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OUR LIFE Monthly, published by Ukrainian National Women’s League of America Vol. LIX MARCH 2002 Editor: TAMARA STADNYCHENKO HAPPY EASTER! FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT Dear UNWLA members and readers of Our Life, March is Women’s History Month in the United States of America and the month elections are held in Ukraine, and this prompts me to review the history of women in Ukraine’s parliament since the country be came independent in 1991. In 1995, the Ukraine Human Development Report published by the United Nations Development Program provided some statistics on the status of women in Ukrainian political life. It was reported that in 1989, during the Soviet Regime, there was “a clearly defined quota of female political representatives” - which meant nothing. In 1993, women occupied 3.5 seats in Ukraine’s Parliament. They held 5% of positions of authority as managers, directors or heads of departments. In 1994, parliamentary elections left women with just under 4% of the seats. There were no women represented in the presidium and no women’s names were mentioned at the commemoration of the 50th anni versary of the United Nations. It appeared that Ukraine was becoming a sovereign state in which only men would make policy. At a special session of the United Nations General Assembly held in March of 2000, the Inter parliamentary Union (IPU) and the United Nations Department of Public Information jointly launched a world map of women in parliament. Out of the 179 countries included in the study, Ukraine was listed in 85th place. It is interesting to note that the Unites States, where gender issues were addressed much earlier in his tory, was ranked 52nd. In this context, Ukraine’s 85th place ranking, after only ten years of independence, did not seem so bad. Quite coincidentally, that same year, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, State Committee of Statis tics of Ukraine, UNDP, produced a document entitled “Promoting Gender Equality Project”. The publication summarizes the results of a study on the implementation in Ukraine of the final instruments of the Fourth World Conference of Women (Beijing) and the United Nations General Assembly Special Session “Women in 2000: equality between men and women, development and peace in the 21st century”. (© Vlasenko, N.S.and Vinogradova Z.D., Jan. 5, 2000). This document states that there are no legislative documents con taining articles or norms with language that is discriminatory towards women. It indicates that women make up 54% of the country’s population and more than half of its labor force. It also posits that while women in Ukraine are better then equal in education, they are less than equal in opportunity While women hold 42% of the staff positions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, only 12.4 percent are working in the diplomatic corps. In areas requiring specialized expertise, men hold 90% of the available positions; women hold 10%. The most recent statistics for the year 2001 show that there are 450 seats in the Ukrainian parliament. Women occupy only 37 of these seats. A majority of the executive branch office staff are women, but few women are in pol “НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, БЕРЕЗЕНЬ 2002 11
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