LYUDMYLA GYSLYAKOVA. Gender Experts Platform Coordinator, National Expert on Gender Policy:

– In 2009, the Gender experts platform is established on the basis of the KRONA as the Ukrainian independent experts association for carrying on high-professional gender research in various fields of knowledge and practice, aimed at bearing an influence on the national gender policy.
At present, the Gender experts platform is uniting recognized specialists of academic ranks who have many significant publications in Ukraine and abroad, however, they are not eager to be limited just with the academic activity and would like to see a practical realization of their ideas and research results.
The research, conducted by the Gender experts platform specialists, covers such practical spheres as education, legislation, army, business, mass media etc. The research results become widely known and act as an instrument for lobbying gender projects at appropriate ministries and other institutions of Ukraine.
It is my belief that the Gender experts platform is aimed first of all at increasing in quality and efficiency of gender knowledge presentation at secondary- and higher-level education systems; contributing the improvement of the gender legislation of Ukraine and the practice of its application; enhancing the mass-media professional level in terms of the gender problems communication, transforming the stereotypes and forming a more gender-sensitive and -competent public opinion.
However, in order to define the tasks and prospects of the structure newly formed in the best way, I have asked the experts to introduce themselves and present their own point of view in regard to the reasonability of our step.


OKSANA KIS. Candidate of Historical Sciences, Research Fellow of the Ethnology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Chairwoman of Lviv Research Center «Woman and Society», author of the book «Woman in Ukrainian Traditional Culture» (Lviv, 2008) and numerous scientific publications on issues of studying the women’s history and urgent matters of gender equality in Ukraine; up-to-date scientific concern is concentrated on the segment of oral women’s history and feministic anthropology.

– Studying process of the Ukrainian women conditions within the framework of ethnological and historical research was initiated in the second half of the 19th century, however broken off for several decades and renewed only after the independency gained by Ukraine. It is the beginning of the 1990s, when gender schools are being set up in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian gender research activity (in combination with the social gender equality movement) has passed several essential formation stages1, stated below:

1991–1994 – period of introduction, catching up and self-education – a new (feministic and gender) paradigm was firstly pointed out by Solomiya Pavlychko in the scientific discourse («Word and Time», 1991); researchers are striving to master theoretical and methodological achievements of the western gender research and making first attempts to their application for the Ukrainian material; women’s public organizations are in desperate venture, searching after an ideological basis for their actions.
1995–1999 – period of self-assertion and primary institutionalization – a number of independent gender research centers (Kyyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Lviv) is set up; all-Ukrainian scientific conferences took place; first translated versions of classic works (by Simone de Beauvoir, Kate Millet, Betke Elstein, Marta Bogachevska-Khomyak etc.) and the first Ukrainian research, as such, (by Lyudmyla Smolyar, Nataliya Lavrinenko) were published; the first specialized periodical science-related publication – magazine «Gender Research» (Kharkiv) was initiated.
2000–2005 – period of self-awareness, consolidation and legitimization – the number and qualification of research fellows, studying the gender aspects in various spheres and holding appropriate courses at higher-education institutions, are growing fast, the first attempts to establish a professional specialists association of gender schools (under initiative of Nataliya Chukhym and Lyudmyla Smolyar) are made; a variety of detailed domestic research on gender issues, scientific collections, specialized text-books, special and periodical editions is published; alterations to laws (Family Code, 2001; Law About Family Violence Prevention, 2001; amendments to the Criminal and Administrative Codes etc.) are introduced; in addition, powerful all-Ukrainian and authoritative regional women’s public organizations have gained an expressive specialization in their activity.
2006 – till now – period of mature, pro-active steps and practical application of knowledge and expertise– national authorities, science and public organizations are uniting their efforts to overcome the gender discrimination; the knowledge, experience and potential, collected by scientists and activists, are started to be implemented in large-scale systemic projects and programs; realization of the gender equality principles is secured on the basis of legislation, moreover, their support by the state is achieved (Law of Ukraine «About Equal Rights and Opportunities Assurance to Men and Women in Ukraine», valid from 1.01.2006; National Program on Gender Equality Adoption in the Ukrainian Society for the period till 2010, approved on 27.12.2006); women’s public organizations are voicing for the first time their protest against gender discrimination by means of open public actions; a number of doctorate theses on gender issues (by Olena Styazhkina, Oksana Malanchuk-Rybak, Olena Goroshko, Iryna Zherebkina etc.) is being defended.

The today’s development stage of gender situation in Ukraine is characterized by increase in «gender education» dimensions of employees of different categories, increasingly larger focusing on the gender factor in regard to social and economic aspects and political struggle, intensified interest in gender research among students of higher-education institutions and grass-roots; gender matters, being more significant in international relations as well.

In such context, it is impossible to ignore the public demand on highly-qualified specialists on gender issues in various spheres. Now a significant group of matured specialists exists in Ukraine, who have profound theoretical knowledge and extensive experience in gender research, establishment of gender schools and implementation of projects on gender equality realization, who are able to give a professional evaluation, make an expertise, render specialized consultations, conduct research, work out recommendations or propose educational programs of different levels and streamlines on the matters, associated with the gender relations in any sphere of socio-political, socio-economical, cultural and educational life of the Ukrainians. However, they are mostly set apart in different towns and institutions, not even having an adequate environment for specialized communication and exchange of information. Acting on a separate way, they often waste a lot of time and endeavors to force various bureaucratic obstacles, information blockades, stereotypes and prejudgements, what is significantly reducing the efficiency of their actions. To reach serious systematic changes in gender relations of Ukraine, a steady cooperation of specialists of different streamlines is crucially needed. Furthermore, development of certain common standards for gender research and publication of successful gender reforms practices require creating the all-Ukrainian dynamic network of experts on gender issues. Such a network would enable to perform an active information exchange, make accessible numerous important resources (first of all research ones), accelerate operative responding of gender-sensitive community on cases of gender discrimination of different levels etc. When operating in a joint, competent and dynamic manner, we definitely have higher chances to achieve qualitative changes in our society. That is why the initiative of the Gender Information and Analytical Center KRONA is so essential and well-timed. The fields of activity - education, mass media and law – have not been selected by accident, so far as the first two are among the range of the most important agents of the gender socialization, while the actual enforceability guarantees of equal rights and opportunities for men and women depend on the acting legislation quality. Open and democratic character of the experts community, initiated by KRONA, authority and high professional level of its participants, accessibility of information and analytical resources being available, technical background for nonstop communication flows constitute some of the factors, being essential for guarantee of successful and efficient actions of such experts platform. A consolidated position of nationwide recognized experts on the urgent gender problems will surely have higher influence on making significant decisions of all-Ukrainian, regional and local levels, and a specialist’s assessment of certain every-day events, facts and tendencies, spotlighted widely in the mass media, will inevitably change the public consciousness for the benefit of the gender equality idea. Rephrasing a known proverb, it could be stated for sure: «the patriarchate is easier to beat together».

MARIYA DMYTRIEVA. Feminist, atheist, Ukrainian nationalist. Language expert by specialty and translator by vocation. I am interested in gender research and especially in gender linguistics more or less intensively since 1996. I translated and edited books on gender topics of both academic and socio-political orientation. I organized a gender linguistics workshop, studied the Master's degree programme at the European Humanities University in Vilnius, continued the education at the California State University, Northridge, under the Fulbright Program of Academic Exchange.Now I am doing translations again, but hope to come back to the scientific activity and not to leave it for a long time any more.

– An intellectual product of any sphere of science is evaluated by such competent people as specialists, professionals, recognized experts, the scientific value of such product is determined thereby on the basis of their evaluation. In order to have scientific criteria, determined for such evaluation, as well as the competence, shown by those who are called experts by the scientific community, the time and a certain period of presentation of the discipline, and also universities for it to be studied and preparing potential experts are needed. Unfortunately, the gender studies transcended to us from the western countries on the stage, when they were being intensively developed there, abroad, in all segments of humanities and social sciences for at least 20 years, but a powerful women’s feministic movement that saturated and inspired those scientists, who were insisting on the necessity to update the paradigms, being available and balanced, was also proactive.

In our conditions – where there were neither feministic movements nor revising the gnoseological backgrounds of the science – the gender research appeared first as single initiatives of highly-educated women (and much more seldom – of men), who were trying to find words and models for describing their own experience. They were writing or translating books, educating, communicating, inspiring other people, however, it was still a very marginal phenomenon, considered by the majority as servility to the west and striving to grasp finances granted. Failure to have actually recognized experts in this field of the public community resulted in occurrence of those, seeking to obtain even a little part of this generous foreign assistance, they were completing projects «on the gender», slightly or not knowing anything at all about the nature thereof. Much later, as soon as meeting the national commitments on the gender equality was initiated, the number of people who had just heard the word «gender», was virtually increased, but there was not much understanding in the society what it is about the size of it. No wonder that the majority of those, who think to be aware of the gender conception, are still afraid of the term «feminism».
This situation did not become more transparent because of the fact that gender- (not even talking about feministic) oriented books were published in the Ukrainian scientific community on rare occasions and in extremely nonsystemic manner – it referred both to translated (executed only and exclusively within the framework of publishing grants) and domestic works. It is unreal to find them in bookshops or libraries, it is difficult to purchase them at publishers, and furthermore, they are impossible to be learnt through the Internet.
The gender education enthusiasts are holding courses in gender topics at Ukrainian higher-education institutions, however, these courses are called, as a general rule, special courses or parts of more advanced ones. It is satisfactory to be aware that we have highly-qualified research fellows and theorists of international level and they are quite a number, but they are not united within any association or other organization that could act as an experts community.

So, the conditions are as follows:

– lack of a long-lasting tradition and period of presentation of this discipline;
– lack of higher-education training programs for specialists of this profile;
– lack of textbooks, produced in a comprehensible way and based on materials among others of Ukrainian research;
– lack of systemic background of translated basic texts in feministic theory and methodology as well as gender research in various branches, with the rest on which the operation with the domestic material could be enabled;
– lack of specialized scientific magazine, the materials for which would be collected under peer-review principle analogous to the way that almost all recognized scientific magazines are going (not stating here the «Gender Research» that might from time to time print materials about the Ukrainian day-to-day realities, however, they are not oriented on the Ukrainian readers at all);
– lack of reliable scientists communication network, within the framework of which it could be possible to define experts, enjoying their authority with others;
– lack of criteria to evaluate works «on gender»;
– lack of understanding of fundamental connection between the feministic ideology (which, as a matter of fact, is accomplishing a review of positivistic– actually, androcentric world outlook) and the gender research.

Thereagainst, we have a widely spread vision that gender deals with women’s issues or that gender is when there is an equal proportion of men and women on all levels and working positions or that gender is to educate girls to be girls and boys to act as boys. There is also an interesting tendency to reduce the gender equality idea by an equal responsibility of a mother and father for educating children. However useful this conception may be but the gender topics are by no means limited by taking care of children.

In such a way, handling with the problems mentioned above the experts community, in which each one is a recognized expert of a certain sphere of both academic gender research and public activity, can contribute thereto that gender research in Ukraine converts from speculative, often virtually not scientific exercises on demagogy, which are frequently represented in general idea (from time to time for a reason), to a respectful scientific discipline, which will be not only the general area of focus to apply efforts on research activity but also an assurance of data for evaluating our progress on the way to the gender equality.

LARYSA KOLOS. Since 2000, Larysa Kolos is the President of the International Public Organization «School of Equal Opportunities». Between 1996 and 2005, she took direct part in shaping and developing the national mechanism of gender reformation, when being engaged at the Family and Youth Ministry and other national institutions. In the period of 1999 and 2002, she worked with the initiative gender group, formed under the jurisdiction of Verkhovna Rada for lobbying the gender. Being in position of the chief, she accomplished a number of large-scale gender projects. She is author of many publications on gender topics. Expert and trainer of a wide range of gender issues.

– The majority of specialists on gender topics both scientists and practitioners, engaged in various spheres of the society life, feel the necessity to take more efficient systemic measures for accelerating gender reformations in Ukraine.
Because of lack of a strong and efficient national institution and political will of the country’s leaders, at present, the role of «gender motor» in Ukraine is virtually performed by experts on gender topics, who are representing scientific, educational institutions, governmental and public organizations and working on different aspects of the gender development.
The gender experts platform should unite the specialists efforts, coordinate the separate actions, direct them to reaching practical results, stipulated by the obligations that are accepted by Ukraine on the international and national levels.
The gender experts platform, being a freewill scientific and practical experts formation, should be based on the existing legal framework as well as on the experience, worked and gained by all representatives of the given experts environment.

– on enforcing the Law of Ukraine «About Equal Rights and Opportunities Assurance to Men and Women in Ukraine» and working out the Strategy of gender reformations.
– improvement and further development of the National mechanism on the gender equality ensuring;
– realization of the State program on the maintenance of the gender equality in the Ukrainian society for the period till 2010, approved by the Chamber of Ministers of Ukraine on December 27, 2006, and corresponding regional and branch-wise plans of actions;
– implementation of Parliament proceedings recommendations on the topic: "Equal Rights and Opportunities of Ukraine: Day-to-Day Realities and Prospects", approved by the Resolution of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on June 27, 2007;
– monitoring of the «Millennium Development Goals: Ukraine» in terms of achieving the gender equality etc.
The initiative of the KRONA to create the gender experts platform is very urgent and can be discussed (or accomplished) in the course of the conference «Gender Reformations in Ukraine: Considering the Strategy and Approach», which will be held on October 15-16 in Kharkiv.
The conference’s resolution can determine the role and approve the structure, functions and management (coordination|) system of the given collegial body that should gain renown and influence in the society.
Certain steps, aimed at changing the situation in the country, politicum, spheres of education, culture, law, health care, in the branches of national economy – both on national and regional levels – will be formed in experts groups under the directions: gender policy, gender education, gender violence etc.
The issue of financing the gender experts platform should be considered in a separate way. All potential resources within the framework of the gender projects, acting in Ukraine, as well as international projects with gender component can be raised (pooled) on the first stage.
The group of experts who will work under the guidance of the Platform may include the scientists and teachers of education institutions of all levels, leading specialists of the Family, Youth and Sports Ministry, other national and local authorities, and also consultants on gender topics – representatives of ministers and local government administrations, mass media and public organizations.

TETYANA CHERNETSKA. Candidate of Social Sciences, reader in social and political sciences and of the National Technical University «Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute», Affiliated Member of the Kharkiv Center of Gender Research. Sphere of the research activity: gender aspects of leadership, woman and career, women in business, gender audit. I hold a course «Gender Aspects of the Economic Development of the Society», have worked out the education modules «Gender and Leadership» and «Gender and Labor» within the framework of the partnership project between V.N.Karazin Kharkiv National University and Iowa State University.

– Similar to the public life, the science is also subject to trends, but they are not linked with the appearance, clothes etc., they refer to concepts, approaches, theories. One of the most popular terms of the Ukrainian social science is «gender». The gender topics are the issues the conferences and workshops are dedicated and the funds are devoted for by international grantors, a growing number of research is held every year; term, graduation and thesis works are being defended, even national papers are highlighting the matter of gender equality and parity. From the one part, this explosion of interest to the gender topics shows that the society, though the academic part thereof, has more and more concerns about the problems of men’s and women’s equality. From the other part, the vogue of gender results in extending the unprofessional performance in this sphere, furthermore, the gender approach is often associated with the things, which have nothing to do with it. So, the author had to participate in the workshop, held under the guidance of the Education Ministry of Ukraine. In the course of the workshop one of the reporters was delighted to share her experience with the audience on spreading the gender approach to kindergartens, it consisted therein, how to educate girls handling with the dolls and tidying up and the boys – increasing in physical strength.
In such a way, the popularity of the gender topics has put from our point of view the urgency of setting up a formation, which would enable uniting the efforts of experts on gender topics with the purpose to generate the unified methodological fundamentals of research and filtration thereof against the foam collected, on the agenda.
The special feature of the gender research is that its conceptual framework has been taken from the western science; therefore, when applied for analyzing the Ukrainian actuality, it leads to emergence of serious problems. Moreover, the gender research bears a cross-disciplinary character and is conducted by the scientists, having different professional qualifications (sociologists, psychologists, historians, language experts etc.), what might also lead to terminological and methodological misunderstanding. To overcome this hardship, various techniques are used in the western countries. For example, American universities have gender programs (Women's and Gender Studies Programs) available, which allow the experts on diverse spheres (political, social, psychological, historical etc. scientists), specialized in gender research, to unite, have the professional discourse, promote the students to study the context, origin and power relationships, standing beyond the knowledge, forward the social responsibility through connecting the personal expertise and political activity. Unfortunately, the domestic scientists do not have such an opportunity.
The establishment of the experts platform under the aegis of the Gender Informational and Analytical Center KRONA will be from our point of view such an umbrella for experts on gender topics, though not on a scale of a single university but throughout Ukraine. The fact that it was the non-government sector, where the initiative to create the experts platform has appeared, characterized by more flexibility and democracy and less bureaucratization, is rather indicative.
From our standpoint, the experts platform may lead to the following advantages. First of all, this is a group, working out the methodology of gender research and creating standards of such research. Secondly, this is a professional environment, aimed at qualified discussion of existing problems, exchange of ideas and, as a result, a synergetic effect, i.e. mutual enhancement of separate experts activity. Thirdly, this is a resource that may be beneficial to the national and local authorities for developing the strategies to overcome the gender inequality. Fourthly, this is a vanguard, bearing influence on shaping the public opinion in terms of the advancement of the gender relations in the Ukrainian society.
The experts platform available will also give the opportunity to experts to feel a strong background. Since we all live and work at androcentric organizations. A great many of people were used to feel like «black sheep» in their teams, that is why the presence of like-minded persons, who are open in their manner to express their gender approach liking, makes self-confident.
Forming such a platform may be a step towards institutionalization of the gender research and education in Ukraine. We also hope that the platform generated will be a significant stage for creation a gender-responsible and gender-sensitive environment, both in the education and Ukrainian society in general, improvement of critical thinking, undermining the recognized stereotypes and principles and, as a result, the gender equality predominance in the Ukrainian society.