Ukrainian feminists at war
‘The Lead Feminist’ - this is how Svitlana Dubyna is unofficially referred to in her city of Vinnytsia, in west-central Ukraine. Although an experienced activist, Svitlana finds this title complicated: the attitudes towards feminist movements vary and, due to a lack of knowledge, women feminists are still treated with caution. “I simply laugh back saying we don't eat men for breakfast unless it’s dessert," Svitlana jokes. As head of the board of the human rights NGO “VIS” (“Axis”), she shares what was her path to feminism and how the movement has survived since the beginning of the full-scale war.
Where would you be if there were no feminists?
Svitlana agrees with Virginia Woolf’s saying that "A feminist is any woman who tells the truth about her life." Yet, she admitted that she was only able to identify herself as a feminist later into adulthood, even though she has always shared feminist values. "I once even said that I supported gender equality, but wasn’t a feminist," the activist recalls.
As a child, she resisted the idea that girls in Soviet schools had to wear bows in their hair and choose "female" professions. Due to her rebellion, she was labelled as a "complicated child" and received lowered grades for her behaviour.
“My feminism came from an awareness of injustice and the need for justice,” Svitlana says. Today, Svitlana is a certified human rights training specialist. This year, the NGO VIS, which she leads, will mark its 13th year. "But it was not until 2017 that we began seeing our organization as feminist, when we held the first “Femencamps” – feminist camps for girls," Svitlana emphasizes.
One of the first VIS projects was an awareness campaign against breast cancer. In Ukraine, one woman dies of cancer every hour, mostly due to delayed treatment. Svitlana and her colleagues researched why women were not going for check-ups on time.
"The answers were shocking,” recalled Svitlana. “Most women were afraid to be abandoned by their partners. What do they put into the minds of women and girls? To what extent are women pressured to risk their own lives?"
Despite the long-standing achievements of the feminist movement, society tends to forget about the tremendous efforts made by women to gain their rights: “When do people notice human rights violations? When they face them directly. In all my feminist trainings, I ask participants to consider where would they be, if there were no feminists,” Svitlana stresses.
Supporting women who suffered from war
The full-scale war has only intensified the challenges Ukrainian feminists are facing.
“I was not ready for the war, even though there were plenty of warning signs. Ten days before the invasion began, we even received a proposal from the Global Fund for Women to redirect grant funds if necessary," recalls Svitlana.
On the first days of the war, VIS and other local NGOs established a humanitarian hub to provide aid to internally displaced persons. During that time, evacuation trains were regularly arriving in Vinnytsia. Together with her female colleagues, Svitlana was handing out humanitarian aid at the railway station. Her phone was ringing day and night.
“From the end of February until August, we worked non-stop, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. I would sometimes come home, sit in silence for about 45 minutes without even taking off my jacket. Now I understand that this was how I saved my mental health," says the volunteer.
Since then, VIS has helped about 10,000 people. “We no longer distribute packages. We agreed with a retail store chain and came up with a voucher system, allowing people to choose what they need. How does this relate to feminism? It is specifically about respecting individual needs,” she explains.
Another project carried out by VIS is focused on the economic empowerment of women who have suffered from war. It offers essential resources to help women implement their own business ideas. The organization purchases equipment, such as sewing machines or baking ovens, enabling women to start and expand their own businesses.
Svitlana says that the organization now consists of dedicated members who work full-time and volunteers who participate in projects on an ad-hoc basis.
A dialogue between the countries
“Ukrainian women feminists do not stand with their ‘’hands outstretched’’, because their hands are busy with other things”. With these words, Svitlana Dubyna now addresses her international colleagues. She explains that an invitation to participate in the OSCE’s WIN project meeting helped her understand the significance of dialogue between countries that have experienced military conflicts.
“This meeting in Vienna taught me the importance of extensive communication. About three months ago, I began attending such platforms. Before, I used to consider it a waste of my time. I believed I was more useful here in Ukraine,” Svitlana admits.
She highlights the role that the OSCE as a platform for communication among human rights defenders can play in peacebuilding. As an option within this co-operation, Svitlana suggests organizing study tours to post-conflict countries to gain practical experience and learn from them. She considers the importance of talking to witnesses and survivors of conflicts, as they are the ones who can share the most valuable information.
When the war is over
Svitlana Dubyna admits that she does not believe in achieving peace without a victory, but dreams of Ukraine winning with minimal losses. “So much time has passed, yet every morning I still wake up and think: God, this cannot be our reality,” she says.
Svitlana firmly believes that after the war, Ukraine will succeed in building a just society where human rights are protected. Her dreams of justice prove that any crisis presents an opportunity to fix past errors and shape a better future.
“I have a dream that this war “burnt the tares”. And once it is over, we will need to carefully protect human rights and justice. I dream of justice,” she concludes.