To hear Ukrainian women on both sides of the demarcation line and to bring their voices to the tables where Ukraine makes the civilizational choice, adopts national strategies and appropriate decisions – that’s what the participants of the international discussion “Confronting Russian Aggression: The Voices of Ukrainian Women” called for. The event was hosted this week by Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security.
The Ukrainian Women’s Fund has helped Ukrainian women to sound in Ukrainian, Russian and English and to be heard at the level of world diplomacy. Women gain voices, respond to challenges, and achieve systemic change as they join the women’s rights / feminist movement. The movement is based on women’s rights and feminist organizations. It is becoming increasingly difficult for them to influence the policies, as most of their resources are spent on humanitarian challenges posed by armed aggression and pandemics.
Therefore, the Ukrainian Women’s Fund supports WROs not only in the implementation of targeted responses to threats, but also in capacity building, advocacy initiatives, in the creation and development of networks and regional coalitions 1325 for Women, Peace and Security, as well as cooperation between women’s rights / feminist organizations and government.
Featuring:
Kateryna Pavlichenko, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Ukraine
Amb. Oksana Markarova, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States
Amb. Larisa Galadza, Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine
Kateryna Levchenko, Government Commissioner for Gender Policy, Ukraine
Olena Suslova, Founder, Women’s Information Consultative Center, Ukraine
Natalia Karbowska, Director of Strategic Development, Ukrainian Women’s Fund
Moderated by Amb. Melanne Verveer, Executive Director, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security
Watch the discussion recording: https://www.facebook.com/GIWPS/videos/1820194191704139
Grassroots women leaders who expressed their position towards Russian aggression and the role of women in defending Ukraine and peacebuilding were:
Hanna Saitarly, Zaporizhzhia, an IDP from Luhansk, coordinator of the Coalition “Zaporizhzhia 1325”
Lilia Kislitsyna, Kramatorsk, coordinator of the Coalition “Donetsk 1325”
Maryna Puhachova, Mariupol, human rights activist and head of Mariupol Women’s Association “Berehynia“ NGO
Yaryna Chahovets, Kharkiv, head of the board of the Ukrainian association of combatants and ATO volunteers in Kharkiv oblast
Hear the women’s voices from the Ukrainian East that impressed the world West
