Abstract
Current Ukrainian gender order was reflected in the modes of men’s and women’s participation in Euromaidan protests that took place in November 2013–February 2014. Despite presence of both men and women, gendered aspects of their participation have been visible in division of labor and functions performed by women and men during the protests. The modes of women engagement into the protests varied significantly during different stages of the protests—from peaceful demonstrations to violent clashes. Taking into account the existing controversy in the perception of women’s role into the protests, we will argue that there were different gender role scenarios of women’s participation into the protests according to functions they performed and the way they represented themselves.
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Notes
- 1.
The first phase of research was conducted on December 7–8, 2013, “Maidan: who is standing, why and for what?” via face-to-face interview with 1037 respondents. The theoretical margin of error does not exceed 3.2% for indicators close to 50%, 2.8% for indicators close to 25%, 1.9% for indicators close to 10%, 1.4% for indicators close to 5% (The design effect is close to 1).
- 2.
The second phase of the research was conducted on December 20, 2013, “Maidan-camp” via face-to-face interview with 515 respondents.
- 3.
The third phase of the research was conducted on February 3, 2014 (n = 502), “Maidan-Sich” via face-to-face interview with 502 respondents.
- 4.
Berehynya is a character from the ancient Ukrainian mythology of pagan times that symbolizes a strong and independent woman as a guardian of household and as a spirit-protector. According to the Ukrainian researcher Oksana Kis, the concept that refers to the role model of “traditional and authentic” Ukrainian femininity was constructed in mass consciousness in late Soviet Union period and reinforced during the national revival in 1980s; it stresses eternal “matriarchal” past and underlines exceptionally high social status of women and gender equality inherent to the Ukrainian culture.
- 5.
Cossack Sich—a fortified territory on the islands of Dnipro River (near contemporary Zaporizhzhya region of Ukraine ), where in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries the unregistered Ukrainian army composed of men warriors (the Cossacks) was located.
- 6.
Sotni (literary translated as “hundreds”)—a military unit such as squadron within the Cossack army composed of one or several hundreds of soldiers. During the Euromaidan protests in 2013–2014, the protesters adopted this name for self -organization and protection units.
- 7.
The 1st Women’s Squadron was a non-military initiative of women’s solidarity that occurred on Euromaidan as an opposition to the other male-dominated squadrons (sotni) and was the first unit composed of women who provided humanitarian aid and moral support for the Ukrainian warriors.
- 8.
Women’s Squadron of Zaporizhzhya—the regional unit of women’s self -organization during the Euromaidan protests in Zaporizhzhya city that stood for peace and organized protests against police’s violence (later was registered as women’s civil organization).
- 9.
Sisterhood Squadron (in Dnipropetrovsk)—the unit of female protestors that was spontaneously created by women-activists after January 29, 2014, in Dnipropetrovsk city when participants of peaceful demonstration were beaten.
- 10.
Olga Kobylianska Female Squadron—the squadron that united women-protestors was named after the Ukrainian modernist writer and feminist (1863–1942) in order to distinguish this unit from other Euromaidan ’s Squadrons composed by men.
- 11.
Sotnyk: a position of the person who headed the military and administrative-territorial unit called “sotnia” in sixteenth to eighteenth centuries that was elected by the Cossacks-warriors (the structural units of people during the Euromaidan protests were also headed by elected Sotnyks).
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Martsenyuk, T., Troian, I. (2018). Gender Role Scenarios of Women’s Participation in Euromaidan Protests in Ukraine. In: Resende, E., Budrytė, D., Buhari-Gulmez, D. (eds) Crisis and Change in Post-Cold War Global Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78589-9_6
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