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Representations of Women and Gender Equality in the Nonprofit Sector in Ukraine

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Representations of Women and Gender Equality in the Nonprofit Sector in Ukraine REPRESENTATIONS OF WOMEN AND GENDER EQUALITY IN THE NONPROFIT SECTOR IN UKRAINE by Ievgeniia Rozhenko Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia April 2021 © Copyright by Ievgeniia Rozhenko, 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................... v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED ............................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................1 1.1. Central Problem: the persistence of gender stereotypes...........................................................4 1.2. Purpose of the Study & Research Question .............................................................................5 1.3. Importance of the Study ..........................................................................................................5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .........................................................................................6 2.1. The History of Feminism in Ukraine ......................................................................................6 2.1.1. Feminism in Ukraine Before Independence ...................................................................6 2.1.2. Feminism in Ukraine After Independence .....................................................................9 2.1.3. WID and GAD Approaches in Ukraine from the 1990s to the present ....................... 19 2.2. The Second World and Ukraine from the Perspective of Postcolonial Feminism .................. 21 2.3. Representation of Women in Developing Countries .............................................................. 29 2.3.1. Representation of women in Developing Countries by NGOs ..................................... 29 2.3.2. Representation of Women in Ukraine.......................................................................... 30 2.4. Gaps in Literature ................................................................................................................. 32 CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .......................................................................... 33 3.1. Representation Theory .......................................................................................................... 33 3.2. Postcolonial Feminism ......................................................................................................... 36 3.3. Representations, postcolonial feminism and power relations ................................................ 38 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................. 41 4.1. Content and Discourse Analysis............................................................................................ 41 4.2. Interviews ............................................................................................................................. 44 4.3. Research Limitations ............................................................................................................ 45 CHAPTER 5: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ....................................................... 47 5.1. Foreign Donors and the Women’s Movement in Ukraine ..................................................... 47 5.2. Website Analysis of Organizations ........................................................................................ 53 5.3. Who is in the Picture: Representations of Women and Gender on Social Media and in Publications ................................................................................................................................. 57 5.3.1. Social Media ................................................................................................................. 57 5.3.2. Publications .................................................................................................................. 68 5.4. What is the Message: Analysis of Social Media, Articles and Publications ........................... 69 5.4.1. Issues Raised and Types of Strategic Needs ................................................................. 69 5.4.2. Personal Stories ............................................................................................................ 74 ii 5.4.3. Word Frequency and Terminology .............................................................................. 76 5.4.4. To Be a Feminist in Order to Be Modern .................................................................... 81 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................... 85 6.1. Summary of Research Findings ............................................................................................ 85 6.2. Limitations of the research ................................................................................................... 87 6.3. Theoretical and practical significance .................................................................................. 88 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................... 90 APPENDIX A: INFORMATION ABOUT ORGANIZATIONS ................................................. 101 APPENDIX B: EMAIL INVITATION TO INTERVIEW PARTICIPANTS (EN) .................... 103 APPENDIX C: EMAIL INVITATION TO INTERVIEW PARTICIPANTS (UA) .................... 105 APPENDIX D: STATEMENT OF INFORMED CONSENT (EN) ............................................. 107 APPENDIX E: STATEMENT OF INFORMED CONSENT (UA) ............................................. 111 iii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Image Analysis: Gender ............................................................................. 58 Table 2. Image Analysis: Age .................................................................................. 60 Table 3. Image Analysis: Emotions .......................................................................... 62 Table 4. Image Analysis: Place ................................................................................ 64 Table 5. Image Analysis: Defining Identity .............................................................. 65 Table 6. Publications Image Analysis: Age .............................................................. 68 Table 7. Type of Issues Raised in the Posts .............................................................. 71 Table 8. Type of Gender Needs................................................................................ 72 Table 9. Word Frequency – Social Media ................................................................ 77 Table 10. Word Frequency – Articles....................................................................... 77 Table 11. Word Frequency – Publications ................................................................ 78 iv ABSTRACT The problem of gender stereotypes and lack of gender sensitivity has been a persistent problem in Ukraine. Educating the population and raising awareness about gender equality has been an important focus of many women’s and feminist organizations in Ukraine. The thesis uses interviews, content analysis and existing literature to analyze how these organizations represent women and gender equality in Ukraine, if and to what degree foreign donors influence these representations, as well as how Ukrainian feminism can be defined. Using the lens of postcolonial feminism and representations, the research found that the organizations in their communication mostly represent young middle-class women and discuss strategic gender needs. Achieving gender equality is presented as a part of an effort toward European integration. However, in most other instances, gender equality is seen as a goal in itself rather than a step to achieve a certain goal. Organizations’ communication and other work is characterized by a high degree of local ownership and understanding between them and foreign donors. This is explained by increased knowledge of the region among foreign donors, but also by the fact that the organizations adopted many ideas from Western feminism and can be characterized as (neo)liberal feminist organizations. v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED ATO Antiterrorist operation CSO Civil society organization GAD Gender and development GII Gender inequality index IDP Internally Displaced Person INGO International non-governmental organization LGBTQI Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex NGO Non-governmental organization UN United Nations UNFPA United Nations Population Fund USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics WID Women in development vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to the people who shared their knowledge and insights, provided guidance and immense support throughout the process of writing this thesis. First of all, I would like to thank my supervisors Dr. Theresa Ulicki and Dr. John Cameron. It was a priviledge to have them as my supervisors. Their invaluable advice and feedback helped me to substantively improve
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