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“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, БЕРЕЗЕНЬ 2010 15 WOM EN’S ORGANIZATIONS IN INDEPENDENT UKRAINE: PRO SPECT OF POWER 1997 J. B. Rudnyckyj Distin guishe d Lecture presented by Martha Bohachevsky - Chomi ak at the University of Manitoba P art 2 By e arly 1990, women active within the eme rging opposition movement, Rukh, established a “ Wome n's Community ” (Zhi nocha Hromada) to enco urage women to join the re for mist movement. Wit hin a year, the C ommu nity had est ablished itself as a n independent organization that included repr esentatives of organized minority women in Ukr aine. Even a few months earlier, by the beginning of 1990, independent women ’ s gr oups forme d in the sma ll towns of Western Ukraine. They discovered the i ndigenous independent non - soci alist women's movem ent in Ukraine that had been part of the wome n ’ s wo rld movement. 12 By J anuary 1992, representatives of the bran ches of the independent Women ’ s Un ion ( Soiuz Ukr ainok), convened in Kyiv , cl aiming to b e “ the heir to the democratic traditions of the Women ’ s Union (Soiuz Ukrainok) that had func tioned in Ukr aine since 1917 and had been liquidated as the res ult of Bolshevik occupation.” 13 The r eference to a wome n ’ s or ganization of the pre - 1917 pe riod drew the ne w women ’ s move ment into the historical fra mework of Ukraine and legitimized it as patriotic act ivity. For merly , off icial women ’ s or ganizations als o distanced themselves from the immediate past. Aft e r the proclamation of Ukraine ’ s inde pendence, the W omen ’ s Co uncil (Rada Zhinok Ukrainy) res tructured itself as the Spilka Zhinok Ukrainy (Con federation of Women of Ukraine), promoting econ omic programs for its members and holding ope n meetings with represe nta tives of other wome n ’ s or ganizations. 14 Its government subsidy seve red, the Spilka turned its attention to helping its mem bers set up commercial enterprises. Othe rs galvanized women for the oppo sition. The Women ’ s Com munity in Kyiv used the s ocialist I nte rnational Women's Day 15 on Ma rch 8, 1991, to spearhead a major political demonstra - tion aimed against the whole socialist system. In conju nction with the Committee of Mothers of Sol diers, the Union of Women of Ukraine, the newl y formed “ Comm ittee of Fam ili es with Many Chi ldren, ” a so ciety of mothers wit h mor e than five chil dren, and “ Mot her - 86, ” a gr oup of mothers whos e children were born around the time of the Cho rnobyl disa ster , the Women ’ s Com munity org anized the largest independent women's rally in K yiv a nd the first one in fifty years that raised polit ical issues. 16 Lar ysa Skoryk, a member of the Ukr ainian Parliament, was followed by speaker upon sp eaker decrying the pitiful condition of wome n. 17 Alt hough the women stressed that no one wou ld help the m un less they help ed them selves, the them e that brought out the strongest response cont inued to be the f ate of the soldiers held captive in A fghanistan and the ratification of the law lim iting service to the territory of the republic. 18 In t he euphoria of the d ays of the collapse of the U SSR , eme rging wome n ’s o rganizations o fte n ret urned to the nineteenth century rhet oric of t he woma n as the keeper of the hearth, the solace of the hear t, the giver of life, the guardian of children. His torical legacy predis pose d political activists not to r aise women's concerns but at best to link them to polic ies relating to family and child welfare. In Ukr aine, as in other post - Sovie t states, women ’ s pres ence is more evident in community than in polit ical organization. In pol itical parties and in polit ical discourse of the first five years of Ukr ainian independence one rarely comes across wome n ’ s is sues or upon conscious attempts to int egrate women into the overall political activity. One o f the themes of women ’ s ra llies w as the c reation of an all - encom passing Council of Wome n of Ukraine. Before the assertion of indep endence, the democratic wing of the women ’ s movem ent argued that such a Council, recognized by the venerable International Council of Women ( the ol dest interna tion al independent organization of wome n ) , wo uld mark yet another step in the road to indep endence. At the same time, given the tradition, res ources, and membership of the League of Ukr ainian Women, there was fear that such a cons olidation would strengthen the ol d party sta lwarts. There was no si ngle voice speaking on beha lf of the women of Ukraine, although the var ious women ’ s or ganizations cooperate d on spec ific issues and attend ed eac h others conventions
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