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Geographical value spaces and gender norms in post-Maidan Ukraine: the failed ratification of the Istanbul Convention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2019

Elise Ketelaars Open the ORCID record for Elise Ketelaars [Opens in a new window]
Elise Ketelaars*
Affiliation:
Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

With RRW populist actors’ discovery of gender norms as a useful foreign policy tool, narratives constructed in terms of geographical value spaces have become central to the struggle for women's rights. Through a detailed examination of international and domestic actors’ engagement with the failed ratification process of the Istanbul Convention in Ukraine, this article aims to enhance understanding of the appropriateness of the use of these geographical value spaces when describing the struggle to combat GBV in Ukraine, and how connecting gender justice issues to geographically restricted value spaces impacts this fight. It finds that in practice neither the EU – despite Russia's allegations to the contrary – nor domestic political elites in favour of closer cooperation with Europe have provided meaningful support to the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. Faced with this situation, some Ukrainian feminists have increasingly sought to present the struggle to combat gender-based violence in a locally acceptable vernacular. This article, however, concludes that framing the struggle for women's rights in any type of geographical terms – be they of an international or domestic nature – increases the risk of either instrumentalisation of or selective engagement with the feminist agenda.

Keywords

Istanbul ConventionRadical Right Wing PopulismRussiaUkraineEuropean Union
Type
Research Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 45 , Special Issue 5: Special Issue on Populism , December 2019 , pp. 731 - 747
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 2019 

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Oleg Marushchenko has described in detail the efforts of this movement to oppose the introduction of gender education in Ukraine: ‘One of the prime examples is the All-Ukrainian Parent Movement, a union of the non-governmental organizations and private persons with its educational activities, “Parents’ readings”, forums, brochures and newspapers promoting the so-called “traditional family values” and supporting the related upbringing system.’ What is particularly well known is the book Unembellished Gender [Gender bez Prikras] with the following subtitle speaking for itself: Through Gender Policy to Dictatorship of Homosexualism [Cherez Gendernuyu Poli ku k Diktature Homoseksualisma]. This movement allegedly produced yet another odious book for teachers and parents, Gender ‘Education’, or How They Will Make Homosexualists from Your Children [Gendernoye ‘Vospitanie’ ili Kak iz Vashih Detey Budut Delat Homoseksualistov], published in Ukrainian with no identification data. Large numbers of both books were sent out to the state departments for education, schools, and preschool institutions in the country. Oleg Marushchenko, ‘In Between Cultural Traditions and Reactionary Threats: Is Gender Education Possible in Ukraine?’, Materials of the Second International Gender Workshop: ‘Overcoming Backlash: Experiences of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Poland’ (2013).

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22 Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, ‘Ukraine to EU: Tell us what we're fighting for’, EUobserver (15 November 2017), available at: {https://euobserver.com/opinion/139873} accessed 27 January 2019. See also EU Neighbours East, ‘Perceptions of the European Union in Eastern Partnership Countries’, available at: {https://www.euneighbours.eu/sites/default/files/publications/2017-08/EU%20Neighbours%20East_Factsheets_2016_REGIONAL%20OVERVIEW.pdf} accessed 27 January 2019.

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27 UNFPA data, for instance, show that while in 2016 174 women died as a direct result of the conflict, 601 were killed as a result of non-conflict related GBV. ‘Economic Costs of Violence against Women in Ukraine’, UNFPA (2017), available at: {https://ukraine.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/Economic%20Costs%20of%20Violence_2017_3.pdf} accessed 27 January 2019.

28 OHCHR, ‘Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Ukraine – 14 March 2014 to 31 January 2017’ (2017).

29 ‘Masculinity Today: Men's Attitudes To Gender Stereotypes And Violence Against Women’, UNFPA (2018), available at: {https://ukraine.unfpa.org/en/publications/masculinity-today-mens-attitudes-gender-stereotypes-and-violence-against-women} accessed 3 August 2019; ‘Gender-Based Violence in the Conflict-Affected Regions of Ukraine’, UNFPA and Ukrainian Centre for Social Reforms (2015), available at: {https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/gbv_study_2015_final_eng.pdf} accessed 15 August 2018.

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31 Council of Europe, ‘The Istanbul Convention: A Tool to Advance in Fighting Violence against Women and Domestic Violence in Ukraine (2018–2020)’, available at: {https://www.coe.int/en/web/genderequality/the-istanbul-convention-a-tool-to-advance-in-fighting-violence-against-women-and-domestic-violence-in-ukraine} accessed 3 August 2019.

32 The Council of Churches is the representative organ of all Ukraine's Christian institutions.

33 ‘No to Gender: Council of Churches Speaks Out against Ratification of Istanbul Convention’, Union of Orthodox Journalists (7 March 2017), available at: {http://spzh.news/en/news/40019-no-to-gender-council-of-churches-speaks-out-against-ratification-of-istanbul-convention} accessed 27 January 2019.

34 Miriam Elder, ‘Feminism could destroy Russia, Russian Orthodox patriarch claims’, The Guardian (9 April 2013), available at: {https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/09/feminism-destroy-russia-patriarch-kirill} accessed 27 January 2019.

35 Höjdestrand, ‘Nationalism and civicness in Russia’; Strelnyk, ‘Conservative parents’ mobilization in Ukraine’; Marushchenko, ‘In Between Cultural Traditions and Reactionary Threats’.

36 Strelnyk, ‘Conservative parents’ mobilization in Ukraine’, p. 78.

37 Interview with a Ukrainian feminist activist, Kiev, 29 November 2017.

38 Hatewatch Staff, ‘How the World Congress of Families Serves Russian Orthodox Political Interests’, Southern Poverty Law Center (16 May 2018), available at: {https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/05/16/how-world-congress-families-serves-russian-orthodox-political-interests} accessed 27 January 2019.

39 Ibid.

40 Ibid.

41 Ukrainian Orthodoxy had been under the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church for centuries, but this move granted it independence from Russian interference. ‘“After autocephaly, there will be no Moscow spirit in Ukraine” – Patriarch Filaret’, UNIAN (23 November 2018), available at: {https://www.unian.info/society/10350051-after-autocephaly-there-will-be-no-moscow-spirit-in-ukraine-patriarch-filaret.html} accessed 27 January 2019.

42 President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, Official Website, ‘Head of State: Church Autocephaly is the Most Important Event Similar to the Ukrainian Aspiration to Join the European Union and NATO’ (14 October 2018), available at: {https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/glava-derzhavi-avtokefaliya-cerkvi-ce-najvagomisha-podiya-po-50450} accessed 27 January 2019.

43 Harriet Sherwood, ‘Ukraine-Russia tensions spark historic religious rift’, The Guardian (30 November 2018), available at: {https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/30/ukraine-russia-tensions-religious-rift-orthodox-church} accessed 27 January 2019.

44 Volodymyr Yermolenko, ‘Does Poroshenko have a chance at a second term?’, Atlantic Council (1 October 2018), available at: {https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/does-poroshenko-have-a-shot-at-a-second-term} accessed 27 January 2019.

45 Emily Channell-Justice, ‘“We're not just sandwiches”: Europe, nation, and feminist (im)possibilities on Ukraine’s Maidan', Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 42:3 (2017), pp. 717–41.

46 Mykhailo Cherenkov, ‘Without Ukraine, there is no Europe’, New Eastern Europe (14 March 2016), available at: {http://neweasterneurope.eu/old_site/articles-and-commentary/1921-without-ukraine-there-is-no-europe} accessed 27 January 2019.

47 IPC, ‘Звернення Церков і релігійних організацій до українського народу’ (30 September 2013), available at: {https://www.irs.in.ua/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1281%253A1&catid=50%253Azv&Itemid=78&lang=uk} accessed 27 January 2019.

48 IRF, ‘333 NGOs From 9 States of Europe Initiate Amendments to the Istanbul Convention’ (22 March 2018), available at: {https://www.irf.in.ua/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=455:1&catid=35:worldwide&Itemid=62} accessed 27 January 2019.

49 Council of Europe, ‘II Ukrainian Women Congress – An Important Milestone for Promoting Gender Equality and Women's Rights in Ukraine’ (21 December 2018), available at: {https://www.coe.int/en/web/kyiv/-/ii-ukrainian-women-congress-an-important-milestone-for-promoting-gender-equality-and-women-s-rights-in-ukraine} accessed 27 January 2019.

50 Association Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Ukraine, of the other part, OJ L 161 (29 May 2014).

51 According to EU officials in Brussels and Ukraine interviewed for this research: Interview with a SGUA representative, Brussels, 12 June 2017; Interview with a EUAM official, Kiev, 30 October 2017.

52 Available at: {https://mfa.gov.ua/en/news-feeds/foreign-offices-news/48420-zastupnik-ministra-zakordonnih-sprav-ukrajini-sergij-kislicya-zustrivsya-z-golovnim-radnikom-jevropejsykoji-sluzhbi-zovnishnih-dij-z-gendernih-pitany-ta-vikonannya-rezolyuciji-rb-oon-1325-maroju-marinaki}.

53 The EU has started to support the Kharkiv Regional Gender Resource Centre to provide ‘informal gender education [to] young people and women, with the aim of helping them to grow into “gender sensitive leaders” and become active in decision-making process at both the local and regional levels’. In view of the rejection of the Istanbul Convention being driven by hostility against the use of the term ‘gender’, support for this project seems to be important, but also rather late.

More information available at: {https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/ukraine_me/49255/Centre%20of%20Gender%20Culture%20as%20a%20Platform%20for%20empowerment%20of%20women%20and%20youth} accessed 3 December 2018.

54 See European Commission, ‘Programming of the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) – 2017–2020 – Single Support Framework for EU Support to Ukraine’ (2018–2020). This document contains the term ‘gender’ 47 times, and the term ‘women’ 13 times on a total of 29 pages, compared to virtually no mention of this term in relevant policy documents on Ukraine published before 2017.

55 Interview with the gender advisor for an international organisation active in Ukraine, Kiev, 6 November 2017.

56 Interview with the executive director of a Ukraine office of an international human rights NGO, Kiev, 24 November 2017.

57 Interview with a representative of a Ukrainian women's organisation, Kiev, 8 November 2017. Ambassador Marinaki made an appearance on a show of the Ukrainian radio station Hromadske Radio to talk about UNSCR 1325, and to emphasise the need for the Ukrainian parliament to ratify the Istanbul Convention.[57]

58 Interview with a Ukrainian feminist activist, Kiev, 29 November 2017.

59 Interview with EEAS officials working on Ukraine, Brussels, 19 June 2017.

60 Interview with a Commission official working on Ukraine, Brussels, 12 June 2017.

61 Interview with an EU official, EU Delegation Ukraine, Kiev, 8 November 2017.

62 Schengen Visa Info, ‘Over Half Million Ukrainians Visit EU since Visa Free Travel Launch’ (12 June 2018), available at: {https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/over-half-million-ukrainians-visit-eu-since-visa-free-travel-launch/} accessed 27 January 2019.

63 Interview with EEAS officials working on Ukraine, Brussels, 19 June 2017.

64 Channell-Justice, ‘“We're not just sandwiches”’.

65 Ibid.

66 Ibid.

67 Khromeychuk, Olesya, ‘Negotiating protest spaces on the Maidan: a gender perspective’, Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics, 2:1 (2016), final pageGoogle Scholar.

68 Tamara Martsenyuk, Ganna Grytsenko, and Anna Kvit, ‘The “Invisible Battalion”: Women in ATO Military Operations in Ukraine’ (2016).

69 Martsenyuk, Tamara, ‘Gender issues in Ukraine: Were the EuroMaidan protests patriarchal or egalitarian?’, in Anti-Gender Movements on the Rise? Strategising for Gender Equality in Central and Eastern Europe (Heinrich Boll Stiftung, 2015)Google Scholar.

70 Martsenyuk, Grytsenko, and Kvit, ‘The “Invisible Battalion”’.

71 Ibid.

72 Enloe, Cynthia, Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000)Google Scholar.

73 Mariya Mayerchyk, ‘Do vos'moho bereznia/Pro pereplavku smysliv [On the occasion of March 8/recasting of meanings]’, Krytyka (8 March 2014), available at: {http://krytyka.com/ua/community/blogs/do-8-bereznya-pro-pereplavku-smysliv} cited by Channell-Justice, ‘“We're not just sandwiches”’, p. 731. See also Maria Mayerchyk and O. Plahotnik, ‘Ukrainian feminism at the crossroad of national, postcolonial, and (post) Soviet: Theorizing the Maidan events 2013–2014’, Krytyka (2015).

74 A critique voiced by two representatives of an international women's rights NGO active in Ukraine. Interview with an international women's rights NGO, 30 May 2017, via Skype; Mila O'Sullivan, ‘“Being strong enough to defend yourself”: Untangling the Women, Peace and Security agenda amidst the Ukrainian conflict’, International Feminist Journal of Politics (2019).

75 Interview with a Ukrainian feminist activist, Kiev, 29 November 2017; Interview with a Ukrainian representative of an international organisation working on GBV, Kiev, 16 November 2017.

76 Interview with a Ukrainian feminist activist, Kiev, 29 November 2017.

77 Interview with a Ukrainian representative of an international organisation working on GBV, Kiev, 16 November 2017; Interview with a Ukrainian representative of an international organisation working on GBV, Kiev, 11 November 2017. This interviewee, for instance, stated: ‘Our main idea is even if Istanbul Convention is not ratified by the end of the year, and probably it won't be ratified, still we have other components of our projects which can somehow add value to the potential opportunity to the ratification of this Convention.’

78 Ukraine Crisis Media Centre, ‘National Police: Pilot Mobile Groups to Counter Domestic Violence Start Their Work’ (12 June 2017), available at: { http://uacrisis.org/57363-anti-domestic-violence-mobile-groups} accessed 20 June 2019.

79 Interview with a representative of a Ukrainian women's organisation, Kiev, 8 November 2019.

80 Interview with a Ukrainian feminist activist, Kiev, 14 November 2017.