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We regard the family as a social and biological entity of our national organism, as a place where the soul is molded and the future of the nation is raised. We want to make the family healthy again, to bring back respect for the wife and mother and to demand rights for mothers on equal par with fathers. On the other hand, we cannot agree with those who would lock the woman up at home and who consider the family the only activity of women. Never before in history have the physiological and educational functions of motherhood drained the women of their physical and spiritual reserves. Since oldest times, in addition to her duties as a mother, a woman has always worked. She was active in the household economy, and in the old, agriculturally oriented com munities she was an important, productive member, as is our peasant woman today. The traditional style household had shrunk when technology took away many of its functions, while the community took upon itself the raising and education, of children, care of the ill and the poor. It is therefore foolishness to try to make the woman go back to her old role and to confine her duties only to the family and home. What a strange mixture of romanticism, parochial ism and sick sexual ravings is the perception of the sex ual issue as the “centralized women’s issue” in the women’s movement, reflected in the recent articles in the Ukrainian press. We will never agree to this interpre tation. A woman and a mother has a specific, direct rela tionship as an individual to humanity, and not only in her capacity as a reproductive being. We have a rela tionship to the life of our nation and not only through our sons whom we bring into the world. This direct link with the fate of our people was and is the source of the Ukrainian women’s movement. We regard the role of the mother with great esteem, but at the same time we fight the narrow egotism of the family and all its tendencies which place the good of those closest to us above the good of the nation. In our eyes the Ukrainian mother is the mother of our nation, whose responsibilities do not end at the doorstep of her home. There cannot be boundaries between the interests of the family and the nation, and the responsibilities of women to their children and their communities cannot be separated. Let us be citizens within the four walls of our homes and let us be mothers in our community lives — that is our understanding of motherhood and at the same time our women’s political program. It is so clear and simple, while rich in content and suitable for women of various social strata and of various viewpoints. How easy it is to apply it to our life and political situations! Do we need to explain further what it means to be a citizen in a relationship with one’s family, particularly with one’s children? Is it necessary to discuss the responsibilities which a mother assumes with this role, counteracting the denationalizing and demoralizing influences which permeate our atmosphe re? Against the backdrop of our political life, to be a citizen in the home means: from its earliest moments to root in the child, and to instill in the family the convic tion that the good of the individual is tied to the fate of the nation. There is no easy life for us nor for those closest to us, there is no career, no personal happiness, as long as our homeland suffers. We also have to instill in our children the pride in being Ukrainian. We, Ukrainian women, who were cho sen by nature to give life to the new Ukrainian genera tion, we believe in that life! We believe in our people and their indestructible strength, we believe in the complete victory of our national aims. We therefore cannot permit hopelessness to creep into the souls of our children, and we will not allow them to take the path of apostasy concerning our national ideals. What about our program for our community life? Where can we as women look for leadership in these times of chaos, disorder and disintegration? What should we do? What does one do in order to have the right to say about oneself: I am one with the people, and the people are with me. We should look for answers to these questions in the depths of the infallible motherly instinct. Let us be mothers in our community lives. Our political mission is tied to our biological role as the bearers and guardians of new generations. Our role in the community is our endeavor to preserve, strengthen and bring to health the Ukrainian life. The Ukrainian life — how much more precious it is for us mothers than for men. The Ukrainian people came into this world through us, nurtured by us, com forted by us, tied to us in thousands of ways. Who can be more conscious of this unity than we, the mothers. Therefore, presently there is nothing more important than cultivating that unity. We are united over boundar ies — that is the universality of the spirit, and we are united despite all misunderstandings and opposition — that is the internal consolidation of the people. Let us form a pact of non-aggression, of an internal peace, let us turn all our efforts toward constructive purposes instead of mutual strife. This demand must be put to our people: we want to take upon ourselves one half of the responsibility for the fate of our nation — share this with us. Our motherland needs us, she needs a mother. She needs not only a mother’s warmth and softness, her tenderness and understanding, but her concerned eye, a mother’s busy, able hands, her in tuition. The Ukrainian nation can and will live only when it harnesses into its service the moral and spiritual strength of women, working side by side with men. (Loose translation from Ukrainian by Marta Baczynsky) 24 НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, БЕРЕЗЕНЬ 1993 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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