Dalits would you ignore them too? Join to the campaign:

http://campaign.oneworldaction.org/page/invite/testing

http://wp.me/pCYwp-oQ (in russian)

May the comparison of economics to a sensitive woman be the fulfillment of the President’s promises to the deputies of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly to raise the gender policy in Ukraine on the high level?

 

 

The last statement of the President in Lviv on May 27^th, 2010 is the evidence of his non-acquaintance with the modern European values as well as the overrunning of the acceptable in public statements of the state high-level person.

His statement (http://www.unian.net/ukr/news/news-378794.html) that “the economics is a sort of a sensitive woman who can’t be treated without any sense” is not only the next demonstration of the lack of understanding the essence of the gender equality as the main European value and the principle of the observance of people’s rights, but also the manifestation of total crisis in the development and the introduction of the state gender policy in Ukraine, the lack of competent and qualified specialists on these questions in the Government as well as among the President’s counselors.

Let’s remind that this statement has led to a number of discriminatory statements against women who were at first told to stay in the kitchen (http://www.unian.net/rus/news/news-358158.html), and after that were disabled to take part in state affairs’ direction (http://www.unian.net/ukr/news/news-368344.html).

Last month exactly, on April 27^th, 2010 while answering the question of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly V. Yanukovich announced that he was ready to make next steps in order to raise the question of the gender policy on the high level in the nearest future.

Can the gender discrimination and stereotypes, against which on January 2010 the National Committee forced our state to fight to liquidate all forms of discrimination against women, have already become part of a new policy of government in Ukraine and the way of the fulfillment of the given promises?

Kateryna Levchenko

 

Dear friends!

Hot congratulations with International Day of Museums.

The team of the Ukrainian gender museum wishes you successes in your activity, creative ideas and support for their realization.

One month ago we had c elebrated the birthday of the virtual version of our museum http://gendermuseum.com It was tremendous event because now we can show exhibitions and exhibits of our Museum for all.

Three exhibitions:

• “Let’s create Museum about us!” – devoted to idea and history of the creation of Museum.
• “Women support women” – devoted to women’s funds and women’s initiatives of the world. Here we will tell about women’s and gender museums.
• “Something about gender” – devoted to gender theory, gender stereotypes and ideas of equal rights.

For 18 of May – International Day of the museums we devote new exhibition – “Stop sexism!” http://gendermuseum.com/modules/stop_sx/ssexism01.html – devoted to one of the main gender problem – sexism, its causes and effects. Also we tell about first in Ukraine precedent of litigation case against sexism and women who began this case Olena Suslova and Katerina Levchenko.

For pity now we can do our site only in Ukrainian. But there are many pictures and they clear without words. But we hope through time we can do the version in different languages.

We invite you to visit our Museum. Let us create Museum about us!

The team of the Museum of the women’s history, museum of women’s and gender movement

Best regards
Tetiana Isaieva,
director of the Museum of women’s history,
history of women’s and gender movement;
Kharkiv, Ukraine
http://gendermuseum.com
http://gender.at.ua

Please read this news:

http://www.kyivpost.com/news/opinion/op_ed/detail/62389/20/page/1/#comments

Why did I prosecute a claim on the 29^th of March, 2009 against Prime Minister Mykola Azarov?

What are you doing this for? What do you want to achieve except additional problems and wiggery? May your decision also have a bad influence on you, because being at law with those who have the power is dangerous? Will such a claim be noted at all? These were the questions both my friends and colleagues asked.

But it was my instant decision after having read the Prime-Minister’s expression on the fact that implementing the reforms is not for women. I couldn’t hold myself in. I am sick and tired. I’m being got at.

At first women were shown out to the kitchen. Then it was confirmed by the staff appointment. At the same time the Department on Family and Gender Policy at the Ministry of Ukraine for Family, Youth and Sports was actually destroyed. Discussions started on the possibility of reduction the training and education of the social active members and civil servants. And finally it was found out that (I’m quoting) “implementing the reforms in Ukraine is not for women”.

Publications on the Internet quote Mykola Azarov: “Some people say that our government is big, others that there are no women in it, there is no one to look at during the Cabinet of Ministers’ meetings. Just the boring. With all my respect to women, implementing the reforms is not for them”. And so on: those people have been chosen to the government who can work 16 hours a day, without any days-off, who can take the responsibility and are not afraid to answer “no” to the boss.

The things I got out of this phrase: firstly, don’t poke your nose into the state affairs, make no complaint, do what you are told to, because implementing the reforms is not for women. Secondly, it means that I can’t work 16 hours a day. That I’m a bad worker, that I need (how terrible it is!) days-off unlike those who are now in the Government, that is unlike men. Thirdly, it means that I can’t take on the responsibility. And finally – that I’m afraid to say “no” to the boss.

Am I mistaken, perhaps? It seems no. All people I exchanged thoughts with about these “gender pearls” had the same meanings and interpretations. Mykola Azarov’s expression is the public speech of the high level official that results in violation of my rights and my personal legal interests, blocking my constitutional right to participate in the administration of state affairs and is the demonstration of the real discrimination. It means that the constitutions regulations (that are direct-acting regulations) have been violated.

It all happens when I’m actively standing up for the Human Rights Monitoring Department activity, in which creation I was directly involved and which the new Prime-Minister liquidated, not considering the specialists’ arguments and human rights organizations’ votes. It also happens when my colleagues and I returned from Geneva, having participated in the operation of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, where we reported on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women by Ukraine and where no member of Ukrainian government went. In our report we took up all problems that exist in this sphere: gender stereotypes in the society, lack of attention to the domestic violence counteraction, actual absence of civilized and coordinated state policy in this sphere, discrimination against women at labor market, undeveloped social sphere, etc. We hoped that these problems’ solution would become a part of Ukrainian new government’s state development strategy. Members of the UN Commission also hoped for this.

But it didn’t work out. These questions are out of the draft programs of the state’s economical and social development. The proposals of the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy avoid those connected with gender equality. Speeches of the state’s steersmen in this sphere can be regarded as the direct discrimination against women.

Attention was paid to this even in the EU countries’ governments. Attention will be paid to this at the next session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. It won’t be ignored by the international organizations, including Ukrainian donors.

And what do we have in Ukraine? The explanation of the Cabinet of Ministers’ press centre dated March 25, 2010 on Mykola Azarov’s expression has nothing to do with its point and with the way it is on video records and sites. There was no apology to women from the Prime-Minister. But there is the law violation.

Some legal quotes. Article 24 of the Constitution of Ukraine says that “there shall be no privileges or restrictions based on race, skin colour, political, religious, and other beliefs, gender, ethnic and social origin, property status, place of residence, linguistic or other characteristics”.

Article 7 b) of the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women: States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country and, in particular, shall ensure to women, on equal terms with men, the right: b) to participate in the formulation of government policy and the implementation thereof and to hold public office and perform all public functions at all levels of government.

Article 11 b) of the same Convention: States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of employment in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights, in particular: b) the right to the same employment opportunities, including the application of the same criteria for selection in matters of employment.

Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine on Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men: gender-based discrimination – action or inaction that contain any sign of difference, exclusion or benefits on the basis of the person’s gender if such actions are aimed at making it impossible or restrict recognition, implementation or enjoyment of equal human rights and freedoms for women and men.

Therefore I consider Mykola Azarov’s expression “With all my respect to women, implementing reforms is not for them” to be the direct discrimination against the Ukrainian women and personally against me being a woman.

The continuation of Mykola Azarov’s expression that those people have been chosen to the government who can work 16 hours a day, without any days-off, who can take the responsibility and are not afraid to answer “no” to the boss, is not just the discrimination but also the offence, because it puts in question my professional abilities, hints at my less importance and insignificance if to compare with men.

This expression has direct reference to the determination of the concept “discrimination” the way it is in Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine on Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men, because it contains any sign of difference, exclusion or benefits on the basis of the person’s gender, aimed at making it impossible or restrict recognition, implementation or enjoyment of equal human rights and freedoms for women and men

The Prime-Minister’s expression contradicts the regulations of the international documents, ratified by Ukraine due course of law, of the Constitution of Ukraine (articles 24, 38) and of the Law of Ukraine on Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men, therefore these actions can be considered as the violation of the article 10 “Main duties of government officials” of the Law of Ukraine “On State Service” in the definition of such duties as keeping the Constitution of Ukraine and other acts of Ukrainian legislation and non-admission of human and citizen rights and freedoms violation.

According to article 38 “Responsibility for the law on state service violation” of the Law of Ukraine “On State Service”, individuals, guilty of law violation, shall bear the civil, administrative or criminal responsibility according to the legislation in force.

Therefore, I think that my personal non-property right on the equality of women and men, consolidated and guaranteed by all above-mentioned legislative acts, was violated.

Quotations can be continued. But these are enough. To observe the laws you should know them. Will our steersmen finally find the motivation to study legislation in the field of women and men equality owing to this claim?!

Meanwhile, we’ll be waiting for the decisions of the Kiev Pechersk district court and Kiev county administrative court, where chief of the Women’s Information and Consultation Centre Olena Suslova prosecuted a claim.

Kateryna Levchenko

New exposition:

http://nedelya.net.ua/new/index.php?option=2&a=1&id=586%3E%20://nedelya.net.ua/new/index.php?option=2&a=1&id=586

http://viewpoint-east.org/2010/03/03/one-year-anniversary-of-ukraines-first-gender-museum/

Congratulations Tetyana, to you and your team from network womeninmuseum!

2 of March in Kharkiv was opened new exhibition of Museum of women’s history, history of women’s and gender movement, devoted to International day of solidarity and rights of women.  The title of the exhibition “White on white”. The aim is to show unknown pages of women’s history of Ukraine and the idea and history  of 8 of March. One exposition “Through  glass ceiling”. Here we show exhibits we got from Yuliya Timoshenko - first in Ukraine woman -Prime-Minister

The women’s and gender museum of Ukraine has on the first page of their website the button of network womeninmuseum. Take a look and you find it scrolling down at the right:

http://gender.at.ua/

Please follow the example!

In the December of 2009 project “Let’s create a museum of ourselves!” stood up on new level.

The main task of this project is to create the first Ukrainian Museum of the women’s history, history of the feminine and gender movement. The real museum has no permanent premises at the moment. We are trying to resolve this problem and show our exhibition in different galleries of Kharkiv. And one of the ways of decision of this problem is to create the virtual version of Museum. We took part in the competition of the projects for women’s nongovernmental organizations and have gotten the support from Ukrainian Women’s Fund http://www.uwf.kiev.ua/ for creation of the virtual version of Museum. We plan to present the results of it’s realization in June of 2010. We will create virtual exhibitions in Internet (in Ukrainian and English) and will show our collections. One of the first exhibitions will be “Stop violence!”. We will demonstrate the placats, children’s pictures, will tell about cause and effects of violence. Also we will tell about women’s funds and about women’s museums.

We hope we can tell about our achievements on the 3 Congress of Women’s museums in Argentina.

Keep in touch, cordially your Tetiana

CONGRATULATION from the network womeninmuseum!