Olena Hankivsky, professor of public policy at Simon Frazer University in Canada, spoke at the Ukrainian Museum in Manhattan on October 5, presenting her recent book Gender, Politics and Society in Ukraine. Co-editor of the volume along with Anastasiya Salnykova, a native of Ukraine and doctoral candidate in political science at the University of British Columbia, Prof. Hankivsky provided the audience with a concise overview of the complex context of gender relations in modern Ukraine.

The book, explained Prof. Hankivsky, is divided into four broad chapters and examines how political, social, and economic transitions in Ukraine have affected gender roles and relations in both positive and negative directions since independence.

On paper, noted Prof. Hankivsky, Ukraine looks good. Ukraine is signatory to many of the international agreements that obligate the government to provide equal opportunities and treatment for women and men in areas of education, healthcare, employment, justice. The government of Ukraine has expressed commitments to stop trafficking of women, prosecute violence against women and eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace.

The reality, however, is different. There are few resources for the implementation and execution of these commitments, including the lack of desire, lack of leadership and full social acceptance that it is necessary to do so. A generalized social norm of disrespect for the abilities of women, active derision, and tolerance of abuse against women is prevalent in Ukrainian society overall, including among many of the country’s leaders, the very people tasked with guiding gender policies. The breakdown of social and family support systems, longstanding unemployment, a diminished welfare state, increased substance abuse and homelessness are among the elements dramatically influencing gender roles and relations.

Particularly worrisome is the rapid and unprecedented disinformation campaign STOP Gender! that arose in Ukraine in 2010, shortly after the election of Viktor Yanukovych to the presidency. Marked by technically sophisticated websites, videos, widespread distribution of glossy brochures and leaflets, and virulent letter-writing efforts to intimidate elected officials, even foreign governments, the STOP Gender! campaign derides the goal of gender equality in particular, and many basic tenets of human rights in general.

Prof. Hankivsky provided examples of some of the slogans and texts from this campaign making claims that equal opportunities and equal treatment of women is blasphemous and against God’s will, asserting that respect for people regardless of sex or sexual orientation is perverse and that allowing women to advance and succeed in places of power such as government and politics is antithetical to Ukrainian tradition and culture. This information is freely distributed throughout Ukraine, on campuses, through churches and, as noted Prof. Hankivsky, is being repeated by priests and pastors, leading to confusion among people who look to their church for spiritual guidance.

The websites and videos have no authors identified, said Prof. Hankivsky, and attempts to locate the source of funding for this expensive and sophisticated campaign, which provides information primarily in Russian, have been unsuccessful. Several organizations have aligned themselves with this movement, which appears to be promoted heavily through some evangelical groups, as well as the Ukrainian Orthodox (Pravovirna or “True Believers”)Greek Catholic Church working in western Ukraine that actually is not a registered as a Church, but only as a non-governmental organization (NGO), one that has been disavowed by the leadership of the authentic Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. In eastern regions of Ukraine, the Brotherhood of those Who Love Orthodoxy, an organization affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church support the STOP Gender! campaign.

There is a theory in Ukraine among women’s rights advocates that this anti-woman campaign arose in reaction to pro-Western impetus, and is an effort to convince the population of Ukraine to boycott an alliance with the European Union, which requires active adherence to human rights. It could also be part of an effort to co-opt and distort the very effective, Western-leaning, UN-funded program STOP Violence! against women in Ukraine that had great support, including from such luminaries as the soccer champ Andriy Shevchenko, singer Ani Lorak and Olympic star Serhiy Bubka.

Prof. Marian Rubchak of Valparasio University, who edited another recently published volume on gender issues in Ukraine, Mapping Difference: The Many Faces of Women in Contemporary Ukraine, and is also a contributor to the Hankivsky volume, was present at the event. She noted that the start date for the STOP Gender! campaign in 2010 was suspiciously close to the efforts of President Yanukovych to discredit his powerful female rival, Yulia Tymoshenko, and while the anti-women campaign may not be directly funded by Yanukovych adherents, it may help explain why the government is willing to tolerate it.

Prof. Hankivsky noted that she is sympathetic to the concerns of copying wholesale Western traditions and values and attempting to transplant them unilaterally to other countries without such traditions, preferring the option that social norms evolve more organically, incorporating applicable existing norms when possible. In turn, without Western impetus and money, she said, the reality is that probably there would have been few changes and advances in gender-related issues in Ukraine during the past two decades.

At the beginning of the evening, guests were greeted by Museum Director Maria Shust. Dr. Marta Kebalo, Main Representative of the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations (WFUWO) to the United Nations/ECOSOC then introduced Prof. Hankivsky. The WFUWO, joined by the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America and the Ukrainian Museum, was an event sponsor, and provided support to Prof. Hankivsky for the publication of this book.

Dr. Kebalo read a greeting from WFUWO President Orysia Sushko who wrote that “at the core of the mission of the WFUWO is to uphold the dignity and integrity of women both in Ukraine and in Ukraine’s émigré communities,” a core value for all international human rights endeavors, as well. Fundamentally, gender equality issues are rooted in issues of dignity and integrity and the power to achieve and sustain these socially, politically and economically, noted Dr. Kebalo.

In her introduction, Dr. Kebalo also highlighted many of Prof. Hankivsky’s numerous professional accomplishments, as well as her personal connections to the WFUWO and long-standing family commitment to community activism. Prof. Hankivsky is the great-granddaughter of Olena Kysilewsky, prominent activist of the Ukrainian women’s movement of Western Ukraine during the interwar period, and the first president of the WFUWO. She is also the granddaughter of Hania Anna Hankivsky, a past treasurer of the WFUWO.

The book Gender, Politics and Society in Ukraine, which was published by the University of Toronto Press in 2012 and is going into a second printing, is available online through Amazon in hardcover, paperback and Kindle versions.