During last year’s election campaign, presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych bewildered many with his mysterious Victorian phrase that “a woman should go to the kitchen.” Now, as president, Yanukovych is introducing a policy of sexism to our country. Yanukovych’s Jan. 28 comment at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, became the last straw for Ukrainian women.
To begin with, there is a baffling deficit of women in government. Nowadays, fewer than 8 percent of those who work in the Verkhovna Rada are women. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is led by Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who once said that conducting reforms is not women’s business. So we are unlikely to see a female minister in the near future.
Russian politician Irina Khakamada recently said women are chosen for the Russian parliament on the basis of their appearance. As a result, only hyped-up celebrities get to the governmental body. Unfortunately, the same trend is under way in Ukraine.
And now our country is on the threshold of a global event. There is no doubt that the Euro 2012 soccer championships will be a boost for development of democracy in Ukraine, if preparations are done properly. However, the president recently showed the other side of uro 2012, and the World Economic Forum in Davos became another failure of Yanukovych and his administration.
As one of the clinchers in favor for investing in Ukraine, our dear president cited “Ukrainian women taking off their clothes in spring.” That was ambiguous. Such frank presidential calls for another influx of sex tourists are, perhaps, the worst thing Yanukovych could do for the country.
Just for comparison: our Euro 2012 co-host, Poland, passed the gender quota bill. Now in Poland, each political party must have at least 30 percent women. And what do we have here? The spring striptease for investors. Attracting foreign investment is a good move. However, when the emphasis is not on the country’s investment climate, but on investors’ base instincts, the whole process becomes a farce.
Chrystia Freeland, a famous journalist and the host of the Davos Ukrainian Lunch where Yanukovych’s words were pronounced, could not help noticing the blatant political incorrectness of the president’s remarks. “Unfortunately, political correctness has not reached Ukraine yet,” Freeland said with nervous laughter.
And she was absolutely right.
Of course, the Femen activist group is pleased to have been granted practically official permission “to take off our clothes,” but the main point is not about naked women. A civilized country would have responded long ago to repeated sexist comments from the president, the guarantor of constitutional rights, and voted for impeachment.
However, the position of women is quite poor in Ukraine. In fact, they do not have the right to vote – neither in parliament, nor society nor in culture.
Isn’t it time to change the situation?
Maria Popova is a member of Femen, a women’s organization that has gained international attention for topless protests against sex tourism and other social and political ills in Ukraine.
