The invisible frontline: How the fight for women’s rights changes in times of war
“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” These words by American civil rights activist and scholar Angela Davis resonate with the life philosophy of Marta Chumalo, one of the founders of the “Women's Perspectives” Centre in Lviv. Marta is a feminist, gender expert, psychologist and the first Ukrainian woman to receive Olof Palme Prize, the prestigious international annual Swedish award for outstanding achievements in protecting and promoting human rights. Since 2014, and specifically after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Marta Chumalo has been helping internally displaced persons (IDPs), defending the rights of women survivors of domestic violence, and calling the world’s attention to horrific consequences of this war.
White on white
Among the recipients of the Olof Palme Prize are notable figures such as the former president of the Czech Republic Václav Havel, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and Russian prominent journalist and human rights activist, Anna Politkovskaya. This year, the prize was awarded to Turkish activist Eren Keskin, Iranian journalist Narges Mohammadi, and Ukrainian activist Marta Chumalo for their efforts to secure women’s freedom when human rights are threatened by war, violence, and oppression.
“At first, I thought it was a joke. A stranger wrote to me that I had won the prize. I didn’t think it was true until people I knew began sending congratulatory messages,” recalls Marta.
For the ceremony, Marta chose to wear a white vyshyvanka, which is Ukrainian traditionally styled embroidered blouse, to demonstrate how women are invisible in their struggle for human rights.
“There is a Ukrainian book called 'White on White' which puts a spotlight on women’s achievements throughout history. For me, this book is a symbol of the visibility of women’s role in human rights activism, in modern times. In other words, one has to look closer to spot the white embroidered pattern on a white vyshyvanka. It is a powerful metaphor,” says Marta.
International solidarity
“This war is neither the first nor the last in human history,” states Marta regretfully. She believes Ukraine needs to implement effective international protocols and conventions that would provide reliable protection for the most vulnerable groups, in particular women and children.
“We have learned that in Bosnian hospitals, there were commissions that permitted late-term abortions for victims of rape. Today in Ukraine, we do not have such a mechanism,” she says.
The OSCE has initiated safe communication platforms for experts and volunteers from different countries to share their experiences of working with survivors of war-related sexual violence. Marta says these platforms are crucial to their work.
“It is such a rare opportunity for us to reach out and meet colleagues from Syria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other countries. These experiences from different war contexts should be recorded and reflected in international documents and new conventions that would help reduce the devastating impacts of war,” she says.
“Such meetings lay the foundations for future productive cooperation between feminist rights activists. We invited a Bosnian activist Gorana Mlinarevic to our feminist retreat called ‘’FemNe Intensive’’ , just a month after we had met with her at the OSCE Gender Issues Programme event in Sarajevo. She arrived in Ukraine and told us about her experience, and why the Istanbul Convention did not work in Bosnia. We would like to learn from others’ lessons,” Marta says.
What does the Istanbul Convention change?
Ukraine ratified the Istanbul Convention in June 2022. On 1 November, the Convention became part of Ukrainian legislation. According to Marta, had the Istanbul Convention been ratified sooner, special facilities for sexual violence survivors would have already been available in the country. She defined the current situation as a ‘safari’: “We have to search for survivors. They are compelled to flee abroad for more security than they have in Ukraine,” the activist explains.
Marta also stresses that the Istanbul Convention changes the entire environment, making it more responsive to the needs of survivors. The state should periodically report to the Council of Europe about how well it is progressing towards the standards set in the Convention.
“The Convention creates very good opportunities for law enforcement agencies. The very logic of their training courses has to change. They should always be on the survivors’ side and respect the survivors’ rights above all other rights,” she urges.
“Under the current circumstances, we cannot demand that our government pays full attention to the Convention, because we understand that the war is ongoing, and there are more urgent priorities,” says Marta. “However, we have started the work to define the current state of women’s rights, so that in the future we can measure the changes.”
‘Woman for woman’ platform
"This war is like a lens, magnifying the best and the worst of human behaviour. On the first day, I saw some people breaking into evacuation trains, shoving others away with their elbows and preventing the weaker ones from boarding. But at the same time, at the same train station, I saw others distributing jars of food and hot beverages, and setting up reception points to offer their support to strangers," Marta recalls.
Previously, Marta’s organization, the “Women’s Perspectives” Centre, supported women survivors of domestic violence and organised March 8 rallies in Lviv. Since the war started, they immediately began assisting the most vulnerable women who had stayed in territories closed to the frontline and were unable to leave. The Centre sent them weekly shipments of 50 to 60 boxes of humanitarian aid, each containing 8-10 kg of basic goods.
“We have an active online platform called ‘Woman to Woman’. Any woman in crisis can contact the platform, and other women can offer her help directly. It is a form of solidarity: instead of fundraising, the Centre helps one person support another,” Marta explains.
The platform was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, it would receive up to two requests per week. Today, there are hundreds.
From the very first days of the war, the "Women's Perspectives" Centre opened shelters for internally displaced persons in Lviv.
"Shelters were urgently needed, especially in Lviv, as it became one of the cities with the largest concentration of IDPs," says Marta. Today, there are seven shelters in the city, some of which specifically host mothers with many children, elderly women, and women with mental disorders.
"It's hard to accommodate women with mental disorders because psychiatric institutions are overcrowded. We take them in our shelters and our psychiatrist provides care," Marta explains.
The residents of the shelters actively work as volunteers, knitting camouflage nets, baking cookies, and making candles to be sent to the frontline. “We want them to regain power and control over their lives to the degree possible - to make decisions, get jobs, and get back on their feet,” Marta says.
No rose-coloured future
Marta is fully aware of the serious challenges that Ukraine will be facing once the war is over. She is worried that women’s rights will be under attack: “There will be attempts to ban abortions because the nation will be ‘getting extinct’ as there might be attempts to stimulate birth rate”.
“There are risks that domestic violence will increase as men return from the war zone. We have to consider in advance how to cope with this - adjust the current programmes and develop new ones," warns Marta Chumalo.
After 25 years of gender equality activism, Marta admits that the war and its consequences have become the hardest challenge she has ever faced.
"I am dreaming of us organizing the rallies in Ukraine again. I am dreaming of implementing the already ratified Istanbul Convention. I am dreaming of getting back to our peaceful lives without raid alerts in the middle of the night," she says. However, the reality requires action and preparedness. It is possible to foresee the challenges ahead of the Ukrainian society, reminds Marta, and start shaping the response.
This story is part of a series, prepared by the OSCE’s WIN for Women and Men. This is a project aimed at strengthening comprehensive security through innovating and networking for gender equality to showcase women leadership responding to the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. Women leaders are the inspiration and the reason behind the WIN Project, which strengthens OSCE-supported networks and gives rise to new networks, fostering women’s participation and leadership, as well as broader men’s engagement in achieving gender equality.