The role of women and gender issues in Ukraine

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The role of women and gender issues in Ukraine

A. Tormakhova

Abstract

There are a number of problems in Ukrainian society related to the role of women in society. A number of European countries, as well as in the USA, have done a great deal to recognize women's rights and to eliminate the gender-specific responsibilities of women. Instead, the stereotypes inherent in traditional societies persist in Ukraine, leading to less freedom for women. The notion that a woman should take care of children and the home continue to exist, while sexism against women is spreading. There are a number of problems associated with adopting the transgender people. The way to promote a tolerant attitude not only towards women but also to all members of the society is to promote the ideas of feminism and transfeminism in Ukraine.

Key words: women, gender, feminism, transfeminism, Ukraine.

Introduction

Problem statement in general and connection with important scientific or practical tasks. There are a number of gender problems in Ukrainian society. The definition of gender identity as «a personal sense of gender role, and gender role as a public expression of gender identity» [6], emphasizes a fundamentally different vector than has been the case today. A society that is built on traditional values and largely relies on the precepts that have been proclaimed within Christianity - orthodoxy - is not ready to reconsider its view of a number of painful problems. In particular, Ukrainian society is largely unprepared for changing gender roles, perceiving physiological gender as one that obliges a person to feel in accordance with them. There are also stereotypes that set out a list of functions that a woman should rely on, such as housekeeping, raising children, depriving her of the right to fulfill her own potential. Even more so, Ukrainian citizens are not ready to adopt transgender practices. Analysis of recent research and publications. The question of sexism is raised in the works of Frederick Attenborg, Thomas E. Ford, Christie F. Bocher, Jacob Armstrong, Jessica R Del. The study of transgender people was carried out in the works of Andrea Long Chu and Emmett Harsin Drager. Natalie Gravenor analyzed Post-Modern, Post-National, Post-Gender questions. Problems of transgender people, gender identity and gender stereotypes are covered in the work of Svetlana Ivanchenko. Differentiation and dimorphism of gender identity from conception to maturity are studied in the works of John Money and Anke A. Ehrhardt. Gender stereotypes and their transformations in modern advertising are analyzed by Roksolana Nazarko. Despite the significant amount of work, many issues remains little explored. The aim of the article. The article is aimed at highlighting the problematic aspects that are present in issues related to gender in the Ukrainian space, their theoretical substantiation, highlighting the role of women in society and implementation of transgenderism.

Presenting main material

Ukrainian society is a mix of people who are extremely different in ethnicity, language used in everyday life (Ukrainian and Russian), socioeconomic level, religious views (even in the case of Christian adherents, the Orthodox, Greek Catholic, also Protestantism). Is it to be said that the gender problem is not perceived unequivocally in society? It is important to note that their origin played a significant role in shaping the identity of Ukrainians. The presence of different regions within modern Ukraine, which before independence became under the rule of different countries - Austria-Hungary, the Russian Empire, before Lithuania and Poland - led to the development of fundamentally different cultural and ethnic traditions. This situation has contributed to the formation of different linguistic, religious, ritual, social and cultural characteristics within the modern Ukraine. Accordingly, there are currently different groups that are radically different and difficult to find in common.

Conditionally, the population of Ukraine can be divided not so much even by regional characteristics, but by the orientation to certain life settings. On the one hand, there is a more “traditional” attitude to gender, including women. Thus, for most representatives of Ukrainian society, the association of women with motherhood and household is characteristic. The results of social surveys conducted in different cities of Ukraine show that most men consider activities such as cleaning, cooking, laundry, babysitting as a purely female work. Even when men in the family provide some assistance in maintaining cleanliness and order in the home, they do not feel the urgent need to do this work, considering it not to be «masculine». It is also a rather painful issue that, despite the fact that most Ukrainian women have permanent jobs, being able to provide for their own livelihoods and often their own children, the idea that financial security is the prerogative of men prevails in society. In some families, although husbands may earn less than their wives, they do not want to make up for the lack of money by sorting out certain household responsibilities. Natalie Gravenor points out that quite often gender studies are about women, while men have problems. There is a suppression of the rights of both fields. «Gender research is often equated with and reduced to a feminist approach and focus on women and the feminine. However, the analysis of masculinity images is just important to delineate boundaries and continuities for the development of multi-layered understanding» [5, p. 179-180]. We are convinced that this position is noteworthy, but in Ukrainian society there are mostly problems with the suppression of women's rights, not men's.

Another rather painful issue is the treatment of women as the embodiment of sexuality. Quite high criteria are put in the issue of external attractiveness, slimness, the presence of a good figure, the ability to follow the latest fashion trends. These indicators help to transform a woman into a kind of «product», denying her the right to be herself, to feel comfortable in her own body. On the other hand, this is linked to sexism, which is manifested in the systemic public underestimation of women's mental capacities, a significant prejudice against women's ability to occupy leadership positions. Particularly striking is this feature manifested in advertising, because it broadcasts those stereotypical ideas about a woman, which are present in society. «This is a form of a beautiful woman - a very emotional, sexual young being, who, in general, has a very small degree of self-will. The advertisement actively began to use the image of a beautiful female body, the image of a «female subject of consumption». For example, advertisements for soap, shampoos, in which all the time the goods are advertised through a beautiful female body. In such advertisements the woman is considered only as a commodity. And it turns out that the «value» of a woman is expressed only in the «value» of her body, and the mind, intellect, will, ability - all this is included in the sphere of human and only there exists» [2, p. 71].

Even with some progressive changes in public administration that have taken place in Ukraine in recent years, among 17 representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which was approved in 2019, 6 women are holding ministerial posts, far exceeding previous figures. These are Minister of Finance Oksana Markarova, Minister of Community and Territory Development Olena Babak, Minister of Education and Science Anna Novosad, Minister of Health Zoryana Skeletskaya, Minister of Social Policy Yulia Sokolovskaya, Minister of Veterans Affairs Oksana Kolyada. However, the competence of many, including the Minister of Education and Science - Anna Novosad - raises some doubts. Although there is a qualification level, there is no control over the correctness of the words and actions expressed in the repeated interviews, posts on social networks, in particular Facebook, which questioned the competence of the Minister, emphasizing the possibility of ill-considered selection of this candidate. In the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, approved in 2014, among 17 ministers there was only one woman - the Minister of Social Policy, whose position was elected Lyudmila Denisova. This practice, although beginning to show some positive developments, still remains unacceptable.

In Ukrainian society, sexist jokes are now flourishing, which is more often a form of sexual objectification that brings women, as they are more often directed jokes, to the level of the object. It's emphasized in article «Jokes, pranks, blondes and banter: recontextualising sexism in the British print press» (2014) of Frederick Attenborough [3]. It is also worth noting that the form of the joke seems to be exempt from liability, which is absolutely unacceptable. Jokes about women, emphasizing their sexuality, is a manifestation of sexism. This factor was found in the writings of Thomas Ford [7].

There are different attitudes to gender roles and gender identity in today's society. It should be emphasized that in the countries of Western Europe and, to a greater extent, in the United States of America, the situation is more progressive. The existence of entire institutions that care for the psychological support of people who feel the need to change their gender in order to follow their own gender roles is gradually becoming a regularity.

It is worth mentioning that in northern European countries, in particular in Sweden, nowadays, general treatment is accepted for children - «hen», mean «it», which eliminates the need to determine their gender. This practice was introduced in kindergartens. The reformers of preschool education suggested instead of using the Swedish word «he» - «han» and «she» - «hon», to apply a somewhat intermediate «hen». In Sweden, in 1998, the law «On countering gender stereotypes in children» was approved, according to which kindergarten teachers are obliged to undergo equality training annually. The influence and dissemination of the ideas of the American feminist Judith Butler contributed to the fact that the first experimental kindergarten «Egalia» (translated «Equality») was organized in Sweden in 2010. Subsequently, a debate arose as to the legality of the introduction of the term «hen», which, even in Sweden, causes considerable controversy and splits society in half. Some researchers point out the possibility of negative consequences of this practice. At present, such practice has not been embodied in Ukrainian society. Moreover, it is not ready for such changes that have been made in the United States. In particular, it is said that in the classbooks of US schools in the column «information about parents» disappeared the words «mom» and «dad». They were replaced by «parent # 1» and «parent # 2». Ukraine currently stands in a rather strange position that reduces the rights of men in their ability to care for their children, including during illness.

There are families in Ukrainian society where children are registered and live in the same area with their father, while the place of registration of the mother is different. Registration of children is not sufficient for servicing at the children's clinic at the place of residence and registration. Every year, their mother must sign a statement that would allow them to serve their children in the clinic. The statement makes it clear that only a woman can draw up a clinic letter to care for children during illness. Moreover, the fact that the father can do it no worse than the mother - is not considered. This rather absurd situation works in spite of the reforms that have already been implemented in the health care system, the functioning of the HELSI.me system, which allows online registration with a doctor, the opportunity to register in a primary care facility.

The reform processes that have taken place in recent years in Ukraine apply not only to medicine but also to the field of linguistics. In 2019, the use of feminitives, a group of morphological units labeled with grammatical feminine, alternative or paired similar masculine units, was approved. This is the acceptance of femininitives related to the type of activity - «directorka», «ministerka», «doctorka» and others. This shift can be seen as a positive factor, since it emphasizes the acceptance by society that women can perform a variety of professional duties, including those related to management positions. At the same time, the use of these feminitives is in a sense contrary to the tendency found in Englishspeaking traditions. First of all, English terms are devoid of gender coloration. In English, feminitives are understood as gender marking in job titles, where they are rare. Instead, it is relevant for the Ukrainian language, which has a grammatical origin. At the same time, this factor makes it impossible to mark professional activity that is intended to be gender-neutral.

In general, it may be noted that if there are some shifts in feminist movements in Ukraine, there is no willingness to accept people of androgynous type, such as being gender neutral or transgender. Examples of significant aggression can be seen in the course of actions similar to the March of Equality, which have been trying to hold in Ukraine in recent years. These measures are aimed not only at supporting the representatives of LGBT societies, but also at upholding the rights of women, the opportunity to have equal rights regardless of gender, color, religious beliefs, political preferences, social status, etc. As a rule, their participants are young people, students with more tolerant views, as well as transgender, representatives of LGBT people, travesties.

At present, there is a lack of readiness in the Ukrainian space for gender-related changes. As a matter of fact, as of 2009, there were very few people in Ukraine who were able to realize their desire for gender change. A study was conducted, the results of which were recorded by S. Ivanchenko. Interviews were conducted with respondents from 10 regions of Ukraine, among whom 36 person aged 18-51 were interviewed, including from female to male gender (FtM) - 24 person, 12 from male to female (MtF); 2 - transvestites. They were mainly residents of the capital and regional centers (Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Donetsk, Lugansk, Mykolaiv, Odessa, Khmelnitsky, Kharkiv, Kherson); only three respondents live in small cities. «They made surgical correction of the sex and changed the documents - 5 people, only changed the documents - 2 person, 23 persons planned the correction of the sex in more or less accessible time for review» [1]. As we can see, these indicators are very low when compared to similar ones in other European countries. feminist ukraine gender educational

Quite clearly this problem has emerged on the example of Domani Anastasia Eva Vasylivna. She is an activist of human rights and an activist of the Trans-Coalition in the former Soviet Union. She worked as a coordinator for working with the transgender community of the NGO «Insight». Born as a boy, she lived in a male gender role for up to 36 years, after which she began hormone replacement therapy and is an open transgender person. On the path of gender change, Anastasia Eva faced a number of problems not only ideological but also related to administrative and social issues. The state of Ukrainian law did not provide for simple procedures related to gender change, not only physiologically, but also in terms of documentation changes. Only in 2018 Anastasia Eva was able to obtain a biometric and ID passport stating that she was female.

Procedural issues in Ukraine are quite complicated, because in order to start legalizing transgendered, it was necessary to register with a psychiatric dispensary. In the 10th edition of the International Classifier of Diseases (ICD-10), gender dysphoria, that is, a condition where a person cannot fully accept the gender status of a man or woman characteristic of a transgender state, was designated as a mental disorder. However, as of July 18, 2018, World Health Organization has excluded transgender status from the list of mental disorders. In the new International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) gender mismatch has been moved to the section on sexual health.

Conclusions

There are currently a number of problems with the role of women in Ukrainian society. The way that will promote the elimination of a tolerant attitude not only towards women, but also towards all members of the society is promoting the ideas of feminism and transfeminism in Ukraine. Transfeminism is a current prevalent in Anglo- American discourse, the impetus for the formation of which was feminist theory, within which transphobic ideas began to emerge. A kind of adjustment is the promotion of transmedia, which is one of the areas of conceptualization of media by transgender personalities in the post-digital age. In a number of articles, such as «After Trans Studies», it is emphasized that trans studies have exhausted themselves because they have doubled down on gender intelligence: «Trans studies is over. If it wants, it should be. Thus far, trans studies have largely failed to establish a robust, compelling set of theories, methods, and concepts that would distinguish itself from gender studies or queer studies» [4, p. 103]. In our opinion, this area remains extremely relevant and promising for Ukrainian cultural studies, because in our society these problems only become relevant and need discussion.

References

1. Иванченко С. Трансгендерность, гендерная идентичность и гендерные стереотипы [Электронный ресурс] / С. Иванченко // Психологические исследования. -2009. - № 6(8). - Режим доступа : http://www.psystudy.ru/index.php/num/2009n6-8/259- ivanchenko8.html#e3 (Дата доступа - 17.06.2020) ; Ivanchenko S. Transgendernost, gendernaya identichnost i gendernye stereotipy [Elektronnyy resurs] / S. Ivanchenko // Psikhologicheskie issledovaniya. - 2009. - № 6(8). - Rezhim dostupa : http://www.psystudy.ru/index.php/num/2009n6-8/259-ivanchenko8.html#e3 (Data dostupa - 17.06.2020).

2. Назарко Р. Гендерні стереотипи та їх трансформації в сучасній рекламі / Р. Назарко // Гендер та філософія: гендерні студії у філософських науках, (22 листопада 2012 року). Гендер та культурологія: гендерні дослідження феноменів культури (21 лютого 2013 року) : зб. матер. круглих столів. - Острог : Видавництво Національного університету «Острозька академія», 2013. - С. 68-73. ; Nazarko R. Henderni stereotypy ta yikh transformatsii v suchasnii reklami / R. Nazarko // Hender ta filosofiia: henderni studii u filosofskykh naukakh, (22 lystopada 2012 roku). Hender ta kulturolohiia: henderni doslidzhennia fenomeniv kultury (21 liutoho 2013 roku) : zb. mater. kruhlykh stoliv. - Ostroh : Vydavnytstvo Natsionalnoho universytetu «Ostrozka akademiia», 2013.- S. 68-73.

3. Attenborough F. T. Jokes, pranks, blondes and banter: recontextualising sexism in the British print press / Attenborough F. T. // Journal of Gender Studies. - 2014. - Vol. 23, Issue 2. - P. 137-154.

4. Chu A. L. After Trans Studies / A. L. Chu, E. H. Drager// TSQ Transgender Studies Quarterly. - 2019. - Vol. 6, Issue 1. - P. 103-116.

5. Gravenor N. Post-Modern, Post-National, Post-Gender? Suggestions for a Consideration of Gender Identities in Visual Artworks and Moving Images of Neue Slowenische Kunst / N. Gravenor // Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies. - 2017. - Vol. 14, Issue 1. - P. 175-196.

6. Money J. Man and woman, boy and girl: Differentiation and dimorphism of gender identity from conception to maturity / J. Money, A. A. Ehrhardt. - Baltimore : Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1972. - 327 р.

7. More Than 'Just a Joke': The Prejudice Releasing Function of Sexist Humor / Th. E. Ford, Ch. F. Boxer, J. Armstrong, J. R. Edel // Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. - 2008. - Vol. 34 Issue 2, - P. 159-170.

Анотація

А. М. Тормахова

В українському суспільстві існує низка проблем, пов'язаних з роллю жінок у суспільстві. Ряд європейських країн, як і США, багато зробили для визнання прав жінок та усунення гендерних стереотипів. Натомість в Україні зберігаються стереотипи, притаманні традиційним суспільствам. Багато в чому вітчизняна практика виявляє відсутність готовності до зміни гендерних ролей, сприймаючи фізіологічну стать як таку, що зобов'язує людину почувати себе відповідно до неї.

Населення України можна поділити не стільки за регіональними ознаками, скільки за орієнтованістю на певні життєві установки. Наявні стереотипи, за якими є певний перелік функцій, які мають покладатися на жінку - зокрема ведення домашнього господарства, виховання дітей. В українському суспільстві на даний час процвітають сексистські жарти, які частіше є формою сексуальної об'єктивації, яка зводить жінок, адже саме на них частіше спрямовані жарти, до рівня об'єкта.

Українське суспільство є таким, що не готове до прийняття практики трансгендерності. В країнах Західної Європи та, ще у більшій мірі, у Сполучених Штатах Америки, дана ситуація є такою, що носить більш прогресивний характер. Існування цілих інституцій, які опікуються психологічною підтримкою людей, що відчувають потребу у зміні статі, аби слідувати власним гендерним ролям поступово стає закономірністю. У північних європейських країнах, зокрема у Швеції - у загальноосвітніх закладах нині прийнятим є звернення до дітей - «hen», тобто «воно», яке позбавляє потреби визначати їх стать. Ця практика була впроваджена у дитячих садках, яка проте неоднозначно сприймається навіть у межах даної країни. В Україні наявні певні зрушення, пов'язані з феміністичними рухами, проте немає готовності до сприйняття людей андрогінного типу, таких, що є гендерно нейтральними чи трансгендерами. Приклади значної агресії можна помітити під час проведення акцій, подібних до Маршу рівності, які протягом останніх років намагаються проводити в Україні. Дані заходи спрямовані не лише на підтримку представників ЛГБТ товариств, а й на відстоювання права жінок, можливість мати рівні права незалежно від статі, кольору шкіри, релігійних вірувань, політичних уподобань, соціального стану та т.п. Як правило, їх учасниками виступає молодь, студенти, що мають більш толерантні погляди, а також трансгендери, представники ЛГБТ, травесті. Способом сприяння толерантному ставленню не лише до жінок, а й до всіх членів суспільства є пропаганда ідей фемінізму та трансфемінізму в Україні.

Ключові слова: жінки, стать, фемінізм, трансфемінізм, Україна.

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