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of the labor force, and 92 percent of women work or study. In industry women make up 45 percent of the workers, in farming — 46 percent, building industry — 28 percent, transportation and communication — 33 percent. If it is considered that the participation in this social sphere is at odds with work safety, health pro tection and the betterment of conditions for women, then it is understandable that the contemporary position of women is a social problem of national proportions. Many women hold difficult manual jobs which are detrimental to their health. 80 percent of women are part of the work force engaged in dangerous, non qualified work. In actuality, this type of labor engages close to 150 thousand of our sisters and mothers. The work is described as difficult for 70 percent of women engaged in farming and for 40 percent of women working in industry. The debilitating effects as a result of their duties are evident in the fact that for every 100 workers the absenteeism rate due to illness is much higher in women than in men. Every day more than a quarter of a million women miss work because of illness. One third of the night shift labor force is made up of women in the age group 20-39 years. Has not the evolu tion of our people through the history of spiritual, humanitarian and national traditions allotted a more dignified way for girls and women to spend their even ings and nights? The night shift for girls and women — the mighty achievement of the “Great October” — that is the horri ble social monster of our nation! Industrial hazards and stress combined with the influences of negative factors of the environment con tribute to the formation of ecologically related illnesses in pregnant women and nursing mothers. In the last 10 years these factors contributed to doubling the growth of hypertonic state and heart disease, spontaneous abortions by four to six, birth defects by three, and the general illnesses of young children doubled. In 1975 Ukraine saw 10,000 birth defects, in 1990 — over 16,000. Currently, there are 20 defective infants in each 1000 births. During the year close to 40,000 women do not carry their pregnancies to term. In the last ten years spon taneous abortions rose by a coefficient of 5. In 15 years gynecologically related illnesses in women rose by 35 percent. The steady decline in the health of women is further undermined by the unsolved problem of a high number of self-imposed abortions. Our society has not educated our women in the many safe ways available in planning a family, so prevalent in most of the world. Every year there are more than 1 million abortions in our republic, 82.5 percent for every 1000 women of childbearing age (in comparison — in Canada there are 10 percent for every 1000 women; in the Netherlands there are 5.6 percent). In Zaporozzia and in Sympheropol a genetic moni toring survey concluded: in the polluted Zaporozzia the rate of spontaneous abortions was 5 times higher than in the relatively clean Sympheropol, while birth defects were twice as high. In the Rubishch Luhansky region the cancer rate in children is 8 times that of the mean statistical data. Breast cancer, and cancer of the repro ductive organs increases year by year. Today approximately 70 percent of infants in Ukraine experience some kind of illness from the first day of their lives. This, therefore, is our unhappy situation. The perspective for the health of people in general and in particular for the woman/mother and her child appears before us much more dramatic, when the fol lowing is taken into account: the 4 million various syn thetic chemical compounds which are harmful to man, (xenobiotics), toxic substances which changed the air, water, earth, food products, as well as the 1 milliard Cm (curium), I emphasize, 1 milliard as per the data of independent experts (and not 50 million Cm as per offi cial statistics) which carried death to the surrounding environment from the Chornobil disaster, in addition to the multitude of military sites distributed throughout Ukraine in great numbers, and which damage the health and the environment. Finally according to researchers, the encompassing influence of chemical and physical factors resulted in the drop from 70 percent to 30 percent in male repro ductive capability. If this tendency coupled with the processes discussed above will continue, then at the end of this century there will be no hope for any regen erative efforts in Ukraine. How can this process be halted? The work to be done here is complex and multifaceted. First of all we need to inform the people about their prevailing state of health, particularly that of women and children. It is imperative to combine the efforts of the community and government in order to provide for a better social status for the woman and to create an appropriate living environment where she can function as a mother and raise her children. The government must pass laws for safe working conditions and laws to protect the health of women. It is important to develop and implement a national policy of population regenera tion and family planning. It is only through the humanization of the socio/pol itical system as part of the process of democratic changes that Ukraine can get that last chance for rebirth. Without a biological rebirth no one will see to a spiritual one. Let us take this last chance and do everything in our power to remedy this situation. We have to hope that it is not too late, that the fate of our children is still in our hands. (Translated from Ukrainian) НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЖОВТЕНЬ 1992 21
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