UKRAINIAN WOMEN IN POST-SOCIALIST TRANSFORMATIONS

Oksana Kis, PhD

(30 academic hours / 3 credits)

COURSE OVERVIEW

This course will introduce students to the post-socialist transformations in Eastern Europe from the gender perspective. By focusing on Ukraine, we will examine the multidimensional impact of radical political, social, economic and cultural changes onto women’s lives. Exploring challenges women faced in transition from state socialism to market economy and democracy women will be analyzed as both targets and agents of changes. The role of schooling and media in women’s gendered socialization, ways of (re)construction of old/new models of femininity, women’s responses to demographic crisis and alteration of family roles, women’s agency and representation in politics, as well as women’s economic strategies and employment behaviors will be examined. Special attention will be given to the problems faced by women migrant workers abroad and those subject to trafficking. International debates on collisions of feminist and traditionalist ideologies in the new women’s activism and controversies of introducing women’s and gender studies in post-socialist academic disourse will be discussed as well to enable students’ better understanding of complexity of emerging women’s movements and institutionalization of feminist scholarship in Eastern Europe. Relevant materials and data from Poland and Russia will be use for cross-cultural comparisons.

READINGS OVERVIEW

The course readings include selected works on women’s and gender issues in post-socialist Ukraine and the neighboring countries (Russia and Poland) done by the local and international scholars, so both insiders’ and outsiders’ views are represented. Published at different times (from late 1980 and up to the present) those studies allow students to follow the dynamics of changes. The readings explores the most topical aspects of women’s lives in the post-socialist countries in order to reveal the impact of the radical political, economic, social and cultural transformations on women as well as women’s responses to those dramatic changes in their societies. Descriptive publications (such as historical background, statistical or demographic data, facts, or figures, etc.) are combined with in-depth scholarly analysis, so students could both acquire new informatio and and advance their analytical skills and critical thinking. The required readings will be available in digital format from the UCU web-page.

COURSE OUTLINE

(weekly reading load is tentative and will be specified at the beginning of semester)

Week 1 / Introduction: women’s lives under state socialism and in the period of transition
  • Gail Warshofsky Lapidus (1993). Gender and Restructuring: The Impact of Perestroika and itsAftermath on Soviet Women. Valentine M. Moghadam (ed.)Democratic Reform and thePosition of Women inTransitional Economies. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 137-161
  • Mary Buckley (1992). Glasnost and the woman question. Linda Edmondson (ed.)Women and Society in Russia and the Soviet Union. Cambridge UP, 202-225
  • Jill M. Bystydzienski (1989). Women and Socialism: A Comparative Study of Women in Poland and the USSR.Signs. Vol. 14 (Spring), 668-84.
  • Larissa Lissyutkina (1993). Soviet women at the cross-roads of Perestroika. Nanette Funk, Magda Mueller (eds.) Gender Politics and Post-Communism: Reflections from Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Union. New York: Routledge, 274-286

Week 2 / Women’s organizations at the crossroads: global feminist agenda vs. local contexts
  • Solomea Pavlychko (1996). Feminism in post-communist Ukrainian society. Rosalind Marsh (ed.)Women in Russia and Ukraine.University of Bath, 305-314
  • Alexandra Hrycak (2006) Foundation Feminism and the Articulation of Hybrid Feminisms in Post-Socialist Ukraine. East European Politics and Societies, Vol. 20 (1), 69–100
  • Kornelia Slavova (2006). Loking at Western Feminism through the double lens of Eastern Europe and the Third World. Jasmina Lukic, Joanna Rregulska, Daria Zavirsek (eds.) Women and Citizenship in Central and Eastern Europe. Ashgate, 245-263
  • Laura Busheikin (1996). Is Sisterhood Really Global? Western Feminism in Eastern Europe. Tania Renne (ed.) Ana’s Land. Sisterhood in Eastern Europe. Westview Press, 12-21
  • Bingham, Natasha."When East Meets West: Women’s Activism in Ukraine"Paper presented at the annual meeting of the APSA 2008 Annual Meeting, Boston,MA, Aug 28, 2008
  • Rebekka Kay (2000). Pot of Gold or Poisoned Chalice? The Impact of Western ‘Support’. Rebekka Kay. Russian Women and Their Organizations: Gender, Discrimination and Grassroots Women's Organizations, 1991-96. Palgrave Macmillan, 187-209

Week 3 / Woman as a Symbol, Womenas Citizens
  • Oksana Kis (2005)Choosing without Choice: Predominant Models of Femininity in Contemporary Ukraine. Madeleine Hurd, Helen Carlback and Sara Rastback (eds.) Gender Transitions in Russia and Eastern Europe. Stockholm: Gondolin Publishers,105-136
  • Sarah D. Phillips (2000) NGOs In Ukraine: The Makings of a “Women’s Space?” The Anthropology of East EuropeReview18(2), 23-29
  • Solomea Pavlychko (1997). Progress on hold: the conservative faces of women in Ukraine Mary Buckley (ed.) Post-Soviet women: from the Baltic to Central Asia.New York: Cambridge UP, 219-233
  • Marian J. Rubchak (1996) Christian Virgin or Pagan Goddess: Feminism versus the Eternally Feminine in Ukraine. Rosalind Marsh (ed.) Women in Russia and Ukraine. University of Bath,316-330
  • Tanja Rener, Mirjana Ule (1998) Back to the Future: Nationalism and Gender in Post-Socialist Societies. Rick Wilford, Robert L. Miller (eds.) Women, ethnicity and nationalism: the politics of transition. Routledge, 120-137
  • Agnieszka Graff (2009) Gender and Nation, Here and Now: Reflections on the Gendered and Sexualized Aspects of Contemporary Polish Nationalism. Elżbieta H. Oleksy, (ed.) Intimate Citizenships: Gender, Subjectivity, Politics. New YorkLondon: Routledge Series in Gender and Society, 133-146
  • Chris Corrin (1999) Rethinking Citizenship: Analyses and Activism in Central and Eastern Europe. Chris Corrin. Gender and Identity in Central and Eastern Europe. London: Frank Class, 1999, 64-82
  • Suvi Salmenniemi (2005)Civic Activity – Feminine Activity? Gender,Civil Society and Citizenship in Post-SovietRussia. Sociology. Vol. 39(4), 735–753

Week 4 / Becoming a “Genuine Woman”: Post-Soviet Sexual Revolution
  • Haydenko, Victoria, Irina Predborska (2006). Gender Stereotyping in Primary Textbooks (theCaseof Ukraine). J.Sempruch, K. Willems and L. Shook (eds.) Multiple Marginalities: An Intercultural Perspectiveon Gender in Education across Europe and Africa. Helmer Press,135-150
  • Katarina Gerasimova, Natalya Troyan, Elema Zdravomyslova (1996) Gender Sereotypes in Pre-School Children’s Literature. Anna Rotkirch, Elina Naavio-Mannila (eds.) Women’s Voices in Russia Today.Brookfield: Dartmouth, 71-87
  • Igor Kon (2005). Sexual Culture and Politics in Contemporary Russia. Aleksandar Stulhofer, Theo Sandford (eds.) Sexuality and Gender in Post-Communist Eastern Europe. New York: The Haworth Press, 111-123
  • Masha Gessen (1995). Sex in the Media and the Birth of the Sex Media in Russia. Ellen E. Berry (ed.) Post-communism and the body politic. New York UP, 197-228
  • Helena Goscilo (1995). New Members and Organs: The Politics of Porn. Ellen E. Berry (ed.) Post-communism and the body politic. New York UP, 164-194

Week 5 / Women’s Political Representation and Agency
  • John T. Ishiyama (2003) Women's Parties in Post-Communist Politics.East European Politics and Societies, Vol. 17, 266-304
  • Sarah Birch (2003) Women and Political Representation in Contemporary Ukraine.Richard E. Matland, Kathleen A. Montgomery (eds). Women's access to political power in post-communist Europe.OxfordUniversity Press,130-152
  • Solomea Pavlycko (2000) Women’s Discordant Voices in the Context of the 1998 Parliamentary Elections in Ukraine. Anna Bull, hanna Diamon, Rosalind Marsh (eds.) Feminism and Women’s Movement in Contemporary Europe. Macmillan, 244-261
  • Oksana Kis (2007) “Beauty Will Save The World!”: Feminine Strategies in Ukrainian Politics and the Case of Yulia Tymoshenko. Spaces of Identity no. 7(2)
  • Alexandra Hrycak (2007) Gender and the Orange Revolution. Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, Vol.23 (1), 152–179
  • Yvonne Galligan, Sara Clavero. Prospects for Women’s Legislative Representation in Postsocialist Europe: The Views of Female Politicians. Gender & Society. Vol. 22 No. 2, 2008, p. 149-171
  • Richard E. Matland (2003) Women’s Representation in Post-Communist Europe. Richard E. Matland, Katheleen Montgomery (eds.) Women’s Access to Political Power in Post-Communist Europe.Oxford UP, 321-342

Week 6 / Demographic crisis: women’s reproductive rights and strategies.
  • Brienna Perelli-Harris (2008) Family Formation in Post-Soviet Ukraine: Changing Effects of Education in a Period of Rapid Social Change. Social Forces. Vol. 87(2), 767-794
  • Olga Issoupova (2000) From duty to pleasure? Motherhood in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia.Sarah Ashwin (ed.) Gender, State, and Society in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia. New York: Routledge, 30-54
  • V.Perevedentsev (1995) Women, the Family and Reproduction. Vitalina Koval (ed.) Women in Contemporary Russia. Oxford: Berhgahn Books, 73-86
  • Wanda Nowicka (2008) The Anti-abortion Act in Poland – the legal and actual state. Wanda Nowicka (ed.) Reproductive rights in Poland: the effects of the anti-abortion law. Federation for Women and Family Planning. Report. Warsaw, 17-44

Week 7 / Women and men: old and new family roles.
  • Tatiana Zhurzhenko (2004). Strong women, weak state: family politics and nation building in post-Soviet Ukraine. Kathleen Kuehnast, Carol Nechemias (eds.) Post-Soviet women encountering transition: nation building, economic survival, and civic activism.Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 23-43
  • Lynne Attwood (1996) The post-Soviet woman in the move to the market: a return to domesticity and dependence. Rosalind Marsh (ed.)Women in Russia and Ukraine. University of Bath 1996
  • Iryna Koshulap (2009) Cash and/or Care: Current Discourses and Practices of Fatherhood in Ukraine. OlenaPevny and AnstasiyaSalnykova (eds.) Gender, PoliticsandSocietyinUkraine.Toronto, UniversityofTorontoPress (forthcoming), 10 p.

Week 8 / Violence against women: indifference – recognition – prevention
  • Janet Elise Johnson (2007) Domestic Violence Politics in Post-Soviet States. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society, Vol. 14 (3), 380-405 Lynn
  • Attwood (1997) “She was asking for it”: rape and domestic violence against women. Mary Buckley (ed.) Post-Soviet women: from the Baltic to Central Asia. New York: Cambridge UP, 99-118
  • Tatiana Zabelina (1996) Sexual Violence Towards Women. Hillary Pilkington (ed.) Gender, Generation and Identity in Contemporary Russia.New York: Routledge, 169-186
  • Natalia Khodyreva (1996)Sexism and Sexual Abuse in Russia. Chris Corrin (ed.) Women in a Violent World: Feminist Analyses and Resistance Across 'Europe'. EdinburghUniversity Press, 27-40

Week 9 / Gender discrimination on the labour market. Women’s unempoyment.
  • Elizabeth Brainerd (2000) Women in Transition: Changes in Gender Wage Differentials in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 54(1), 138-162
  • Sarah Ashwin, Elain Bowers (1997). Do Russian Women Want to work? Mary Buckley (ed.) Post-Soviet women: from the Baltic to Central Asia. New York: Cambridge UP, 21-37
  • Svetlana Yaroshenko, Elena Omel’chenko, Natal’ya Goncharova, Olga Issoupova (2006) Gender differences in employment behaviour in Russia’s new labour market. Sarah Ashwin.(ed.) Adapting to Russia’s New Labour Market. Gender and Employment Behaviour.London; New York: Routledge, 122-148
  • Irina Kozina, Elena Zhidkova (2006)Sex segregation and discrimination in the new Russian labour market. Sarah Ashwin (ed.) Adapting to Russia’s New Labour Market: Gender and employment behaviour.New York: Routledge, 52-79
  • Ina Gangulia, Katherine Terrell (2006) Institutions, markets and men's and women's wage inequality: Evidence from Ukraine. Journal of Comparative Economics Vol. 34 (2), 200-227

Week 10 / Poor Women, Rich Women: women’s survival strategies and entrepreneurship
  • Catherine Wanner, Nora Dudwick (2003) “Children Have Become a Luxury:” Everyday Dilemmas of Poverty in Ukraine. Nora Dudwick, Elizabeth Gomart, Alexandre Marc, Kathleen Kuehnast (eds.) When Things Fall Apart. Qualitative Studies of Poverty in the Former Soviet Union.Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, 263-300
  • Tatiana Zhurzhenko (2001) Free Market Ideology and New Women’s Identities in Post-socialist Ukraine. The European Journal of Women’s Studies, Vol. 8(1): 29–49
  • Isakova N., Krasovska O., Kavunenko l., Lugovy A. (2006) Entrepreneurship in the Ukraine: A Male Female Comparison. riederike Welter, David Smallbone, Nina B. Isakova (eds.) Enterprising Women in Transition Economies. Ashgate Publishing, 17-44
  • Sue Bridger, Rebecca Kay, and Kathryn Pinnick (1996) No More Heroines? Russia, women and the market.New York: Routledge, Ch. 7 “Survival Strategies”, 115-164.
  • Sue Bridger (1999). Enterprise and Survival: Moscow Women and Market Mythologies. Sue Bridger. Women and Political Change. Perspectives from East-Central Europe. MacMillan, 75-90

Week 11 / Globalizing Womanhood: Women in Transnational Labour Migration
  • Olha Yarova (2006) The Migration of Ukrainian Women to Italy and the Impact on Their Family in Ukraine. Alice Szczepanikova, Marek Čaněk and Jan Grill (eds.) Migration Processes in Central and Eastern Europe: Unpacking the Diversity. Multicultural Center Prague, 38-41
  • Alissa Tolstokorova (2007)Effect of External Labour Migration on Ukrainian Family: “Poisoned Gift” or “Dream Realized”? Research papers of thesummer school "Migration Flows, Sustainable Development and Neighbourhood Policy in the New EU Countries", 29May – 3 June 2007.
  • Martha Kindler (2008) Risk and Risk strategies in migration: Ukrainian domestic workers in Poland. Helma Lutz (ed.) Migration and Domestic Work: A European Perspective on a Global Theme.Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008, p. 145-160
  • Lena Näre (2007) Ukrainian and Polish Domestic Workers in Naples – A Case of East-South Migration. Migration Online: Focus on Central Eastern Europe. January 2007.
  • Natalia Shostak (2006) In Search of Cinderellas, in Naples and Beyond: Popular Culture Responses to Labor Migration from Ukraine. Spaces of Identity. Vol. 6, No 2

Week 12 / The “Natasha” Trade: Trafficking in women and sexual slavery in legal and popular discourses
  • Donna M. Hughes (2000)The “Natasha” Trade: The Transnational Shadow Market of Trafficking in Women.Journal of International Affairs: Special Issue of “In the Shadows: Promoting Prosperity or Undermining Stability?” Vol. 53 (2), 625-651
  • Donna M. Hughes, Tatyana A. Denisova (2001) The Transnational Political Nexus of Traffickining Women From Ukraine. Trends in Organized Crime. Vol. 6 (3-4), 43-67
  • Nadezda Shapkina. (2008) Gendered Risks of Migration and Transnational Trafficking Chains.Nadezda Shapkina. Operation Help: Counteracting Sex Trafficking of Women From Russia And Ukraine. (Ph.D. thesis).GeorgiaStateUniversity, p. 20-54
  • Victor Malarek (2004). The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade. New York: Arcade, 303 p.

Week 13 / Women’s sexuality as a resource and a risk factor: prostitution and sex-tourism
  • Katherine P. Avgerinos. From Vixen to Victim: The Sensationalization and Normalization of Prostitution in Post-Soviet Russia. Manuscript. School of Russian and Asian Studies (SRAS), 16 p.
  • Natalia Khodyreva (2005). Sexuality for Whom? Paid Sex and Patriarchy in Russia. Aleksandar Stulhofer, Theo Sandford (eds.) Sexuality and Gender in Post-Communist Eastern Europe. New York: The Haworth Press, 243-259
  • Natalia Olshanskaya. From the Pit to The Spot: Prostitution and Trafficking in Russian Film and Society. Angela Brintlinger, Natasha Kolchevska (eds.) Beyond Little Vera: Women’s Bodies, Women’s Welfare in Russia and Central-Eastern Europe. Ohio Slavic Papers. Vol. 7, 73-89

Week 14 / Presentation of Students’ papers
Week 15 / Gender Studies in Post-Socialist Ukraine
  • Anna Temkina, Elena Zdravomyslova (2003) Gender Studies in Post-Soviet Society: Western Frames And Cultural Differences. Studies in East European Thought.Vol. 55, p. 51–61
  • Susan Zimmermann (2007–2008) The Institutionalization of Women and Gender Studies in Higher Education in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union: Asymmetric Politics and the Regional-Transnational Configuration. East-Central Europe. Vol. 34/35 “Social History in East Central Europe,” 131–160
  • Nanette Funk (2007) Fifteen Years of the East-West Women’s Dialogue. Janet Elise Johnson and Jean C. Robinson (eds.)Living Gender after Communism. Bloomington: IndianaUniversity Press, 203-226
  • Irina Savkina (2008) Irritating Factors: The Reception and Discussion of Feminist Criticism and Gender Studies in the Russian Context. Russian Studies in Literature. Vol. 44 (3), 37–64.

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