid, but a qualified fodder dis tributor, since daily she carries several tons of feed. She also carries tubs of milk which weigh about 40 kilo grams. She probably never even heard of the advice doctors give women not to carry more than ten kilos. “Do our doctors advise this or foreigners? she asks. Most likely foreigners.” I must confess that I did not have the heart to explain to her that beyond the borders of the Soviet Union the safe weight for women is only seven kilos, and mostly men take care of livestock. The farmers are protective of their wives, because the work of a dairy hand is really not fit for a women.” The statistical data and the testimony which points to the exploitation of women can go on forever. Y. Bri azhunov writes about a large percentage of women in the heavy industries such as the chemical industry, wood and metal industries, in the production of machinery, and others. In the light industries 79% are women. A. Reshetylo affirms that by nature a woman is weaker than a man. Also her work capability is 3 to 4 times lesser than that of a man. Hard labor drains and depletes, it causes illness, it destroys a woman’s psyche. S. Pavlychko also examines the situation of women in the party where they occupy 30% of various posts. Usually these are second or third rate positions. The position of Valentyna Shevchenko, who until the 1990 election was a member of the Politbureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine and pres ident of the National Council, the author finds secon dary in comparison with the position of the secretary of the Central Committee and that of the president of the Council of Ministers. In Ukraine there have not been any women ministers or diplomats. Women in party positions do not represent any women’s or democratic movements. They represent the party apparatus, usually its most conservative segment. Leading positions are also inaccessible to highly educated women. In universities the number of students — male and female — is approximately the same, but there is a large disproportion between women and pres tigious positions in the professional arena. The author НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ТРАВЕНЬ 1991 21
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