Issue 1 (7), 2017 EMPOW N E F R L I I N C G TS CO CHANGE I S TY CUR MILITARY R B RE O ST R RIC D TI E L O I NS R SE T Y E N D P E OWER DAW EQUA AC CH EA KN EG EESPING PE CE IAMENT PARL IES RTUN R I I T TY G OPPO ERSECU D T OR BA LIMITS TIONS OLES B COM R NEGOT C I H A ANGES LIMITS RTUN MILI I T T AR I Y ES OPPO TIATIONS TION N C EGO RIMINA DIS TIONS GOTI P A OLITICS NE COMBAT • GENDER IN POWER • GENDER IN WAR AND PEACE • GENDER IN FOREIGN POLICY UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 1

Issue 1(7), 2017 Gender in Power Editors Dr. Hanna Shelest Dr. Mykola Kapitonenko Publisher: Published by NGO“Promotion of Intercultural Cooperation”(Ukraine), Centre of International Studies(Ukraine), with the financial support of the Representation of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Ukraine, International Renaissance Foundation(Ukraine) and the Black Sea Trust. UA: Ukraine Analytica is the first Ukrainian analytical journal in English on International Relations, Politics and Economics. The journal is aimed for experts, diplomats, academics, students interested in the international relations and Ukraine in particular. Contacts: website: http://ukraine-analytica.org/ e-mail: Ukraine_analytica@ukr.net Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ ukraineanalytica Twitter: https://twitter.com/UA_Analytica The views and opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of UA: Ukraine Analytica, its editors, Board of Advisors or donors. ISSN 2518-7481 BOARD OF ADVISERS Dr. Dimitar Beche v(Bulgaria, Director of the European Policy Institute) Dr. Iulian Chifu (Romania, Director of the Conflict Analysis and Early Warning Center) Dr. Igor Koval (Ukraine, Rector of Odessa National University by I.I. Mechnikov) Dr. Sergey Minasya n(Armenia, Deputy Director at the Caucasus Institute) Stephan Meuser (Germany, Director of the Representation of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Romania) James Nixey (United Kingdom, Head of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs) Dr. Róbert Ondrejcsák (Slovakia, State Secretary, Ministry of Defence) H.E., Dr. Oleg Shamshur (Ukraine, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to France) Dr. Stephan De Spiegeleire (The Netherlands, Director Defence Transformation at The Hague Center for Strategic Studies) Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze (Ukraine, VicePrime Minister on European and Euroatlantic Integration of Ukraine) Dr. Dimitris Triantaphyllou (Greece, Director of the Center for International and European Studies, Kadir Has University(Turkey)) Dr. Asle Toje (Norway, Research Director at the Norwegian Nobel Institute) UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS SOME POLITICIANS ARE STILL AFRAID OF THE VERY WORD“GENDER” .......... 3 Interview with Mariia Ionova, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine GENDER IN POWER OR GENDER EMPOWERING................................... 7 Angela Kane GENDER POLICY(POLITICS) IN DIPLOMACY: WORLD PRACTICE AND THE UKRAINIAN CASE.......................................................... 11 Iryna Tyshko GOOD GIRLS SELDOM MAKE FOREIGN POLICY.................................. 18 Iwona Reichardt THE GENDER DIMENSION OF CONFLICTS........................................ 23 Olena Suslova WOMEN AND MILITARY IN UKRAINE: VOICES OF THE INVISIBLE BATTALION.... 29 Tamara Martsenyuk and Ganna Grytsenko BEYOND THE RHETORIC ON GENDER AND PEACEKEEPING: VICTIMS OF WAR, FREEDOM FIGHTERS, AND WONDER WOMEN IN BLUE HELMETS?................ 38 Izabela Pereira Watts FUNCTIONAL PARTICULARITIES OF THE PRESENT GENDER POLICY WITHIN THE STATE BORDER GUARD SERVICE OF UKRAINE: HOMELAND EXPERIENCE... 50 Olga DERKACH 2 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

SOME POLITICIANS ARE STILL AFRAID OF THE VERY WORD “GENDER” Interview with Mariia Ionova , Member of the Parliament of Ukraine Is There Gender Inequality in Ukrainian Politics? There is and there is not. Ukrainian politicians do not deny gender equality in public; however, some of them still adhere to patriarchal values. Article 24 of the Constitution of Ukraine claims all citizens equal, also by gender. At least ten laws and other legal acts contain norms outlining the forming and carrying out of gender policy in Ukraine. However, we still observe examples of inequality in everyday life. It is also true about the country’s politics. So far, Ukraine ranks 143rd in the world by the number of women taking part in state decision-making. At the same time, there is undoubtedly some progress in building equality between males and females. One should take into account that a process of change has been initiated and is underway in Ukraine. Changes are comprehensive. Some politicians are still afraid of the very word“gender” to the point where they try to withdraw it from draft laws. However, in some ministries and state administrations gender-motivated budgeting has been initiated, while the Chairman of the Ukrainian parliament Andriy Parubiy indicated his intention to promote forming a gender-sensitive parliament. In my view, it is the political area where progress towards gender equality is the greatest comparing to other spheres of social life in Ukraine. These achievements are not very impressive so far. For instance, in a presidium of the parliament, which used to consist of males, there are currently two female deputy chairpersons, representing different political parties, next to the chairman, Mr. Parubiy. « Some politicians are still afraid of the very word“gender” to the point where they try to withdraw it from draft laws There are 12% of women among current members of the Parliament of Ukraine. For sure, that is not enough, given that women comprise about 54% of the population of Ukraine, but that is more than used to be before. At the same time that is 2.5 times less than Ukraine should have achieved by 2015 in accordance with the UN Millennium Goals. The share of women in the parliament started to rise in 2002. The following data are applicable: 1st convening – 1990-1994 – 13 female MPs, which is 2.8% 2nd convening – 1994-1998 – 19 female MPs, which is 4.2% 3rd convening – 1998-2002 – 39 female MPs, which is 8.4% UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 3

4th convening – 2002-2006 – 28 female MPs, which is 6.2% 5th convening – 2006-2007 – 41 female MPs, which is 9.1% 6th convening – 2007-2012 – 42 female MPs, which is 9.3% 7th convening – 2012-2014 – 43 female MPs, which is 9.6% 8th convening – 2014 – present – 51 female MPs, which is 12.1% Recently, the number of females in the Ukrainian government has increased. For instance, for the first time in Ukrainian history a female, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, has become a vice prime minister, responsible for European and Euroatlantic integration of the country. Moreover, it is possible that she will be appointed the parliament’s representative in the government responsible for equality of rights of men and women. Also for the first time. Ministers of Healthcare and Education and Science, Ulyana Suprun and Liliya Grynevych, are implementing important reforms. They literally manage to break old stereotypes pertaining to lives of Ukrainians, aiming at fighting corruption and improving quality of life. There are also more women at a local level. On the negative side, there is a specific trend: The higher the level of decision-making, the more difficult it gets for women to be elected. The stairway looks like this: Villages’ councils – 47% of women District councils – 25% City councils(Kyiv and major cities) – 18% Oblasts’ councils – 15% The Parliament – 12.1% How Is the Issue of Gender Perceived in Ukraine? Every tenth Ukrainian experiences gender discrimination, with women facing it more often than men do. As one of the recent surveys conducted by the Razumkov Center and titled“Gender Equality and Development: A Look within the Context of European Strategy of Ukraine” reflects, almost 53% believe there is no gender discrimination in Ukraine. Sociologists make a conclusion that the problem of gender inequality has not been actualized. Both women and men agree that overall women are somewhat less socially protected. But this is not perceived as gender inequality, i.e. there is no conflict. 81% believe women’s presence in state power is necessary. However, despite such optimism and a favourable social mood, only once in Ukrainian history a woman headed the government, while there is only one female judge in the Constitutional court, out of eight overall. 51% suggest that Ukrainian officials do not pay enough attention to women’s needs. In recent years, due to Russia’s occupation of Crimea and aggression in Donbas, Ukraine has been facing another serious problem – status of women in zone of conflict. As research suggests, Ukrainian media ignore problems of women staying in warzones. Gender violence is almost out of coverage. As a result, the problem falls out of focus of civil society and has never been listed among the most urgent ones. In Which Ways Are Women Effectively Contributing to Peace-making Efforts? UNSC Resolution 1325 points out that women’s life experience is of great importance for preserving international peace and security. Experience of NATO member states opens way for implementing positive practices in gender culture in the security sector. The Equal Opportunities Caucus, in which I am a co-chairperson, has been established in the 4 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

Ukrainian parliament. One of its key tasks is securing equal, comprehensive, and active role for women in preventing and managing conflicts. With the promotion by the caucus, a national plan for Resolution of UNSC 1325, “Women, Peace, Security”, has been approved till 2020. The plan aims at an increase in numbers of women working in security and defence sectors. The Caucus is also carrying out parliamentary supervision of the National Action Plan in Ukraine’s Army, Joint Staff, as well as assists in preventing and countering gender(including sexual) violence in the East. It also encourages gender approach in the Strategy of Recovery of Donbas, holds information events that draw attention to the role women play in defending the country and sustaining peace, as well as supports the rights of women undergoing military service. The Equal Opportunities Caucus has created a civil board for gender issues, within which a working group on Security and Peace-making was established. I have the honour to head this group, coordinating activities of governmental, international, and non-governmental partners. Close cooperation with the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, Joint Staff, international and Ukrainian experts for securing equal rights and opportunities for women in the army is among our achievements. The Ministry of Defence issued an order extending the list of positions women can hold within the army and that was one of our positive achievements. Moreover, we offer steps to re-establish the institute of advisors on gender issues in the security sector, providing them with institutional and functional capacities, exploring experience of NATO member states, and introducing a positive practice in gender culture within the security sector. As far as specific practical contributions are concerned, hundreds of women turned volunteers as a response to aggressive military activities by Russia in Donbas. They help providing the army with what it needs. One of the members in a group of negotiators in Minsk is a Member of Parliament, the first deputy head in the Rada and the President’s envoy for peaceful settlement of the conflict Iryna Geraschenko. Women And Army Service: What Is Your Opinion on That Combination? Time changes stereotypes. Purely male features – physical abilities, combat skills – have been needed for an army service before, but now the environment puts forward different demands. In my opinion, a woman has a right to choose. If she picks army service as a profession, nothing should prevent her from doing that. Basic criteria for military service should include health fitness, age validity, and professional qualities, but not gender. I am sure that the legislature should address only the protection of women’s reproductive health and motherhood. Any other limitations on military service for women should be treated as signs of discrimination. Currently Ukrainian laws do not carry any direct limitations on women’s military service, with the exception of the Law on Military Duty and Military Service, which states that only male citizens are called upon for compulsory military service. That means women may only be contracted for military service. Currently there are almost 20 thousand women in the army. The Ukrainian military is still conservative and unfriendly to women. Only 2.5 thousand female Ukrainians in the army are officers. Here is another prominent figure reflecting the huge potential of Ukrainian women: during the Revolution of Dignity at the Maidan, about 45% of the people were females. My colleagues, members of Parliament from the Equal Opportunities Caucus, and I are aiming to change the stance. Successful results have already been achieved. Last year, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine introduced changes to a list of positions that may be available for women. Since then, 63 positions more have been open for women serving in UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 5

the Ukrainian Army under a contract. The overall list of positions of soldiers, sergeants, and petty officers to which women can be appointed increased to 290. However, still two thirds of positions in the Ukrainian Army are unavailable for women. I cannot find a logical explanation of why a woman in the army cannot serve as a sports instructor, hand-tohand fighting coach, platoon commander, photographer, etc. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved « a gender quota will only be a temporary measure to get Ukrainian society used to what has for half a century been a norm in Western countries a national action plan to implement UNSC Resolution 1325,“Women, Peace, and Security”, for the period till 2020. It aims to increase the number of women in defence and security sectors by 10%. I believe this is well within reach and will try to ensure parliamentary control. NATO serves as an example for further reforming of national legislature in what concerns equality of men’s and women’s rights in security and defence fields. What Are the Best Ways to Secure Gender Balance in Power? One of the ways to change things for the better is through voluntary gender party quotas, which are quite popular in EU countries and have been introduced there since the 1970s. In 2000, Ukraine pledged to have 30% of women in the parliament by 2015. A number of attempts to introduce such gender quotas in legislature have been taken. Finally, it has been adopted in the 2015 local elections; however, almost no party followed it. Thus, we are facing a task of defining sanctions for violating legislative norms. Nevertheless, things with gender balance have improved in the 2015 local elections comparing to previous ones, especially in city and district councils. Thus we started moving towards European standards. Adopting legislative norms regulating parliamentary elections is the task ahead. I hope a norm of 30% or even 40% of women in electoral lists will be compulsory. Otherwise, political parties will not stand a chance of being elected to parliament, or even to a small local council. To make political parties include more women through legislative measures is the first and reluctant step. We should be aware of the fact that this issue is not only about the top level of politics and legislature, but also touches upon deep relations within a society, values, traditions, views, and orientations. Thus, a gender quota will only be a temporary measure to get Ukrainian society used to what has for half a century been a norm in Western countries, defining the level of democracy and quality of life. Mariia Ionova is a member of the Parliament of Ukraine, Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on European Integration, and Co-Chair at the Equal Opportunities Inter-Faction Union. Mariia Ionova began her political career in 2005 serving as a consultant to the presidential administration. From 2008 to 2012, she served as a member of the Kyiv City Council. Since 2012, she has been a Member of Parliament. As a Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on European Integration, Mariia Ionova is involved in numerous international activities regarding the conflict in Donbas region; she has worked on legislation to strengthen the rights of internally displaced persons and to assist women and children affected by the fighting. 6 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

GENDER IN POWER OR GENDER EMPOWERING Angela Kane Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Gender in Power or Gender Empowering Whichever turn of phrase one picks doesn’t really matter: what is important is to recognize that women are under-represented in many walks of life: as leaders, as negotiators, as politicians, as CEOs, as parliamentarians - just to mention a few of the occupations where we have far less than the 50% share of the population. Just few women occupy the prestigious“corner office” from where power emanates. It is really a matter of catching up: men had the vote long before women, and even in Europe, women obtained the vote mostly only in the 20th century- the“suffragettes” of those days had to fight for their rights: they were belittled and harassed, yet they persisted- and won the right to vote. It can only have been a man who coined the phrase of women being“the weaker sex”- we women know differently! Let us not forget that the UN Charter was the first international document to inscribe the equal rights of men and women as part of fundamental human rights. There were three women delegates at the San Francisco conference that adopted the Charter in 1945, and they were all from Latin American countries: Brazil, Dominican Republic and Uruguay. Their leader was Bertha Lutz from Brazil, and she, together with the other two women-delegates and the few other women who participated, demanded an explicit reference to women’s rights in the Charter. This was thus not an idea that came from the West; in fact, not only was the West opposed to have gender equality in the agenda, but they also tried to remove it from Article 8, which I had quoted above and which says that women and men can participate equally in all UN bodies. In her memoir, Lutz wrote that delegates from the US and UK told her “not to ask for anything for women in the Charter since that would be a very vulgar « It is clear we need more women who are powerful and visible. More heads of State, more legislators, more role models for girls and young women to emulate and aspire to thing to do” 1 . Yet Lutz and the other women delegates persisted, and we now have several references to the equality of women and men in the Charter, as well as a reference to nondiscrimination on the basis of sex. Today, more than seven decades later, there are four women heads of a State in Europe: Angela Merkel(Germany), Theresa May 1 E. M. Lederer.“Researchers: Latin American women got women into UN Charter”. Associated Press. 2 September 2016. Access at: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/049889e630b748229887b91c8f21e3d2/researchers-latin-american-women-got-women-un-charter UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 7

(UK), Erna Solberg(Norway), Beata Szydlo (Poland). Four. There are only three more in the world: Bangladesh, Namibia and Myanmar, for a total of seven. Seven out of 193. In Parliaments, the situation stands at 22.6% in 2015, but the increase has slowed. In 2015, it only rose by 0.5%. Impediments to women running for office are the lack of adequate campaign financing and the lack of commitment from the political parties in changing the status quo. It is clear we need more women who are powerful and visible. More heads of State, more legislators, more role models for girls and young women to emulate and aspire to. That is what societies need today. What Are The Best Ways To Secure Gender Balance In Power? Looking at the situation in the Nordic countries we can see how a high percentage of women in power was achieved: by quotas. I used to argue against quotas in the context of the UN recruitment and promotion exercise. First of all, it is not compatible with the UN Charter: in Article 4, it says“the United Nations shall place no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs” 2 . Yet in the course of my career, I have witnessed the powerful message that is being given when a woman is appointed to a high office and is visible as a role model, such as: who wants to be a quota woman? I have changed my mind and now I am a fervent proponent of quotas. They work, they are measurable, and they are powerful. But they are being resisted. Just look at what is happening with the 30% quota set for company Board memberships in several European countries: men are bemoaning the situation and saying that no qualified women are available. I used to hear the same arguments in the UN 25 years ago – and that is total nonsense. There is plenty of remarkable female talent. Christine Lafarge – now at the IMF – tells the story that she pulls out a list of names whenever this argument is put forward. Gro Brundtland of Norway – who served three times as a Prime Minister – chuckles when she speaks to young boys, who think that only a woman can aspire to be a Prime Minister, considering that one has held that position for so long. Role models are important for the younger generation of women. And senior women tend to hire more women, as I have done myself. So let us have quotas for women. Is Foreign Policy a Male Business? What Can Women Bring to This Sphere? Just because it was mostly men, who conducted foreign policy, does not mean a woman is unable to do the same- or better- job. We have had three powerful and remarkable women carrying out the foreign policy for the European Union: Benita Ferrero-Waldner of Austria, Baroness Catherine Ashton of the UK and now Federica Mogherini of Italy. All won high praise for the way, in which they carried out their role with decisiveness and gravitas. For myself, I filled a number of posts at the United Nations as a“first”: first woman director in Public Information, first woman director in Political Affairs, first woman Assistant Secretary-General in Political Affairs, and first Under Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament. I was not proud of being the“first” in all these cases: there should have been more senior 2 Charter of the United Nations. United Nations. 1945. Access: http://www.un.org/en/charter-united-nations/ 8 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

appointments before me- and regrettably, at the senior-most levels of Assistant and Under-Secretary-General, men succeeded me. Women can bring a fresh look at problems: just think of the UN Security Council, which « there were four women on the Council- and they were seen to be powerful and actionoriented rather than wringing their hands at the many crises the Council is confronted with has traditionally been a male domain. Just a few years ago, there were four women on the Council- and they were seen to be powerful and action-oriented rather than wringing their hands at the many crises the Council is confronted with. At present, it is only the US who is represented by a woman. And the number of women Permanent Representatives in New York is only about 10% of the total- and many of them come from smaller countries. Does Participation of Women In Peace Processes Have Influence on Its Durability? I would definitely say so. Just look at what is happening with the peace negotiations in Colombia, where a decades-old conflict is being settled- with the active participation of women. Even ten-fifteen years ago,(when I had been involved in the negotiations) this had not been possible: women just were not taken seriously as negotiation partners, sitting at the same table with men and having an equal voice. While the world is changing, there are also influences that can be brought on this change. Security Council Resolution 1325 is one of those: it was adopted in 2000, and it had three goals 3 : (i) To increase representation and participation of women at all decisionmaking levels in national, regional, and international institutions and mechanisms for conflict prevention, conflict management, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding(op. paras. 1-5); (ii) To bring a gender perspective to the planning and implementation of peace operations and peace negotiations(gendersensitive training of personnel, an expanded role of women as peacekeepers etc),(op. paras. 6-9); and (iii) To increase attention to the protection and respect of women’s rights, including protection against gender-based violence in situations of armed conflict(op. paras. 10-14). What is important here are not only the goals that were set, but there was also a request to the Secretary-General to regularly monitor progress and to report to the Member States. This was really the important part: progress was measurable, it was transparent and there for all to see(and applaud or criticize, as the case may be). It placed women and the question of gender firmly on the agenda and made it part of the formal UN discourse on peace and security. It is thus clear that women in peace and security has become a central part of the agenda, both on the political front as well as in humanitarian and social development contexts. It is a topic that cannot be shunned. I should also like to note that Resolution 3 The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325(2000). Adopted by the Security Council at its 4213th meeting, on 31 October 2000 https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N00/720/18/PDF/N0072018.pdf?OpenElement UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 9

1325 was the first of the so-called“thematic resolutions”. Women in Army or Women in Peacekeeping- Do We Need Both? Of course we do- as we need men in the kitchen and in child-rearing and other tasks that are traditionally considered“women’s domains”. Again, we need to do away with the old stereotypes. When Justin Trudeau was « The business of war has changed and with it, the men- and women - who are needed to carry it out elected in Canada last year and he staffed his cabinet with 50% women, a gasp was heard around the world, and he, with an unflappable expression, countered the questions with the explanation:“why- it is 2016, after all”. What a wonderful phrase that was- and how one wished that other powerful men would feel the same way. When I was a deputy in a peacekeeping operation and routinely had to address hundreds of soldiers, I never encountered any hostility or dismissiveness. If you have a job to do, you do it to the best of your ability - but you do not get it done unless you convey seriousness and determination- and not a single doubt that you might not have the right gender to do it. Men never seem to be plagued by self-doubt. Women in the Armed Forces? I would like to see more of them. There used to be criticism (from men) about their unsuitability for fighting, and the difficulty of integrating them into the male-dominated military. Yet how many armies are still fighting on the battlefield? The business of war has changed - and with it, the men- and women- who are needed to carry it out. While I would like to see 10 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 war disappear altogether from the earth, it is unlikely to happen in my lifetime- and while it exists, it has opened up opportunities for women- such as conducting military analysis or operating remote-controlled drones- that did not exist fifty years ago. Some Final Remarks So where does this leave us today, in 2017? The balance sheet is uneven, and in my opinion, too slowly being advanced in favor of women. However, I have noticed that the “gender issue” is now being raised frequently, whether in politics or in private business, and the awareness that something needs to change has risen exponentially, in many countries. The“old boys” network is alive and well, but its role is diminishing. There is a perceived need – on the part of men, I should add – to actually do something to change the situation, and not only to give lip service to the advancement of women while happily maintaining the status quo. My generation faced a very different situation. I came of age in the bra-burning era, at the time of women’s marches for emancipation, for equal rights, for equal pay, for equal status. We burned with the injustice of it all, and we asked for changes, at times aggressively and at times abrasively. The young generation now has different issues. Gender equality as a concept is not something that needs to be fought for anymore – but now, here and everywhere and every day, gender equality needs to be implemented. By all of us. Jointly. Every day. Angela Kane was formerly the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and Under-Secretary-General for Management in the United Nations. As of 2016, Ms Kane is a Senior Fellow at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation and teaches at Sciences Po Paris School of International Affairs on disarmament issues. She is a member of the United Nations University Council and a Member of the Group of Eminent Persons, Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty(CTBTO).

GENDER POLICY(POLITICS) IN DIPLOMACY: WORLD PRACTICE AND THE UKRAINIAN CASE Iryna Tyshko Member of the public council of parliamentary interfractional caucus “Equal Opportunities” The idea of equal rights and opportunities for people regardless of ethnic, racial, age, religious, and other indications is a part of universal human values. In this context, gender equality is considered a fundamental principle of human rights. Despite that, the questions of gender policy have been worked out for a long time; even now, there are many discussions the ways it could be realised. The most developed democratic countries used to practice gender policy in diplomacy because of the stereotypes about women and limited career opportunities for them. Ukraine is trying to develop according to the pro-European paradigm and it has a lot of tendencies that play a negative role in the formation of gender balance in the government. There are some of the most effective world practices that could be useful for Ukrainian diplomacy. For now, the policy of most democratic countries is based on the legislative and normative acts that are intended to guarantee gender equality in all areas of social life. Some countries applied them successfully. But there are some areas that are traditionally considered to be“male areas”. It also applies to Ukraine and in particular to its public administration and diplomacy. The context of the pro-European paradigm and modern requirements oblige our country to make reforms in some areas to guarantee gender equality. The responsibility for development and implementation of public policy rests with the government. Nevertheless, there is no gender balance in the career opportunities in the government. Representation of women in public authority posts remains on the principle of vertical segregation: the higher level of power means the less number of women there. World Experience in Gender Policy in the Foreign Affairs Sphere Not every European country has a better situation than Ukraine, but Sweden had the biggest number of female in charge of the foreign policy throughout its history – seven. Also, in Georgia and Bulgaria this number is three; in Croatia, Italy, Liechtenstein, and Latvia – two; in the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, San Marino, Hungary, and France – one. In other « A successful implementation of gender policy in the diplomatic sphere in other countries can help Ukraine to reform its diplomatic service UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 11

countries, including Ukraine, foreign policy belongs to men, such a men’s club”. 1 A successful implementation of gender policy in the diplomatic sphere in other countries can help Ukraine to reform its diplomatic service. As International Centre for Policy Studies(ICPS) experts note in their research 2 , the greatest number of women in the higher diplomatic posts is in the Nordic countries: Norway, Sweden, and Finland. In 2010, the Nordic Gender Institute conducted research on the number of women diplomats occupying the higher posts and it tells that there are 30% of women among the ambassadors of Norway, which is the largest number in Europe, whereas in 1995 it was only 8.5%. The second place belongs to Finland and Sweden – they have 27% of women who head the embassies, but in 1997, it was 6.9%. In Great Britain, there are about 21% of women ambassadors, 19% of women who take posts of high representatives, and about 22% of the highest diplomatic posts at the Foreign Office of the United Kingdom are occupied by women. About 22% of leadership positions in the European Union missions are filled by women, and their number has risen since Catherine Ashton became the High Representative of the European Union for foreign affairs. Some countries in Central Europe, which have formed their ministries of foreign affairs after the fall of the USSR, also have successful results. There are 26% of ambassadors’ posts that are occupied by women in Estonia and 25% in Romania. Nowadays there are 31% of women ambassadors in the USA, while it was only 18% in 2004. In Latin America and Caribbean countries, there is also a positive tendency. The best result belongs to Panama, where women take every fourth ambassadorial post. In African countries, in particular in South African Republic and Rwanda, females are about a quarter of the heads of their diplomatic missions. This number is higher than the average in the world. Countries of the Asian-Pacific region belong to the second part of the list of gender equality in the area of diplomatic service, but there are 40% of women who head diplomatic missions abroad in the Philippines and about 29% in Australia. The Middle East countries have the lowest number of women who take diplomatic posts, but Egypt and Tunisia break this tendency by appointing a number of women to ambassadorial posts from time to time. The Gulf countries have a low number of women who take ambassadorial posts, but there was no woman in those posts 10 years ago, so it is a great progress. Kuwait was the first country that broke traditional rules by appointing a woman as an ambassador in 1993. After that, Bahrain did the same and it had four women ambassadors by 2012, which means 15% of all its diplomatic missions abroad 2 . Today, the USA has one of the largest numbers of women in diplomatic posts. Back in 1922, women were allowed to join the United States Foreign Service. After that, they have been slowly but confidently moving to the highest posts in the government. In 1933, Ruth Bryan Owen became the first woman to head a mission in the rank of a minister and she soon headed the embassy of the US to Denmark and Iceland. For the first 43 years after Ruth Bryan Owen became the head of the mission, there was a small number of women who took posts of the heads of missions or assistants of the secretary of 1 Міністри закордонних справ країн� світу(The Heads of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of All the World),“Wikipedia”, [https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Міністри_закордонних_справ_країн�_світу access: 3 April 2016]. 2 Соціологічні опитування МЦПД:«Ґендерні особливості дипломатичної� служби в Україн� і та у світі»(Social Research of the ICPS:“Gender Aspects of Diplomatic Service in Ukraine and in the World), Київ�, 2015[http://icps. com.ua/assets/uploads/images/files/s_diplomatki_b.pdf]. 12 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

state. President Ford’s administration broke this barrier by appointing seven women to ambassadors’ positions and three women to other leadership posts. During the presidency of J. Carter, 18 women were appointed as ambassadors. Presidents R. Reagan and George Bush continued this tendency by appointing 33 and 37 women, accordingly. The administration of B. Clinton already appointed 116 women to higher posts. However, G.W. Bush appointed only 69 women during his first presidency 3 . The United States Foreign Service was reformed and developed enough for the last century. There were a lot of improvements in the attitude to women and minorities. In the past, the Department of State was characterised as“male, pale, and Yale”. 4 Women who worked in the United States Foreign Service in the 1950-60s often experienced discrimination against them despite their education and erudition. They were forced to resign if they planned a marriage, even though there were no official documents requiring them to do so. Only lawsuits and judicial complaints made the system to develop in the 1970s. 5 The first woman who became the US State Secretary was M. Albright in 1997. She overcame the prejudice against women in policy by her professional activity. Since H. Clinton took the post of State Secretary in 2009, the number of women ambassadors of other countries to the USA rose significantly, which was called a“Hillary effect” 6 . As of December 2015, there was the greatest number of women ambassadors of the USA in all its history. There were 124 women among the 367 ambassadors – 31.6%. 7 The United Kingdom also has successful results in the implementation of gender policy. For a long time women had to fight for their rights and chance to work in the diplomatic sphere. They struggled against a great number of stereotypes. Senior lecturer of history in the Queen Mary University of London H. McCarthy said in her article that the possibility of women working in the diplomatic field was a controversial theme in the United Kingdom for the first half of the 20th century. Feminists fought for equal rights but the Foreign Office warned that appointing women to ambassadorial posts could damage the credibility of the country. In 1934, one British official commented on this situation:“Diplomats would perceive it such a bad joke” and another his colleague said: “They could think that we don’t receive their ambassadors seriously”. It was common to think that British interests could be damaged. The author thinks that the World War II destroyed this stereotype about women in the area of foreign affairs of the UK, because of the insufficiency of men. The Foreign Office had no choice but to appoint educated women such as F. Stark and M. MacGeachy to ambassadors’ posts to Iraq and Washington. Therefore, it was not possible until 1946 when the government allowed women to work in the UK embassies and women were allowed to take an exam on diplomatic service. As McCarthy noted, the fight with 3 Women in Diplomacy,“U.S. Department of State”,[http://www.state.gov/s/d/rm/rls/perfrpt/2005/html/56313. htm access: 8 May 2016]. 4 Moments in U.S. Diplomatic History,[http://adst.org/2015/03/this-is-not-a-womans-issue-this-is-a-managementconcern/ access: 26 April 2016]. 5 Cracking the Glass Ceiling: A Conversation with Foreign Service Women,[http://adst.org/the-stump/cracking-theglass-ceiling-a access: 11 April 2016]. 6 Hillary Effect’ Cited for Increase in Female Ambassadors to U.S.,“Washington Post”,[http://www.washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/10/ AR2010011002731.html?sid=ST2010011101598 access: 12 April 2016]. 7 Snapshot: Obama’s Female Ambassadors, Highest Percentage Appointments at 31.6%,[https://diplopundit. net/?s=Highest+Percentage+Appointments+at+31.6%25&submit=Search access: 8 May 2016]. UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 13

conservative officials had ended but the war for quality had only started. Because of stereotypes about women and the fear of a lightweight attitude to women ambassadors in resolving serious problems,“soft” policy became the most prominent“women’s” area in diplomacy. It means the spheres of peace, equal rights, development. Today“soft” policy means prevention and resolution of conflicts based on ethnic differences and in the hotspots « it is problematic for women to work abroad, because a lot of men are unready to accompany their women’s mission instead of building their own career and also an increase in the level of safety with activation of women’s potential. 8 At the same time, there are many examples when women in diplomatic service demonstrated traditionally“male” characteristics. The most common are being rigid, uncompromising, and inexorable. Those characteristics are stereotypically attributed to men. Probably because of their being a minority, women needed to prove their manliness to take diplomacy posts 9 . In addition, it is problematic for women to work abroad, because a lot of men are unready to accompany their women’s mission instead of building their own career. Wives accompany their husbands- diplomats more often. Nowadays this situation became better, but in the last century, it was nonsense in some countries. For example, in the USA in 1957, the State Department edited the directive on the Married Women’s Status Act, which said that the main role of women is to support their husbands. Until 1972, every married couple that had one person working in the United States Foreign Service was considered to count both wife and husband as government employees. That is why all information was included into their certifications. In 1972 also, the Declaration on Spouses was adopted, which changed this situation. This document also cancelled the inhibition of marriage for women diplomats. One of the problems is how to guarantee friendly working surroundings to the ambassador’s family, because there is a need for education for the children and employment for the husband and so on. According to the research of the British Embassy Magazine, in 2002 more than half of women who headed diplomatic missions of their countries in London were either not married or divorced, and even if they were married, their husbands did not accompany them to their missions. This means that more than half of women ambassadors worked abroad without the support of their partners. In return, in 2012 (although the number of women ambassadors increased about 40%), 75% of them were not married, divorced, or their husbands were at home. That means that women who take the highest posts in diplomatic service need to choose between career and family. However, this does not apply to men diplomats. 10 The abovementioned research also found another tendency among women in middle 8 С. Хабибуллина, Женщины в политике и дипломатии: психологический� и исторический� аспекты(Women in Policy and Diplomacy: Psychological and Historical Aspects),[http://globkazan.narod.ru/a9.htm access: 12 April 2016]. 9 Т. Зонова, Гендерный� фактор в политике и дипломатии(The Gender Factor in Policy and Diplomacy),“Журнал теории международных отношений� и мировой� политики«Международные процессы»”[http://www.inter trends.ru/twenty/009.htm access: 20 March 2016]. 10 This Is Not a Woman’s Issue. This Is a Management Concern,“Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training”, [http://adst.org/2015/03/this-is-not-a-womans-issue-this-is-a-management-concern/ access: 8 May 2016]. 14 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

and senior diplomatic positions: about 61.5% are married or have a partner and only 70% of married women are accompanied by their partner. So, we can see that only in 43% of cases women diplomats at middle and highest levels are married and accompanied by their partners 2 . The United Kingdom was the first country that started to practice appointing a husband and wife as ambassadors at the same time. This unique practice allowed to share the ambassador’s post between two people and soon became a traditional practice. Tom Carter and Caroline Davidson were the first married couple who took the post of the ambassador of the United Kingdom to Zambia in 2008-2012. Before this, they shared the post of the deputy head of the UK embassy to Slovakia in 2003-2008. Instead of a classical system, when each partner worked for few days a week, they decided to divide a year to three parts, so both of them worked for four months. Another married couple of British diplomats worked in Armenia. Jonathan and Catherine Leach introduced some rules for each other to work effectively, because it was important for them to have continuity in decision-making. Therefore, they discussed every important decision, but other, less important decisions were made by the current ambassador without discussing. The diplomats confessed that they had a lot of difficulties because of scepticism (especially from other ambassadors who would rather be indispensable instead of dividing their post with someone). They are convinced that this format of work could be implemented in all areas because of its effectiveness. 13 However, some conservative countries still do not support those practices. For example, the appointment of the married couple as the UK ambassadors to Armenia was criticised a lot. Some Armenians thought that the United Kingdom tried to show its lightweight attitude to Armenia. But the UK minister of foreign affairs emphasised that it is a modern way to work more effectively in the countries diplomats should go to 14 . Nowadays every fifth post of the UK ambassadors is occupied by a woman and a quarter of posts in the Foreign Office belongs to women. The Ukrainian Case Ukraine has a lot of problems with gender balance in the government. Since Ukraine became an independent country, there was once when a woman headed the government – it was Yulia Tymoshenko. Only 23 women headed ministerial posts in 20 governments. Also, the post of the minister of foreign affairs has never been occupied by a woman. There are only three women in the current Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The Article 8 of the Eighth Report on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) states that the correlation between men and women at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is 70% to 30%. Only 38 women took leadership positions within the MFA in 2015. 15 This situation tells about a vertical gender segregation that leads to an 11 The Rise of the Female Diplomat,“Prospect Magazine”,[http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ opinions/the-riseof-the-female-diplomat access: 8 May 2016]. 12 UK’s Diplomatic Double in Zambia,“BBC News”,[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7654649.stm access: 8 May 2016]. 13 The Ambassadorial Job Share,[https://civilservice.blog.gov. uk/2014/03/03/the-ambassadorial-job-share/ access: 8 May 2016]. 14 Mr and Mrs Ambassador: Bizarre Job Share of Our Man – and Woman – in Armenia for British Embassy,“Daily Mail”,[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2028369/Mr-Mrs-Ambassador-Bizarre-job-share-man--woman-Armenia-British-embassy.html access: 27 April 2016]. UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 15

uneven distribution of men and women on different levels. It is common to think that the first woman ambassador in the world was the famous Soviet politician Aleksandra Kolontai, who described diplomacy as“an art to make relations with people and develop them”. 6 The first woman who became a Ukrainian ambassador was Nina Kovalsky, heading missions to Sweden, Liechtenstein, and Vatican(at the same time) from 1998 to 2003. In addition, we should remember Susanna Stanic, who was the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe from 2001 to 2003 16 , and Natalia Zarudna, who took the post of the vicesecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and in 2012, headed the OSCE centre in Astana. The law of Ukraine On Implementation of Equal Rights and Opportunities of Women and Men defines gender equality as“the equal legal status of women and men and the equal opportunities of both sexes to take part in all areas of social life”. 17 But there is no gender equality in Ukrainian diplomacy about what we will talk about. The sphere of foreign policy is guided by the Law of Ukraine On Public Service, which also guarantees“... an implementation of equal admission to the public service”. Since the mid of the 20th century, there have been some women who headed diplomatic missions to European countries. However, in Ukraine it continues to belong to men as it was before. It should be noted that Ukraine also has recent positive trends in the appointment of women to foreign service. In particular, there have been three women(Natalia Zarudna, Natalia Galibarenko, and Olena Zerkal) at the level of deputy ministers. Eight women have been appointed to the posts of ambassadors and heads of representations to international organisations; seven women have taken the posts of general consuls. Considering that they took several posts at the same time (concealed work) or changed diplomatic missions, we can count only 19 posts of ambassadors and other representatives that were headed by women 2 . The European vector in Ukrainian policy requires that our country make reform of the Ministry of foreign affairs, equally to other ministers. Realisation of gender policy in this sphere is only the first step. We can make more opportunities for women only by reforming and implementing a favourable policy in Ukraine, which would be encouraging women to build their career. One of the first steps in those reforms should be special agreements between countries, which would guarantee employment of members of diplomats’ families in the country they work, like in other countries whose experience we talked about. Nowadays Ukraine has such agreements with the USA 18 , United Kingdom, Poland 19 , Argentina 20 , and Israel. Also, there is a possibility of joint appointments of 15 Восьма періодична доповідь про виконання Україн� ою Конвенції� ООН про ліквідацію усіх форм дискримінації� щодо жінок(The Eighth Periodic Report on the Implementation of the UN Convention on the Elim ination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women),“Міністерство соціальної� політики Україн� и”, 2014, p. 45. 16 В. Кобиляцька, Жінки на дипломатичних теренах: поступ і зрушення(Women in Diplomatic Area: Develop ment and Progress),[http://povaha.org.ua/zhinky-na-dyplomatychnyh-terenah-postup-i-zrushennya/ access: 21 March 2016]. 17 Постій� не представництво Україн� и при відділенні ООН та інших міжнародних організаціях у Женеві(Perma nent Representative of Ukraine to the UN and Other International Organizations in Geneva), MFA,[http://geneva. mfa.gov.ua/ua/about-mission/diplomats]. 18 Угода між Урядом Україн� и і Урядом США щодо працевлаштування утриманців службовців Уряду Україн� и та США від 21.11.1994(у формі обміну нотами) від 21 листопада 1994 року(The Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the USA on Employment of the Members of Their Embassies...),[http://zakon3.rada. gov.ua/laws/show/840_114]. 16 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

diplomatic couples to diplomatic missions to foreign countries. In this case, both of them could work in the same embassy but in different sections or for different kinds of missions. In addition, it is possible to appoint a wife and a husband to embassies in neighbouring countries. In July 2014, the President of Ukraine emphasised increasing the number of women diplomats in member states of the European Union. 21 There it should be noted that the first president of Ukraine, L. Kravchuk, did not appoint any women to diplomatic posts to foreign countries. President P. Poroshenko appointed only four women: Natalia Galibarinko to the United Kingdom, Tetiana Izjevska to Vatican, Liubov Nepop to Hungary and Inna Ohnivets to Portugal. As of May 2016, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, women have the following posts: one deputy minister of foreign affairs; among 84 posts of ambassadors, only four are filled by women; among 25 posts of Ukrainian consuls general, only four are women. The Trade representative of Ukraine(Deputy Minister Ministry of Economic Development and Trade), Nataliya Mykol’ska is in charge of the Ukrainian delegation to the World Trade Organisation. As a conclusion, we can say that diplomacy in most countries is not gender-balanced. This is also true about Ukraine. However, there are some mechanisms of gender policy in the world practice that have good results and help women to get more opportunities in diplomacy. Such countries as the USA, the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Sweden, Norway, and Finland have a successful experience in gender policy. Ukraine, whose diplomatic service needs to be reformed, should take those examples for its own benefit. There is some positive tendency in Ukrainian diplomacy and gender policy, but it is not enough in order for our country to develop in the European vector, which means democratic values and equal rights for everyone. Iryna Tyshko holds a master’s degree from the School of Public Administration at National University“Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”. She is a feminist, researcher of gender issues in international policy, and member of the public council of parliamentary interfractional caucus“Equal Opportunities”. 19 Про ратифікацію Угоди(у формі обміну нотами) між Кабінетом Міністрів Україн� и та Урядом Республіки[...] від 17 червня 2015 року(On Ratification of an Agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Republic Government…),[http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/528-19]. 20 Про ратифікацію Угоди між Урядом Україн� и і Урядом Аргентинської� Республіки про працевлаштування членів[...] від 29 квітня 2000 року(The Ratification of an Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Argentine Republic on Employment the Members of Their Embassies...),[http://zakon5.rada.gov.ua/laws/ show/1691-14 24]. 21 Важливою у виконанні миротворчої� місії� сьогодні є роль жінок – Президент Україн� и(Today the Role of Wom en in the Peacemaking Mission Is Very Important- President of Ukraine),“Офіцій� не інтернет-представництво Президента Україн� и”, 23 July 2014[http://www.president.gov.ua/news/vazhlivoyu-u-vikonanni-mirotvor choyi-misiyi-sogodni-ye-rol-z-33316 access: 10 January 2016). UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 17

GOOD GIRLS SELDOM MAKE FOREIGN POLICY 1 Iwona Reichardt New Eastern Europe The article presents a result of the number of interviews made by the author in Warsaw, Kyiv and Berlin about the role women play in the foreign policy of their respective states. The author aim to answer why, despite very clear and prominent declarations of equal opportunity, women still seem to be pushed aside and whether men are destined to remain in control of the foreign policy and diplomacy. Comparing three countries similarities and differences are presented in perceiptions and practises. “Well-behaved women seldom make history” was first the title of an article written in 1975 by historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Interestingly, this phrase, first used in the academic context to analyse funeral sermons of Christian women, entered the realm of American pop culture and since the 1990s has been widely used on bumper stickers, coffee mugs and T-shirts. In 2007, it returned to the world of academia, becoming, once again, the title of Ulrich’s publication, this time a book 2 . When looking at the role of women in the formulation of foreign policy, this phrase can also be relevant. The conclusions of a series of interviews with women who are foreign policy specialists overlap with what Ulrich wrote 40 years ago. In other words, many women who make positive impacts are overlooked – be it by history or the present. Network paradigm Foreign policy is often seen as a highly hierarchical and formal sector, even though its development in recent decades is explained through the prism of a network paradigm. This theoretical framework assumes that interstate relations are not only built through rigid structures and state institutions, but that they are also the result of many networks of diverse ties and connections. In terms of axiology, a high value is placed on such categories as trust and social capital. Practically these assumptions are implemented through the model of public diplomacy, which, by stressing the importance of culture, history and education, shows a clear connection with Joseph Nye’s definition of soft power. As Nye argues, soft power opts for influence through appeal and attraction not force and coercion 3 . Its impact is seen as effective when it is positive and involves diverse agents(state and non-state), and not just one centre of command. Foreign relations are thereby more 1 This piece originally appeared in Issue 6/2016 of New Eastern Europe. Material for this text was collected in three cities – Warsaw, Kyiv and Berlin – thanks to a grant received from the Foundation of Polish-German Co-operation 2 L.T. Ulrich, Well-behaved Women Seldom Make History, Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. 18 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

democratic, both at the level of policy-making and implementation. But the question is: how do these theoretical assumptions translate into representative participation? That is to say, one that includes different actors at all stages of the game, including women and their networks. Questions like this have been returning to me for a quite some time. Reassured by my colleagues that I am not alone in the quest to understand the real implementation of the network paradigm, and thus the role women play in today foreign policy making, I began with observations of specialist conferences that focus on the so-called post-Soviet space. Many of them have a strong civil society angle, like the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, and yet all-male panels are relatively commonplace. The same applies to the composition of numerous advisory boards and international conflict-resolution groups. How many women were negotiators of the Minsk agreements? Not to limit myself to observations that are always at risk of being subjective and grounded in assumptions, I decided to conduct interviews with women who are directly involved in the process of foreign policy. I spoke with analysts, journalists, public sector employees and academics in three European capitals: Warsaw, Berlin and Kyiv. I talked with them at their workplaces, but also met some in cafés and at conference venues. We talked calmly, analysing the many angles of our work; however, other conversations were more hurried, as we exchanged our reflections and shared metaphors as we were rushing from one meeting to another. Regardless of the context and length of conversation, I managed to have all the interlocutors explain how they perceived their role in the area of international relations and what were their interpretations of the structure and functioning of this world. I wanted to know: is a network paradigm being sufficiently implemented by the institutions in all three states or is it merely a vague aspiration? Warsaw Warsaw was the first stage of my research. All of the women I spoke with here have impressive achievements and experience. They are internationally recognized experts and opinion-makers. Overall, their work and talent is something of which the Polish state should be proud. They represent a diverse range of organizations in international affairs – not sharing the same vision – but when we spoke about women in foreign policy, the majority had similar views. Their honesty was as striking as their limited enthusiasm to their experiences. “I often see how few female colleagues come to our meetings,” said one internationally recognized expert. She continued: “Metaphorically, I can say that there are mostly suits and ties. Very few women.” When I asked her for the interpretation of the situation, I got an answer, which was also repeated by several of my interlocutors: “Polish women are very submissive. They do not like(nor want) to promote themselves. And even when they decide to do so, they have to be certain of their knowledge.” This is something, as she says, that can be seen in the area of foreign relations and policy-making. In her view, men are different:“Maybe I am a bit unfair towards my male colleagues, but I have a feeling that quite often they say something just for the sake of talking; to be in the spotlight. This is a feature of foreign policy in Poland where much younger male partners, quite often recent college graduates, are so sure of themselves that they push aside their older female colleagues who have more 3 J. S. Nye“Public Diplomacy and Soft Power”. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol 616, Issue 1. SAGE Publications, 2008 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 19

experience and could provide a much more interesting interpretation.” I failed in my search to find a woman who would offer a different view of the matter. All agreed that the situation is quite grim. One academic put it this way:“We are absent, and that is the problem.” Her words describe women at universities where – as I have often heard – the situation is much better than in think tanks and ministries. When I mentioned this assumption, she responded bluntly:“We may be present, but it feels as if we were absent. And that is how things are.” Disturbed by this view, I decided to confront it by meeting two analysts from a prestigious Polish think tank. I met them independently but heard similar stories, just in different words. The first woman was very straightforward:“In foreign policy men have it better. This is a world still associated with men. The world of big politics. A kind of a‘secret sphere’ available to only the very few.” Referring to past experiences she added, “We cannot forget that for years it was men, and solely men, who were diplomats. This meant foreign travel, or work in embassies or consulates. It was the men who advised the powerful and the mighty, while their wives at most would come along as companions, possibly working as the embassy secretary.” Certainly, these times are long gone. In Polish diplomacy, we have had female ambassadors including in the most strategic posts. For instance, until very recently, Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz was the Polish ambassador to Russia. When I mentioned this, my interlocutor agreed, saying that the trend that we had talked about indeed “changed just like the world had changed in the 20th century”. However, in her view,“the area of international relations is still reserved for men”. She also pointed out that“so far Poland has had only one female minister of foreign affairs.” Without a doubt, this“is an indication of something”, she concludes. It is difficult to disagree with her. Another indication of something is a noticeable in the lack of solidarity among women who work in foreign policy in Poland. So far there have been no initiatives aimed at integrating them together as a lobby or ensure greater representation. While women associations are present in the world of business, they are unheard of in politics and think tanks.“It is a real desert,” I am told after asking about what formats are offered to women dealing with foreign policy.“We don’t have a single association, no informal group on Facebook, we don’t organise meetings, breakfasts or discussions”. Clearly, a negative consequence of such a shortage is a smaller network of contacts and interactions. Consequently, there are many“boys’” clubs, all-male panels and much fewer women leaders. Following the rule“the quieter you go, the further you get”, Polish women working in foreign policy give in to their male counterparts, whom they allow to steer the direction of international relations, and profit from their hard work. Kyiv The next stage of my investigation brought me to Kyiv. Preparing for my trip to Ukraine’s capital, I was extremely interested in the role that women play in post-EuroMaidan politics. Has the last revolution, popularly known as the Revolution of Dignity, brought a real change and an increased participation of women at all levels? For an analysis of the network paradigm, Ukraine seems to be a special case. Choosing the European path, Ukrainian society, mainly thanks to the activism of a great number of volunteers, is trying to implement – often against the will of the ruling elite – wide political changes, which are commonly accepted as democratic governance. I spoke with women who work in the three most important think tanks dealing with foreign relations. One of them is considered a“star of Ukraine’s foreign policy”. Indeed, it is hard to find a better description for the 20 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

only Ukrainian who has interviewed a sitting president of the United States. This fact was first brought to my attention after spotting a beautifully framed photo of her and the US president in her office; she also mentioned this encounter during our conversation. She spoke about the think tank that she cofounded after having experienced the glass ceiling while working as a journalist. Redirecting the attention of my interlocutor to the wider context of working women in Ukraine, I hoped to understand the depth of change taking place. My interlocutor has been working in the field for over 20 years, and points to some progress, including the July 2015 law, which mandates that at least 30 per cent of candidates in political parties have to be women. She also mentioned Olena Zerkal – the first woman in Ukraine to hold the position of deputy minister of foreign affairs. All the other interlocutors shared enthusiasm towards this nomination. The interviews in Kyiv demonstrate that the situation of women who work in foreign policy is very different from that of their Polish counterparts. Many Ukrainian analysts admit that in the post-Maidan Ukraine there is room for everyone, regardless of gender. Activism is still very strong and anyone who has a vision and determination can achieve a lot. This was the impression I was given. However, cultural aspects, such as the legacy of Soviet politics and diplomacy remain. Unlike the conversations in Warsaw and Berlin, the Ukrainian women I spoke with formulated such statements as: “I have never felt that being a woman is some kind of obstacle in this work. Just the opposite. It would even help me at times. Especially in negotiations.” Or:“I have never experienced any form of discrimination. It is true that in my work I am surrounded by men; there are many more of them, but indeed I do not feel that I am somehow discriminated.” And even: “Women are simply less ambitious and they lack confidence.” While such statements were not necessarily repeated by all the women I spoke with, they do point to a certain paradox: even though democratisation in Ukraine seems to be taking place based on the rule of equal rights, the agents that are creating it are hesitant to apply some western categories that – in their view – do not seem to fit the Ukrainian context. This explains why some were somewhat steering clear of gender terminology and did not hesitate to say that having children is a serious problem if you want to have a professional career. Despite that, they seemed quite aware of the burden that falls on women’s shoulders, pointing out that very few men take paternity leave and the support that young Ukrainian mothers receive is inadequate. Berlin My final stop was Berlin. The capital of a state governed by the iron fist of a woman for whom – as I heard from many people – the issue of women’s rights is one of the many things that Angela Merkel does not talk much about. In spite of the fact that the majority of my interlocutors are in favour of Merkel retaining her post for the next term(perceived as a guarantee of Europe’s stability), she will probably not go down in history as a revolutionary politician when it comes to women’s rights. However, there are many women whose work has contributed to « women have succeeded in tackling two problems that remain in Poland and Ukraine: a need to create networks for women working in foreign affairs and a more egalitarian approach to childcare and parental leave a much better situation for women working in foreign affairs in Germany comparing to Poland or Ukraine. In my conversations, I kept hearing such names as Rita Suessmuth, Marielouise Beck, Constanze Stelzenmuelle UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 21

and Sylke Tempel. Tempel’s name was cited almost every time I brought up the issue of women’s associations. Thanks to the work of this very dynamic chief editor of the magazine International Politik that Women in International Security(WIIS) have been organising a widely recognised women’s breakfast during the prestigious Munich Security Forum for many years now. The conversations, I had with German women, led me to believe that women have succeeded in tackling two problems that remain in Poland and Ukraine: a need to create networks for women working in foreign affairs and a more egalitarian approach to childcare and parental leave. With regards to the latter, the situation in Germany is still far from ideal(most of my interlocutors point out that the situation is much better in France or Scandinavian countries) and many women“still feel that they need to choose between their professional career and private life”; however changes are taking place and a number of the women who have been working in foreign policy the longest pointed out that each decade brings progress. Nevertheless, the German women I spoke with admit that they are under a lot of pressure. A very traditional family model where a woman is expected to spend the first three years of a child’s life at home is a point of concern. This outlook is particularly common in the western and more conservative parts of Germany. In diplomacy, the challenge that is mentioned the most is the professional path of the husbands, which do not always allow women to take foreign posts. Like their Polish and Ukrainian colleagues, German women are also very well aware of the fact that their male colleagues are not as willing to share power and the privileged positions in foreign policy, as one would expect. My stay in all three capitals was meant to capture the real process of foreign policy making as well as the forces that drive it. I tried to find out why, despite very clear and prominent declarations of equal opportunity, women still seem to be pushed aside and whether men are destined to remain in control. The lessons that I have learnt call for cautious optimism. Change and progress are possible and are, in fact, taking place in all three states, but their reach is uneven and often met with internal hurdles. Unfortunately, Ulrich’s thesis that the positive impact women make is often overlooked, despite their hard work and valuable experience, can be confirmed in the area of foreign policy as well. Iwona Reichardt is the deputy editor-in-chief of New Eastern Europe(Poland). She has a PhD in Political Science from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Her previous experience includes Foreign Policy magazine in Washington DC, and five years of policy analysis work with the World Bank. Iwona is also the author of a number of academic and policy papers, published in both Polish and English. 22 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

THE GENDER DIMENSION OF CONFLICTS Olena Suslova The Women’s Information Consultative Center The article covers the issues of conflict, gender, and – more broadly – a “gender lens” in conflict analysis. It touches upon feminist concepts of peace as well as goes in depth into the gender dimension of security. Applications of the author’s conclusion include the study of the“Russian World” and the role of gender inequalities in it. Gender as a Crosscutting Issue of Policy Analysis For a systematic understanding of the issues related to and ways of overcoming crises, it is important to consider gender as a crosscutting component. This is consonant with what is referred to as gender mainstreaming. This term is used to describe assessment of the “implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies, or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of policies and programmes in political, economic, and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.” This is the definition offered by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) 1 . Promotion of the principle of equal rights and opportunities for women and men in Ukraine is no longer a prerogative of international agencies and NGOs only. The national gender policy is becoming more precisely outlined, comprehensive, and recognised year by year. The Law on Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men, adopted in 2005, laid the foundations of the national gender policy. Its development in the following years was not always consistent and not always delivered effective outcomes, but it is no longer possible to rewind the progress in this area. However, it is important to keep in mind that the gender component is not only a matter of the number of women and men participating in an event, nor only addressing practical needs of women to match their traditional gender roles. All of this is very important, but gender as a crosscutting issue is much deeper imprinted in the life of the society through values, indirect effects, and consequences. The gender dimension of political process is inseparable from the aspect of power. This becomes evident in the context of violent conflicts. 1 Coordination of the Policies and Activities of the Specialized Agencies and Other Bodies of the United Nations System, United Nations Economic and Social Council, 1997 [http://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/pdf/ECOSOCAC1997.2.PDF]. UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 23

Conflict Is a Destroyer and Conflict Is a Creator A conflict has its own life cycle. It occurs, reaches its emotional, even violent climax, subsides, disappears, and often reappears again. The life cycle of a military conflict can be virtually divided into three phases – previolent, violent, and post-violent –, which separate the onset and ceasefire. For many people, a conflict is often seen as the evil, with its other negative connotations. However, it is also important to consider that a conflict always opens“a window of opportunities”, which should be used in order that the conflict results in not only destruction, but also creation of a new reality. Response to a conflict at its different phases may only be effective when this response is more differentiated depending on the sex, social groups, etc. This enhances both the « a conflict always opens“a window of opportunities”, which should be used in order that the conflict results in not only destruction, but also creation of a new reality action and the results. Our intention is to try to suggest certain dimensions of conflict at its different stages, taking into account the gender dimension as one of the categories of individualisation. Conflict through the“Gender Lens “Gender lens” 2 usually means the capacity to see in any phenomenon, project, programme, or artefact differences between the situation for women and men, and determine whether these differences result in inequality. The gender component is also an integral part of the factors predetermining early signs of conflict, and therefore its prevention. The gap in life expectancy between women and men in Ukraine before the war was almost 13 years, varying in different regions of the country. For instance, in Donetsk region the gap was 21 years, although demographers believe that after the threshold of 10 years is exceeded, changes in the society may become unmanageable. The physiological difference in life expectancy between men and women is only three to five years. The other factors are socially rooted, and therefore they can be attenuated by using social leverage. The feminist concept of the culture of peace requires broad social changes in individual cultural values. The gender perspective of the culture of peace, when considering peace in its various manifestations based on these concepts, applies the“gender lens”. This contributes to seeing the different roles and relationships of men and women in peaceand non-peace building, as well as the impact of gender-based structures on them 3 . This may also be of use for those who wish to change this world to make it more peaceful, tolerant, and friendly to men and women, consciously moving in this direction. The gender dimension within this text assumes a thorough examination of social phenomena through the lens of gender equality or inequality, namely: the equal legal status of men and women, their equal opportunities to achieve it, their equality before the law, respect for the dignity of men and women. Conflict will be considered at three tentative phases – prior to the“hot” 2 Women Rising,“Impact Alpha”[http://impactalpha.com/category/gender-lens/]. 3 The Gendered Society,“Harvard Educational Review”, 71(1)[http://hepg.org/her-home/issues/harvard-educational-review-volume-72-issue-1/herbooknote/the-gendered-society_70]. 24 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

phase, the“hot” phase, the“conflict-affected” phase. Gender dimensions of security and peace are conventionally subdivided into sub-dimensions. They are seen through the lens of gender analysis concepts. In order to have a better understanding of women and men in a particular public sphere, when conducting the analysis it is important to understand and be able to apply certain concepts and notions. It should be noted that the concepts and notions in this field are relatively new, therefore unsettled and sometimes contradictory. For the purpose of measuring security and peace, the following concepts can be applied to carry out gender analysis in general and that of a policy in particular: • gender threats; • gender-based discrimination; • gender needs of women, girls, men, boys; • parity participation of women and men in the social life in various fields and at different levels; • differentiated access to and control of resources of women and men; • impact of gender and institutional changes. The gender aspects of security are seen through security threats, gender-based discrimination, gender needs of women, girls, men, boys. The gender dimension of peace is seen through the balanced participation of women and men in the social life in different areas and at different levels, differentiated access to and control of resources of women and men, gender impact, and institutional changes. Examples of the gender dimensions of security and peace, based on analysis of the situation in Ukraine and the countries of the region impacted by the conflicts, which were initiated or supported by Russia or likely to be impacted, were presented during the Women’s Peace Dialogue Platform meeting 4 . It should be noted that these trends are also observed in Russia, which thus threatens its own society as well. One of the most powerful factors of conflict escalation out of the gender dimensions is, in our opinion, the intensification of anti-gender movements with a comprehensive approach to the destruction of gender policy. It should be noted that this indicator is common for all the three phases and manifests itself in all countries of the region. The difference is in the power of local resistance to this factor and the degree of its consideration by politicians and the government. Anti-gender movements have developed in the context of the general concept of the“Russian world”, the manifestations of which often boil down solely to protecting the Russian-speaking population outside Russia. The conflict of value interpretations could not get around such an important topic as equal rights and opportunities for women and men, parity participation in all processes of social transformation, equal access to resources, etc. In Ukraine, this factor especially intensified in 2010, when President V. Yanukovych came into office. In June-July 2010, the highest institutions of the state – the president, the prime minister, the prosecutor general, MPs – started being“bombarded” with numerous letters, the contents of which boiled down to 4 The Women’s Dialogue(WD) project was conceived in 2014 as a safe space for women civil society leaders from Ukraine and the Russian Federation to start a dialogue towards mutual understanding and a respectful peace. The overall objective of the Women’s Dialogue project continues to be the promotion of the full implementation of the UN SC Resolution 1325 and its subsequent resolutions, in keeping with the broader vision of women’s participation in peacebuilding and maintenance that is the Women’s Peace and Security Agenda. The initial round of the Women’s Dialogue project led to a second round in 2016, expanded to include women peace leaders from several more countries across Eastern and Southern Europe and the Central Asia region, allowing it to address multiple conflict contexts. UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 25

the only thesis:“Gender policy and juvenile justice kill the nation, so they need to be got rid of as adverse phenomena.” 5 The letters were the first step. Their content changed over time – from scaring to requesting, in particular, that the parliament abolish the Law on Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men, and later – the provisions of the Constitution as well. Letters to MPs initiated the political will to raise the issue. Some MPs were actively doing that, seemingly“at the request of the public”. They received support from other structures, groups, organisations of the“Russian world”. One of them was the“Parental Committee” positioned as an NGO, but actually being a network of groups supported by the Moscow Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church. This time is also characterised by the establishment of a wide range of ChONGOs (Church-organised NGOs) – organisations that call themselves independent NGOs, though not being such. They are nothing but channels communicating messages of the church, in this case – the Moscow Patriarchate. These organisations must be distinguished from religious NGOs, which do not hide their origins, activities, and relations with religious organisations. The establishment of the“Parental Committee” as an umbrella organisation bringing together the abovementioned organisations and their fight against gender policy and juvenile justice, the organisation of a long-lasting, targeted, costly campaign against gender policy and juvenile justice as manifestations of democratic values – this is an incomplete list of the facts that are not evidence of preparing the war when viewed in isolation from the context, but seen together with other facts, they appear to be aimed at undermining positions of both the civil society and the state in general, as well as directly impacting people as individual ideology carriers. In Ukraine, the mentioned efforts faced a high level of resistance on the part of the civil society. It was in response to such calls that women’s and gender-oriented NGOs and individual experts set up the Gender Strategic Platform 6 in 2011 for the purpose of regularly monitoring the situation, evaluating it, and making recommendations – above all for themselves, but also to develop advocacy efforts aimed at the state and international organisations. In our view, this largely weakened the outcomes of the massive campaign and thereby, among other factors, helped Ukraine avoid“falling into the abyss” prepared for it in 2014. A review of the situation in other countries of the region, including Georgia and Moldova, has shown that ignoring the potentially negative impact of this factor led to increased trends of the society’s clericalisation in these countries 7 and going back to patriarchal trends in general 8 . 5 Recognising a need for a permanent forum for conflict mediation, resolution, and prevention in the region, the par ticipants of the second round of the Women’s Dialogue established the Women’s Peace Dialogue Platform(RWDP). The RWDP will also provide a pool of 1325-competent and constituency-based women ready for service at peace negotiation tables. The Women’s Peace Dialogue Platform will moreover boost women’s solidarity in the region by amplifying partnership and cooperation among women’s organisations, thereby counteracting the demise of the women’s movement, which poses a direct threat to the region’s democratic base. У Рівненській� обласній� раді науковці висловили свій� протест проти впровадження ґендерної� політики та ювенальної� юстиції� в Україн� і, 7 March 2012,[http://sovest.dnepro.org/2012/4449.html#more-4449]. Відкритий� лист«Про стратегію боротьби з дискримінацією в Україн� і», 14 September 2011,[http://sovest. dnepro.org/2011/3780.html#more-3780]. По институту семьи ударят гендером,“Pravrodkom.ru”, 9 December 2010,[http://pravrodkom. ru/2010/12/09/po-institutu-semi-udaryat-genderom/]. 6 Ґендерна стратегічна платформа(Gender Strategic Platform)[https://www.facebook.com/genderstrategicplat form/]. 26 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

Why Gender Policy? Democratic values include a much wider range of phenomena. Gender equality is an important“line” between liberal and conservative values, because gender inequality authorises legalisation of control over half of the society(women) in order to easier control the society as a whole. Gender inequality deprives men of their right to choose as well, because it also legalises the right of men to turn into cannon fodder. Equality and non-discrimination are fundamental to a partner society and unacceptable for a domination-based one. Why were equal rights for women and men the first ones to be attacked? Because everyone has gender experience. People may for a long time or even all through their lifetime have no experience of relations with other ethnic groups, other religions, etc., but everybody has the experience of women and men relationships. It has accumulated the longeststanding practices of both discrimination and non-discrimination. Intended so or not,“this bastion” is the first and the last barricade. On the other hand, by analogy with Russia, the authors of the campaign against gender policy considered that to be“the weakest link”, because its weakening or complete elimination would be important for the next steps in this area. It should be noted that the steps were undertaken not only in the form of attacks, campaigns among local authorities, educational institutions, and so on. In 2011, the so-called experiment was held where the university system of the Interior Ministry, following a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers, decided that the first year of studies would be, as it had been before, held for the category of“cadets””, while the second year – for“conscripts”, which deprived certain categories, especially women, of the opportunity to study. Submission of draft laws that violate women’s rights(antiabortion legislation 9 , restricted access to certain professions, etc.) strengthened the attacks of ChONGOs with the governmental component. Civil society, medical doctors stood up in defence of rights and did not allow approving the anti-abortion law. Low participation of women in diplomacy, international organisations, negotiations, sexist organisational political culture is not favouring advancement of women in politics. The words of that time Prime Minister Mykola Azarov that“carrying out reform in Ukraine is not a woman’s matter” 10 became known far beyond the country. Ukrainian activists used the courts to fight sexist statements 11 . Although they did not win the case in court, the lawsuit pointed to the presence of forces that oppose the attempts to turn the democratic process. If we consider a conflict as the opening of a “window of opportunity”, particularly for women during a“hot” conflict, it usually does not imply a radical change in attitude to the role of women in society. It is rather a reflection of the patriarchal attitude to 7 Грузинский� Патриарх Илия и его 14 тысяч крестников(Georgian Patriarch Ilia and His 14 Thousand Godchil dren),“Pravmir”, 21 December 2012,[http://www.pravmir.ru/patriarx-gruzii-stal-krestnym-otcom-14-tysyach-detej-iz-mnogodetnyx-semej/] 8 M. Corso, Georgia: Gender Roles Beginning to Blur,“EurasiaNet.org”, 6 January 2014,[http://www.eurasianet.org/ node/67914]. 9 Draft law 5199-VI on 06.09.2012 Draft Law on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine regarding the prohibition of abortion(abortion)[http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb2/webproc4_2?id=&pf3516=10170&skl=7]. 10 Azarov: Carrying out Reform Is Not a Woman’s Matter,“Human Rights in Ukraine”, 20 March 2010,[http://khpg. org/index.php?id=1269043679]. 11 Ukrainian Women vs. Azarov,“Human Rights in Ukraine”, 6 April 2010,[http://khpg.org/en/index. php?id=1270551304]. UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 27

people – men and women – and using women in hard times, when there is a need for more human resources. However, with the presence of a strong civil society, this activation in times of violent conflicts, and taking into account trends of the“post-violent” period, it is possible to focus efforts on preventing decreased participation of women in all social spheres and at all levels after the exacerbation is over. The conflict period in Ukraine manifested all efforts of civil society in this area were not empty. Small steps, low visible resistance created a platform for other opportunities. Ukraine adopted the National Action Plan in support of UNSCR 1325 and in June 2016, the Ministry of Defence amended and expanded the list of combat jobs open to women in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In response to the steady increase of women in the military, the Ministry of Defence was upgrading military infrastructure, rebuilding military barracks, and creating an environment suitable for service women 12 . Currently, 20% of new patrol police officers are women, 15% of the leadership of the National Patrol Police are women as well 13 . The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a resolution on the inclusion of gender equality issues within the competence of the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze 14 . It increased the level of coordination of gender policy in Ukraine and made one more step to guarantee nonrepetition of the situation in the pre-conflict time. These and similar facts should be considered in more detail and comprehensively, but today we already see that the gender approach to security issues is not a formal response to demands of international organisations and donors. This is an important factor, and ignoring it can have serious consequences. How can this kind of indicators be practically applied? In the context of increasing tensions during the so-called pre-violent stages of a conflict, all actors have the opportunity to influence certain components more actively. An early warning system of conflict prevention, as a minimum, should notify of conflict escalation at early stages, but in reality, it is usually limited to knowing where to streamline people when escalation of violence starts. Application of the suggested security and peace gender dimension system makes it possible to reduce the negative trends or stop them completely, while developing other strategies to enhance preventive trends against conflicts and promote the society’s sustainable development strategies. Olena Suslova is a human rights, gender activist and researcher with more than 20 years of experience. She has worked in Ukraine as well as countries of the former Soviet Union as a short-term expert and trainer on gender, peace culture, conflict resolution, etc. She founded an NGO, the Women’s Information Consultative Center, in 1995. She published about 50 books, research articles, and manuals on gender issues. 12 Joint Efforts Needed to Implement Ukraine’s Women, Peace and Security Agenda, Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, 21 September 2016,[http://www.mil.gov.ua/en/gender-issues-in-security-sector/joint-efforts-needed-to-implement-ukraines-women-peace-and-security-agenda.html]. 13 Letter of the Department of Patrol Police on information inquiry 556/41/4/02-2016 on 07.11.2016 14 Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration to Supervise Gender Equality Policy Issues, Press Service of Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, 3 March 2017,[http://www.kmu.gov.ua/control/en/publish/article?art_ id=249792322&cat_id=244314975]. 28 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

WOMEN AND MILITARY IN UKRAINE: VOICES OF THE INVISIBLE BATTALION Dr. Tamara Martsenyuk University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy(Ukraine) Ganna Grytsenko Independent researcher(Ukraine) This article presents the results of sociological research that has a metaphorical title,“Invisible Battalion”, and demonstrates that women in the armed forces and in volunteer battalions were not given equal to their male colleagues treatment; their contributions were rarely recognized. The study was conducted in the summer and autumn of 2015. Forty-two interviews were taken with women(aged 20-47) and nine with men who were or are participating in the so-called Anti-Terrorist Operation(ATO) in the East of Ukraine. Women in the Ukrainian military face gender segregation problems, both vertical and horizontal ones. The state regulates work conditions of military women via paternalist(protective) approach. Recent events in Ukraine connected with the Euromaidan protests of 2013-2014 and later the military conflict in Donbas brought changes into women’s lives and their roles in both the society and their families. On one hand, the threat of violence makes women more vulnerable to socio-economic situation. On the other hand, during these turbulent events, Ukrainian women managed to challenge traditional gender roles(as caretakers and victims of a conflict) and reclaimed visibility, recognition, and respect as revolutionaries and volunteers. Women were actively participating in all forms of activities in the protest space of the Maidan. Besides cooking, cleaning, and entertaining, women were fighting on barricades, doing negotiations, and participating in peace-keeping, providing medical support, maintaining information support, participating in legislative work and logistics, and providing education for protesters and organizational support. When the protests turned violent, women were excluded from much of the protest zone activities 1 . As a response to this exclusion, women organized both military and nonmilitary Women’s Sotnyas(or hundreds) 2 . Later, when the so-called Anti-Terrorist Operation(ATO) started, women joined the front lines of Donbas war as volunteers, journalists, medical staff, and military. But 1 O. Onuch, T. Martsenyuk, Mothers and Daughters of the Maidan: Gender, Repertoires of Violence, and the Division of Labour in Ukrainian Protests,“Social, Health, and Communication Studies Journal, Contemporary Ukraine: A Case of Euromaidan”, 1(1) 2014, pp. 80-101. 2 T. Martsenyuk, Gender and Revolution in Ukraine: Women’s Participation in Euromaidan Protests of 2013–2014, “Perspectives on Europe”, 44(2) 2014, pp. 15-22. UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 29

« women joined the front lines of Donbas war as volunteers, journalists, medical staff, and military female fighters as well as women in the Ukrainian army in general face gender discrimination, recognition and visibility problems. Women’s Participation in the Military In the military sociology, discussions on women’s participation in the armed forces are based on the opportunities for women to be professional soldiers. The main dilemma in discussing gender integration is a question of what a modern army should be like. Should it be a professionally closed group, or must it also respond to social changes in society and to a changing role of women in society, in particular? American scholar Mady Segal singled out three groups of factors that promote women’s integration in the army: changes in the armed forces, in the social structure of society, and in culture 3 . The researcher understands changes in the armed forces as the changing concept of national security, military technology, organizational structure of the army, purpose of the armed forces, and military recruitment policy. A change in the social structure lies in the fact that women have actively entered the labour market and the public sphere in recent decades. Mady Segal defines cultural factors as changing cultural values in relation to the role of women in the Western societies and popularity of the liberal principle of equal rights and opportunities. According to different feminist approaches, there are two major opinions on women’s integration into the armed forces. Liberal feminists claim that women’s involvement in military service is an important part of equal rights and, ultimately, leads to obtaining the full citizenship in their countries. Radical feminists see women’s service as a reification of martial citizenship and cooperation with hierarchal and sexist institutions. Ukrainian Women in the Military Nataliya Dubchak wrote in 2008 that traditionally, the Armed Forces of Ukraine used to be the most conservative social institution on the issue of women in the military, whereas currently, almost 10% in the Armed Forces of Ukraine are women 4 . At the same time, representation of women in defence has been increasing, which is consistent with global development trends. However, the growing number of female soldiers, especially the contract ones, is not associated with the prestige of the service but rather with the reluctance of men to hold low-paid positions. In fact, women mostly have so-called“feminized” professions such as nurses, finance, logistics, and communications jobs. The situation did not change radically. In October 2015, the head of the Communications and Press at the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, Oksana Gavrylyuk reported at a briefing in Kyiv 5 that 938 women had participated in the ATO. Statistical information was also received 3 M. W. Segal, Women’s Military Roles Cross-Nationality: Past? Present? And Future,“Gender& Society”, 9(6) 1995, p. 760. 4 N. Dubchak, Жінки у зброй� них силах Україн� и: проблеми гендерної� політики(Women in the Armed Forces of Ukraine: Problems of Gender Politics),“Стратегічні пріоритети”(“Strategical Priorities”), 9(4) 2008, pp. 187-188. 5 UNIAN, Май� же тисяча україн� ок взяли участь в АТО(Almost One Thousand of Ukrainian Women Participated in ATO), 9 October 2015,[http://www.unian.ua/war/1147650-mayje-tisyacha-jinok-viyskovoslujbovtsiv-vzyali-uchast-v-ato.html access: 25 September 2016]. 30 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

from the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Internal Affairs 6 . As of October 2015, about 14,500 female soldiers and 30,500 employees of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were in the service. Almost 2,000 are officers with 35 women holding managing positions at the Ministry of Defence, General Staff and various corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In summer 2015 the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine indicated that the total number of the National Guard of Ukraine is about 14,000 people, including 21 women(positions: doctors, nurses), for the ATO duration. In 2014-2015, about 22,000 National Guard of Ukraine troops, including 500 women, stayed in the zone of hostilities. According to a report on discrimination and gender inequality in Ukraine, there is evidence of employment discrimination against women, particularly in the armed forces 7 . The number of positions that women can occupy in the Ukrainian army is small. In addition, there is evidence of sexist remarks by military commanders. Gender Politics in Ukraine The issue of equal rights and opportunities for women and men in the Ukrainian society is governed by both general and special legislation. Discrimination on the basis of gender is prohibited by both the Constitution of Ukraine and the Law on Principles of Prevention and Combating Discrimination in Ukraine(2012). Ukraine also has specific legislation designed to promote gender equality: the Law on Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities of Women and Men (2005). Ukrainian legislation(such as the Code of Labour Laws of Ukraine), in its effort to become gender-specific, still tries to protect women, family, and children, thus perpetuating traditional gender roles 8 . De jure gender equality is supported by national institutional mechanisms and legislation. At the same time, de facto, it could be argued that despite different legislative attempts, not much has been implemented in terms of tangible policies. The Ukrainian labour market is characterized by a high rate of female participation and regulation that is relatively gender neutral, apart from some protective regulation for women workers in mines and other parts of the heavy industry. Women do not have the right to do any work or to have one of the professions that are included in the“List of Heavy Jobs and Work in Harmful/Dangerous Conditions” approved by the Ministry of Health in 1993. According to the Labour Code of Ukraine, women may not be employed for hard work or dangerous jobs; they may not be involved in lifting and moving items whose weight exceeds specifically established limits. Indeed, over 450 professions are prohibited by law for women in Ukraine today. Also, women may not be involved in work at night, except for the sectors and types of work with the maximum night hours for women, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. These paternalist regulations also do not allow official employment of women in a majority of professions in the military sector. Gender politics of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is a part of the overall gender policy, 6 T. Martsenyuk, G. Grytsenko, A. Kvit,“Invisible Battalion”: Women’s Participation in ATO Military Operations(Sociological Research), Kyiv 2016. 7 In the Crosscurrents: Addressing Discrimination and Inequality in Ukraine, The Equal Rights Trust Country Report Series: 5, London, August 2015, p. 53,[http://www.gay.org.ua/publications/antidi_report2015-e.pdf access: 25 September 2016]. 8 T. Martsenyuk, Gender Equality Situation in Ukraine: Challenges and Opportunities,“Gender Equality Policies and EU Integration- Experience of Visegrad for EaP Countries”, 2016, p. 203-225. UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 31

the function of military administration bodies that regulates the processes of social interaction between military men and women in the army, improvement and development of their social status and relationships, taking into account military cultural traditions and stereotypes. Nataliya Dubchak, an expert with 18 years of experience with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, described some of the mechanisms of gender policy implementation in the armed forces. In particular, in 2010, she was an advisor to the minister of defence on gender issues as a volunteer. Natalya Dubchak also occupied a special position, which was introduced by a decision of the minister of defence in 2008. Her position was called the gender policy officer. But this position lasted only for two years. In the opinion of Mariia Ionova, a member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and cochair of the Inter-Fractional Caucus“Equal Opportunities”, the problem of improving women’s status in the military was a part of a broader issue – poor representation of women in the decision-making process. In the Ukrainian Parliament(Verkhovna Rada), women constitute only 12% of all 450 deputies. The Armed Forces of Ukraine have developed gender politics that meets the national gender policy and provides for efficient gender mainstreaming in the military. However, there is a problem of resistance of the existing mechanisms and realistic implementation of the declared policy of equal rights and opportunities for women and men. Voices of Women Fighting in ATO: Results of Sociological Study 9 The field part of our study included collection of different data by various methods: in-depth semi-structured interviews with women who participated in the ATO, interviews with experts in military and/ or gender equality spheres, content analysis of publications in Ukrainian mass media. Since our research of the topic of women in the military in Ukraine seems to be the first one, our aim was to get a general overview in order to discover more specific issues for future research. But as the idea of this research belonged to female ATO participants themselves, the most important focus of the study was the issue of the possibility to serve. These participants knew which problems they face, and the generalized « One respondent told us she was an accountant according to her documents, but actually served as a rocket operator evidence provided by the research was used later in a successful public campaign. The feminist approach to the research made us provide as much space to the direct speech of women in the military as possible. The research was conducted in the summer and autumn of 2015. We asked 42 women in the military service at the forefront of the Antiterrorist operation zone in Ukraine, including one woman activist providing self-imposed unpaid supply work for the army, to speak to us 10 on various aspects of women’s service. Respondents aged 20 to 47 were recruited by the snowball sampling technique. We made a guideline for the interviews including several units of questions, but the respondents had the possibility to talk as much as they wanted and to put emphasis where they wanted, 9 Sociological study“Invisible Battalion’: Women’s Participation in Military Operations in the ATO” inspired and organized by Maria Berlinska, volunteer and Head of the Center Air Reconnaissance. Maria Berlinska and Anna Kvit were co-authors of this study and helped with data and information for this article. 10 Interviews were organized and taken by the project coordinator Maria Berlinska. 32 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

naming problems, which researchers might not even suggest. The three units of questions in the guideline included: a legal aspect of participating in the ATO, living conditions during the service, as well as emotional and behavioural aspects of their stay on the front. The interview guide also included questions on motivation for service, on visions of development of the Ukrainian army and female service in particular, and on the respondents’ approach to other women. During the desk part of the study, we addressed the issue of labour division as it is enshrined in the Ukrainian law, in particular in legal documents related to the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Social Policy, and Ministry of Health Care.(The detailed explanation of this issue was provided in the desk part of the study 11 .) They state that a large number of military positions are closed to women, mostly the combat ones but also such positions as a photographer or an interpreter. The labour division is based on gender stereotypes, where any prestigious work is“male” and any un-prestigious and service work is“female” and pays less. Thus, while men are mostly officially mobilized and officially employed, most of our respondents(40 of the 42) are volunteers of the service. Our empirical results show that women are mostly not employed in formal positions. Only around 40% of the respondents(17 of the 42) managed to get a formal position. Speaking about actual roles and positions, 15 of the 42 of our respondents hold purely combat positions; the others are medical workers (19 of the 42) or have other supportive roles. Some respondents combine various responsibilities at the same time. Even when a woman is formally employed in a position, the actual occupation may be different from the formal position. One respondent told us she was an accountant according to her documents, but actually served as a rocket operator. Another one is a doctor in fact and a bathhouse superior in papers(and actually, her military unit has no bathhouse at all). This inconsistency leads to the situation when women cannot have a legal status of combat participants and subsequently to receive appropriate benefits, from salaries and awards to the list of privileges provided by the Law on Status of War Veterans, Guarantees of Their Social Protection – free sanatorium treatment, 75% discounts for utility services payment, and so on. “What benefits are you talking about, if there is no information I was there. Well, maybe there is somewhere, but not in the right places”(Female respondent# 8). These obstacles to serve are related to the motivation issues. We asked this question and found out that women in the ATO have quite different motivations for voluntary participation in the war – from generally civilian(to defend the territorial integrity of the state) to fully private(wanted to serve since childhood). One of the female respondents followed her adult son to the combat zone, another one – her female friend. Some respondents went after their husbands. Some women started as supply activists and then proceeded to direct participation in combat. Since legal problems lead to the situation that female combat is unawarded or underawarded, we make a conclusion that the respondents’ motivation to serve is strong 11 See Section 2.4.2. Prohibition of certain military occupations for women in T. Martsenyuk, G. Grytsenko, A. Kvit, “Invisible Battalion”, p. 16-18. UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 33

enough. They do not see obtaining benefits as a critical motivation for themselves, and sometimes even clearly deny it. “I don’t count on that. That is, I originally didn’t do it for that, not for the benefits”(Female respondent# 10);“It is my duty. There is no other way”(Female respondent# 38). The problem above we call“legal invisibility”. And it leads to another problem we call “infrastructural invisibility”. If officially there are few women in the military, then there is little supply of uniforms and footwear. They have to either buy all of these, as well as female hygiene products, with their own money, or ask supply activists for help. No one told us that these things were supplied officially. “People like me need custom tailoring. First, I am a woman; second, my figure is not standard. I need an individual approach” (Female respondent# 13);“There is nothing for women in the army. I have an impression there are no women in the army”(Female respondent# 36). Separate accommodation for women is usually unavailable as well, though in some places it is organized by soldiers themselves. Another problem is that gender-sensitive health care is not provided at all. Though our respondents do not complain about the health care in general(in particular because many of them are paramedics themselves, and some even organized a comprehensive system of health care in their unit), they raise a question – what can paramedics do with gynaecological troubles, if any? “I would like to have a better provision of medicines, including drugs that are specific for women. A lot of women have cystitis.” (Female respondent# 17);“When we were at Schastya, there was a hospital, a clinic, where they can see women for some special cases. But of course, if we were somewhere in the field, with a standard hospital, I’m not sure a problem could be resolved, if needed...”(Female respondent# 19). So, women in the military can only rely on the national health care system, if ever available in proximity to the military unit location. Another part of the research addressed psychological aspects of the female service. To some extent, we can confirm the assumptions of previous researchers that war emphasizes stereotypes and gender roles. While men think of war as of the serious, male business, women are perceived as not worthy enough to participate in a combat. They are believed to be on the frontline only to assist men. But the reality is different from the stereotypes, and our respondents do confront them. Generally, the female respondents confirm a friendly attitude towards them; their opinions – if they want to express them – are heard, and some respondents have an impact on decision-making in their units. But our respondents stated as well that they face the stereotypical attitude, protective and underestimative, and they have to prove that they can serve equally to men. “I often heard:‘You are a woman, stay at home and cook some borsht’. I hated it, but it was motivating. Every time I heard that, I proved that I could, that my place was not in the kitchen”(Female respondent# 14);“Well, there were some narcissistic penguins, who believed that‘a woman has no place in the war, too weak creatures’. After that, I proved to them that those weak creatures are head and shoulders above them”(Female respondent# 28);“Their position is that a lady should stay at home, cook borscht, while the man has to fight. But we made it up. It was important that my commander was a woman, so they did not really pressure me”(Female respondent# 31). Still, most of them say that men gradually change this attitude to a more egalitarian 34 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

one. The research team finds some optimism in this fact and believes this to be a positive impact on combating gender discrimination. When asked to share their vision on perspectives of the Ukrainian army in terms of gender equality and women’s integration, the respondents generally claimed they would like to see it, probably, similar to Israel Defence Forces, where, as they suppose, gender parity and justice are already achieved. One of our respondents even expressed her wish to become a minister of defence, as she has a vision for the necessary reforms. Our respondents also would like to have some rest, social support, and, if necessary, psychological support after they finish their service. Two female respondents said that social services tried to take away their children because they allegedly failed to fulfil parental responsibilities. We also interviewed nine male combatants. This was to see the service of women in the ATO through the eyes of men and to make a comparison with what women themselves say about their service in the army. As expected, men had no obstacles to serving in desired positions and easily received combatant status. They also showed little awareness about the troubles women face. Male respondents felt very differently about women’s participation in the ATO. Some were neutral/friendly; other expressed stereotypes themselves: For example, one respondent believed that military women are privileged, and another one considered female physiology to be better for documents checking 12 . “An arbitrary decision might be needed any second. I think only a man can do that. Not all positions can be given to ladies”(Male respondent# 5). Changes after the‘Invisible Battalion’ Project As a result of the research and a public campaign, a large number of positions became open to women in Ukraine. Yet this is applied not to all branches of the armed forces (land forces are still officially all-male), and there is also known discrimination in terms of access to military education, not studied yet but expressed in informal talks with the stakeholders. This limits the possibilities for women to hold officer positions. The issue of women’s integration into the security and defence sector lies within a broader framework of the women peace and security agenda promoted by the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace « As a result of the research and a public campaign, a large number of positions became open to women in Ukraine and Security(UNSCR 1325) and subsequent resolutions since 2000. The resolution claims the important role of women in conflict resolution, prevention, peacebuilding, and peacekeeping. The document calls for integration of women into the security and defence sector and their involvement in the peace processes, as women’s integration into the military is not only a matter of gender equality but also an issue of security at a country and global levels. Ukraine has adopted the National Action Plan(NAP) on implementation of the UNSCR 12 T. Martsenyuk, G. Grytsenko, A. Kvit.“Invisible Battalion”, p. 38. UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 35

1325 on Women, Peace and Security in February 2016. The country signed the resolution back in 2000, but the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine since 2014 has urged the government to undertake measures to protect women from negative consequences of the conflict and to promote their participation in the peace process only 15 years after the resolution was signed. The NAP on Women, Peace and Security(WPS) serves as a legal commitment of the state to implement recommendations of the UNSCR 1325 and provides a framework for the national and local government, civil society, and international organizations’ activity within the WPS agenda in Ukraine. Two goals of Ukraine’s NAP on WPS target women in the military directly. The National Action Plan aims to increase the participation of women in peace building: to improve infrastructure and legal environment for women’s participation in international peacekeeping operations, for their service in administrative and combat positions in the Armed Forces and other national security and defence institutions, to conduct assessment of gendered aspects of conflict prevention and resolution, and to promote women’s role in peacebuilding, peacekeeping, and negotiation processes in the media; to provide assistance and rehabilitation to population affected by the conflict, including rehabilitation and reintegration of female ex-combatants and their families, social and medical assistance to victims of gender-based violence. Nine ministries are responsible for the implementation of the NAP on WPS, among which the Ministry of Defence(MoD) demonstrates considerable achievements in implementation compared to others. The MoD has developed an internal plan on the NAP on WPS implementation and established a working group for coordination of activities on the women, peace, and security agenda. The Ministry of Defence has also appointed an internal gender focal point and hired an external gender expert, who works closely with the ministry representatives in different structures. In less than a year since the NAP adoption, the MoD has extended the list of available positions for women, conducted an assessment of women’s infrastructural needs in the Armed Forces and in the zone of antiterrorist operation, introduced gendersensitivity trainings for military personnel, developed a new code of conduct for military personnel, which will have special provisions on gender-based violence and allow to bring to administrative and criminal liability for its violation, and plans to revise the curriculum of military education institutions. However, there is still place for improvement. The Decree 292, issued in June 2016, opened 63 staff positions for private, sergeant, and sergeant-major positions to women undergoing military service under the contract(Ministry of Defence, 2016). Among them are combat positions: bomb aimer, assistant to bomb aimer and senior bomb aimer, commander of the military machinery, driver and senior driver, gunner, scout, including Special Forces units, shooter, sniper, and others. There is not only horizontal but also vertical empowerment of women in the armed forces. Conclusions The issue of ensuring gender equality in the Ukrainian society is governed by both general and special legislation. However, although equal rights and opportunities for women and men are supported at the declarative level, they are not always enforced in practice. The Security Council Resolution 1325(2000) emphasizes the importance of changing the vision of women’s role not only as a victim of conflict, but as a participant of conflict resolution and peacekeeping on an equal basis with men. Ukraine ratified this document and is supposed to follow its major expectations towards women’s integration into the armed forces. 36 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

The phenomenon of vertical and horizontal gender segregation is as inherent in the Armed Forces of Ukraine as in the general labour market. The number of women in the military gradually increases following the global trends of nation development. Women in the ATO expressed a strong hope for gender equality and are establishing it by facing and breaking the stereotypes themselves. Most of their problems come from an archaic vision of female service by the Ukrainian government bodies; these include legal and infrastructural invisibility, which means suppression of their right to hold combat and officer positions, to get the appropriate payment and privileges, and to have appropriate conditions to serve. Stereotypes and unequal attitude from male combatants are also a problem now. However, currently the situation is changing for the better. The‘Invisible Battalion’ project is continuing its activities and searching for new possibilities to provide women in the armed forces with equal rights and opportunities to those of men. Tamara Martsenyuk holds a PhD in Sociology and her research interest focuses on the social structure of society and, particularly, on gender relations. She is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy(Ukraine). Recently Tamara was DAAD Visiting Professor(Germany) and Petro Yacyk Fellow(Canada). She is the author of around 80 academic publications. Ganna Grytsenko studied Sociology at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy(Ukraine). Her research interest focuses on the far-right movements and gender and LGBT studies, and the interrelations of both issues in contemporary Ukraine. She is the author of a chapter in the book Gender, Religion and Nationalism in Ukraine, published by Heinrich Böll Foundation in 2012. UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 37

BEYOND THE RHETORIC ON GENDER AND PEACEKEEPING: VICTIMS OF WAR, FREEDOM FIGHTERS, AND WONDER WOMEN IN BLUE HELMETS? Izabela Pereira Watts Charles Darwin University, Australia More females are necessary in peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding. However, increasing the number of female officers in the field and in senior positions is not sufficient for more effective peace operations. Beyond the image of protected females versus male perpetrators, this article aims to identify what is missing in the debate by deciphering the other side of the monotonous rhetoric on gender, peace, and security. It contributes to the literature by, first, recognizing that women are not only victims of war, but freedom fighters as well as actors of peace. Gender studies should present a picture less based on overstating the victimization of women or on simplistic battle of the sexes that end up reinforcing the gap instead of empowering. It is necessary to distinguish the female roles in peace building from peacemaking and peacekeeping. Second, it analyses the idea of women in blue helmets: a portrait and a reality behind gender, the United Nations, and peacekeeping operations. Finally, it defends that capacity building and empowerment of women should be prioritized over political statistical figures. Consequently, it offers 10 recommendations in line with the principles of equity, equality, and balance for more effective peacekeeping. The presidential election in the United States, the candidature of the United Nations Secretary- General, and the nomination of UN ambassador for empowering girls and women have recently saturated the international arena and the media with inflated gender discourse. But just getting females in power is not the magic cure for all. It is time to take distance from an overly naive viewpoint that women are intrinsically more inclined to peace and love while men are innately prone to war and violence. The literature on gender and peacebuilding is crowded by a victimization of women and girls based on the princess syndrome that tends to reduce gender and war issues to the“heroic mothers of peace” fallacy. Without a shade of doubt, men and women are indeed affected in different ways before, during, and after war, as well as directly and indirectly. Feminism theory should not be applied to war making, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding indistinctively and without identifying its main lacunas. 38 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

Is increasing the number of females in peacekeeping as well as in senior positions a solution for a more effective peace operation? The United Nations(UN) Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) has dedicated over two decades of efforts to adopt more serious measures to advance gender balance in all peace operations on the ground and at all levels. However, the results are still a fiasco. Despite having targeted to increase the number of women police officers to 20% by 2014, the most recent gender-based statistical data by peacekeeping missions led by the UN show that in 2016 females represent only 4% of military liaison experts, troops, individual police, and former police units combined. 1 What is wrong with gender, war, and peacekeeping and what really matters? Should females be locked in stereotypes as victims of war, heroines of peace, or wonder women? This article critically analyses the idea of women in blue helmets: a portrait and a reality behind gender, the UN, and peacekeeping operations(PKOs). In order to move from the monotonous literature paralysis of victimization and underrepresentation or exclusion from senior roles, two elements must be included. First, as per the parable of Tares 2 , it is necessary to separate the wheat from the weeds for a more comprehensive analysis on gender concepts that is less based on the victimization of women or on a simplistic battle of sexes. Gender is not synonymous with women’s issues. Second, a substantive contribution to the literature on women and war should distinguish the analyses from peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding. It concludes that the nexus among women, war, and peace is not a rhetorical fable. Gender inclusiveness is present in war making as well as peacebuilding, with elements of both soft and hard politics. However, it is time to stop victimizing women as well as symbolizing them as unrealistic and sexualized cartoon heroines. WWP should be taken seriously: Women, war, and peace is a cross-cutting triangulation. Beyond the gender principles of balance, equity, and equality, competence and commitment to conflict resolution are « empirically based on conventional logic, men are the perpetrators of violence while women are victims, this assumption entrenches a paradigm that marginalizes women in the peace process as well as in post-conflict reconstruction fundamental and should be prioritized towards building an effective positive peace by any female or male peacekeeper. Capacity building and empowerment are more important than just insignificant or political artificial statistical figures. Repetitive Misconception’s Narrative: Gender Is Not Women Issue Gender mainstreaming is a crucial practice in the fields of conflict resolution, conflict prevention, and post-conflict reconstruction. Nonetheless, how practitioners and advocates implement gender discourse is probably more likely to avoid gender equity rather than ensuring it. Some scholars see gender mainstreaming as a combination of liberal feminism, difference feminism, and poststructural feminism. 3 The limiting identity of 1 A Fact Sheet of Peacekeeping, UN-DPKO, 2016[http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/about/dpko/ access: 5 December 2016]. And A New Partnership Agenda. Charting a New Horizon for UN Peacekeeping, UN-DPKO, 2009. 2 Bible, Matthew 13:24-30. 3 C. Cohn, H. Kinsella,& S. Gibbings, Women, Peace and Security, Resolution 1325,“International Feminist Journal of Politics”, 2004, Vol. 6, pp. 130-140. UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 39

women as a‘natural peacemaker’ denies them pro-active roles in the overall peace process. It seems obvious that participation comes with responsibility and accountability. In other words, for women and girls to be fully involved in securing peace in the aftermath of conflict, they must be considered as actors and not merely victims. Based on democratic principle of equality and equity, then both sides must be accountable to avoid falling into a double-edge narrative. Back to the conceptual basics, gender is about male and female social roles. The literature tends to use gender lens as synonymous of women. That misconception leads to the provoking policy wave of proposing to draft a“man, peace and security agenda”, instead of precisely reinforcing the gender mainstreaming idea that men and women should work together, acknowledging their different needs and approaches as well as its complementarity. Although empirically based on conventional logic, men are the perpetrators of violence while women are victims, this assumption entrenches a paradigm that marginalizes women in the peace process as well as in post-conflict reconstruction. Paradoxically, that goes directly against the whole narrative of inclusion and empowerment. Indeed, women and girls are survivors, widows, and those responsible for recovery, either by body counting the deceased, helping at the nurseries, or seeking food for the orphans. However, the war effort and a social change they shaped during the conflict are dismissed. Women were notably excluded from peace settlement negations in Burundi, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Kosovo. Excluding women from peace negotiations is rationalized by stereotyping women as passive victims who have suffered in warfare but did not actively participate in the conflict. In other words, if war was created by men, they are the ones who should create a solution for peace. Thus, recovery programmes or gender mainstreaming fail for having a biased axis, either by not including women as perpetrators or by excluding men as also victims of a humanitarian tragedy and political, economic, and social collapse. In a nutshell, to transform the dominant structures of power that give rise to war, conflict, insecurity, and injustice, UN Security Council Resolution 1325 allows to“regender gender” through inclusiveness in the processes of conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and peacemaking. However, it misses the need for“re-sexing gender” by including women due to their different approach and not by encouraging them to act like men, as well as the need for“re-racing gender” by avoiding considering white race females as more efficient than other skin colours or as the victims or perpetrators. 4 Freedom Fighters and Conflict: Women Are Not Just Victims of War There is a strong moral dimension in gender literature that epitomizes women as victims of war. The changing nature of war since the late 1980s has had a particular negative impact on defining who are most at risk. This is particularly palpable regarding“new wars” such as civil wars and terrorist attacks as opposed to traditional wars with inter-state actors in the battlefield. 5 Independently of the place, time, and leit motivs of the conflict such as ideology, religion, or ethnicity, stories and suffering are alike. In the war zones of Angola, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor, Liberia, 4 N. Pratt, Reconceptualizing Gender, Reinscribing Racial–Sexual Boundaries in International Security: The Case of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on‘Women, Peace and Security’,“International Studies Quarterly”, 2013, Vol. 57, pp. 772-783. 5 M. Kaldor, New and Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era, London School of Economics, 2012 http:// eprints.lse.ac.uk/45883. 40 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

Occupied Palestinian Territories, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, or Somalia, thousands of women lived generalized violence as a“comfort woman”, such as abduction, rape camps, and forced impregnation and mutilated uterus by AK47s. 6 In the battlefield, violence against women’s bodies means war resources from all sides of the conflict. In times of“refugee crisis” with an unprecedented number of 65 million refugees and displaced worldwide, 80% are women and children. 7 In the field of international development, decades of women’s positive evidence of impact on socioeconomic outcomes have altered the way governments, donors, and aid organizations implement their agendas. The literature has thoroughly investigated if and how women are affected by conflict. Either called as a gendercide or a femenicide, there is no question that rape is a weapon of war. The problem of sexual violence is persistent, global, and must be stopped. Indeed, women are victims three times in warrelated contexts: first, at the offense; second, after the crime with no access to justice or health and psychological assistance; third, by segregation from the community and shame to the family’s dignity after the conflict. Mostly in an environment of collapsed state, poverty, and violence, there are scarce, difficult, or costly means to seek justice. Convictions of individuals at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia include 40% of sexual violence charges. UN reports estimate that in the 1994 Rwanda genocide 250,000 to 450,000 women were raped and that 5,000 women were raped in a single offensive by the rebels’ forces in Congo Brazzaville in 1998. 8 For them, the war meant the loss of all and everything through the invasion of their bodies, annexation of their being, and amputation of their dignity. It is worthwhile to mention that worldwide, much of the violence was perpetrated by those who are supposed to protect them, such as fathers, brothers, uncles, as well as UN peacekeepers as in Mali, Sudan, and Central African Republic. 9 As addressed by resolutions 1325 and 1820, a vast majority of women and girls are often strategic targets in armed conflict and are exposed to a high risk of sexual and gender-based violence, which can continue in the aftermath of conflict. However, men and boys suffer too and are frequently subjected to rape as during the conflict in Congo, Uganda, and Afghanistan. 10 Little is said about the existence of male sexual victimization, whether by rape as a weapon of war in situations of detainment or interrogation, being forced to observe, or coerced to participate in acts of sexual violence, particularly as child soldiers. Conversely, women are not only victims of war. They are also actors in the both sides of conflict as well as agents of peace. The literature focuses on identifying how women 6 S.N. Anderlini, Women Building Peace: What They Do, Why It Matters, Lynne Rienner Publishers: Colorado 2007. See also: A. Jones(ed.), War Is Not Over When It’s Over: Women Speak Out from the Ruins of War, IRC: 2010. See also Gender, War and Peacebulding. USIP United States Institute of Peace 2012, https://www.usip.org/sites/ default/files/NPECSG12_0.pdf. See also H. Addou, Violence against Women in situations of war and conflict: Lessons from the Great Lakes Region of Africa,“Conference on Violence Against Women, Organized by the Forum for Women and Development(FOKUS)”, 2006. 7 Figures at a Glance, UNHCR 2016. Also Global Humanitarian Overview 2016, UNOCHA 2016. 8 Rehn, E.& Sirleaf, E. J. 2002. Women, war, peace: the independent experts’ assessment on the impact of armed conflict on women and women’s role in peace building, New York, UNIFEM. 9 New Allegations of Sexual Abuse Emerge against UN peacekeepers in Central African Republic.“UN News Center”, 4 February 2016. 10 E. Rauhala, Rape as a Weapon of War: Men Suffer, Too,“Time”, 2011, August 3. http://world.time. com/2011/08/03/rape-as-a-weapon-of-war-men-suffer-too/ UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 41

help to build peace. 11 On the one hand, soft politics prevails as women’s conflict resolution strategy. 12 There is indeed a vast data identifying quantitatively and qualitatively how women help to build peace, mainly based on dialogue, community reconciliations, post conflict recovery, health and education development projects, and empowerment through job creation. Historically they have also been a part of the conflict, as those sewing uniforms or cooking. On the other hand, hard politics comes into place in making women inclusive in war issues. Recent terrorism studies show that women are a pillar in recruitment and intelligence information network for the Islamic State(ISIS). It is easier for women to navigate past security barriers as well as to penetrate communities. Most of the recruitment is made through friends and relatives, and less via groups at mosques or Islamic schools. Symmetrically, Kurdish feminist army are making gains side by side with Iraqi pro-government forces to fight back ISIS. Since 2012, the army side of the political Kurdistan Workers’ Party(PKK) has attracted an estimated 15,000 women to join two offshoots – the Women’s Defence Unit(YPJ) or the People’s Defence Forces(YPG). 13 In Nigeria, women take up arms on both sides of the conflict. In the Boko Haram structure, while men can dominate in leadership, training, and kidnapping roles, women may outnumber them in other senior roles such as planning logistics, planting mines and bombs, and fighting as soldiers, while both sexes carried out domestic tasks. Although is true that many girls have been kidnapped and forced to be suicide bombers, others have joined voluntarily. On the counterinsurgency side, hundreds of women joined as volunteers the vigilante militia members such as the Civilian Joint Task Force(CJTF) to help security forces, particularly to frisk females at checkpoints, gather information, and identify suspects, as well as to fight directly Boko Haram. Others work in non-governmental organizations and women’s associations or care privately for war victims. In some cases, the war has opened opportunities for women’s activism, illustrated by the establishment of several new women-led NGOs in Maiduguri and the Nigerian involvement in the Bring Back Our Girls international campaign. 14 The very fact of being female is proven to give several tactical advantages. First, women suicide terrorists capitalize and thrive on the“element of surprise” which makes the operation more“effective”. Second, beyond the number of casualties, symbolically, the death of female bombers is more likely to evoke national and international attention as well as media reaction. 15 In Ukraine, females fought for their right to fight in the Ukrainian army. Their roles are in the frontline, as snipers, commanders of artillery mortar units, or operators of heavy military hardware. Based on the same principle that gender should not be a determinant of professional opportunities, they are no longer restricted to supporting roles, such as nurses, engineers, and administrative assistants. For Ukrainians, joining the Right Sector or volunteer groups was the easiest way to go to war and“to defend the country”. 16 In Colombia, the 11 Meintjes, S., Pillay, A.,& Turshen, M.‘There Is No Aftermath for Women’. The Aftermath, Women in Post-Conflict Transformation. London: Zed Books, 2001. See also: Bloom, M.& Matfess, H. 2016. Women as Symbols and Swords in Boko Haram’s Terror. PRISM, 6, 121 See also: Jennings, K. Women’s participation in UN peacekeeping operations: agents of change or stranded symbols? NOREF report, 2011. 12 Anderlini, S. N. Women Building Peace: What They Do, Why It Matters., Colorado, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2007. 13 Angels, Ö�. S.‘On the frontlines with the Kurdish female fighters beating back ISIS’. HUCK, The Defiance Issue, 2016. 14 Nigeria: Women and the Boko Haram Insurgency Africa Report. International Crisis Group. 2016. 15 Idem Bloom, M.& Matfess, H. 2016. 16 Sharkov, D. Inside the world or Ukraine’s warriors. Newsweek. 11 February 16 ed, 2016. 42 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

important role played by militant women who joined the FARCs at all structural levels is well known, including female soldiers or‘bush wives’. However, although many women might have played a crucial role in the negotiation background, none were represented with a formal signature role of the recent failed peace agreement. 17 Furthermore, most of the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration(DDR) programmes have been largely criticized for not including female soldiers or‘bush wives’. 18 Thus, the triangular relation of peace, women, and war must not be reduced to a misrepresentation of the role that females play in conflict prevention, conflict management, as well as conflict resolution and recovery. For an accurate debate, another intersecting triangular relation must be acknowledged: war-women-freedom fighters. Peacekeeping: A Portrait and a Reality of Women in Blue Helmets What is missing in the narrative of increasing the number of females as UN peacekeepers? As self-explanatory, peacekeeping is related to activities on the ground to“keep the peace whenever is a peace to be kept”. 19 How can we move beyond the numbers on integrating women into peace operations? 20 In this regard, the Windhoek Declaration and Namibia Plan of Action on Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in Multidimensional Peace Support Operations were catalytic agents. Besides the rhetoric that victimizes women and the need to increase their participation, not all is a lost cause in Women and Peacekeeping sphere. On the positive side, many suggestions for improvements on the issues related to women, war, and peace are on the table. First of all, the UN must mirror its own purposes in order to rescue its inflated image as if one political international organization alone could solve the world’s problem. Specifically related to women and peacekeeping, since 2011, the UN field missions headed by women oscillated between 15% and 25%, including in such missions as Sudan and Timor-Leste. Besides a significant improvement in considering the 1325 resolution in UN missions such as in Liberia – UNMIL, Sierra Leone –UNIOSIL, and Kosovo – UNMIK, there is still a lot of room for accomplishment. 21 Some UN Missions have a gender affairs department and there is an increase in UN women police officers. Moreover, legal aspects show evidence that gender is present in substantive international legal acts. Article 26 of the United Nations Chart 22 suggests that 5% of national military expenditures should be directed to education, health, and employment. The UN Security Council resolution 1325 on, peace and security(2000) is paramount on the need to reaffirm the increase women’s role in decisionmaking with regard to conflict prevention and resolution. Seven additional resolutions on women, peace, and security helped to reinforce political commitment from the member states: 1820(2008), 1888(2009), 1889(2009), 1960 (2010), 2106(2013), 2122(2013), and lately 2242(2015). A platform of eight resolutions 17 Colombia, G. O.& Farc, Acuerdo Final para la terminacion del conflito y la construccion de una paz estable y durade ra. Peace agreement. Colombia, 2016. http://www.acuerdodepaz.gov.co/acuerdos/acuerdo-final 18 SIP. Gender, War& Peacebulding. USIP United States Institute of Peace, 35. 2012. See also: Zuckerman, E. M. G. The Gender Dimensions of Post-Conflict Reconstruction: An Analytical Framework for Policymakers. In: SWEETMAN, C.(ed.) Gender, Peacebuilding and Reconstruction. Oxford: Oxfam, 2005. 19 Fortna, V. P. Does peacekeeping work? Shaping belligerents’ choices after civil war, Princeton and Oxford, Princeton University Press, 2008. 20 Simic, O. Moving beyond the numbers: integrating women into peacekeeping operations. Norvegian Peace building Resource Center, Noref- Policy brief, 2013. 21 UN WOMEN 2016 www.unwomen.org 22 UN. 1945. Charter of the United Nations[Online]. Available: http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/ UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 43

should represent a critical framework for improving the situation of women in conflict-affected countries. Furthermore, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women(CEDAW) and the optional protocol are ratified by 185 states as the“women’s bill of rights”. In the same vein, this cornerstone of all the UN Women programmes needs to move from theory to practice. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action(PFA-1995) and Windhoek(2000) need to accelerate their implementation. The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights(ACHPR) on the Rights of Women in Africa(2003), Geneva Conventions (1949) and Additional Protocols(1977) of « the rationale narrative is wrong because it mixes up three different elements of gender: stereotyping, balance, and equality the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and Rome Statute(1998) are also to be listed by the gender experts. 23 What is the bottleneck impeding progress in conflict, women, and peacekeeping? The dominant argument is an instrumentalist and“affirmative gender essentialism”: Deployment of more female officers in peace missions is seen as a key to success and of gender mainstreaming. 24 The truth is that more female officers are welcomed and should be promoted to join peacekeeping operations lead by the United Nations. However, the focus of the organization and its member states on increasing statistical figures is not sufficient for more qualitatively efficient operations. The reason is that the rationale narrative is wrong because it mixes up three different elements of gender: stereotyping, balance, and equality. The first is related to the belief in“feminine qualities” as being more peaceful than men are. The second is that an equal representation of men and women would complement each other’s qualities and reduce male aggressiveness among colleagues and of those they are supposed to protect. Third, that gender equality implies that women and men have equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities. Therefore, women should be included in senior positions as well. Although all the elements of stereotyping, balance, and equality might be true and are pillars of gender issues, mixing them up is an erroneous amalgamation that leads to a number of problems in peacemaking, peacekeeping, as well as peace building. First, it reinforces gender stereotypes of women as protected and men as protectors. Instead, the efforts should be on advancing the aim of power sharing and the right and duty to exercise their capacity and strength on an equal basis with men. In peace studies, peacekeeper is related to the international intervener, seen as“saviours”, and the peacekept is referred to the local community in danger. 25 By reinforcing gender stereotypes in war and peace and the strong victimization of women, it shifts the image of the peacekept as associated with women and maintains male image as the peacekeeper. Although the organization might genuinely believe in gender inclusiveness in security issues, the driving force for its efforts is not based on moral good intentions but on true “realist” strategy of institutional existential survival. It is not about the human rights or feminists’ rights claim. Nor can it be simplified to the“value-added”, as women can 23 Pereira Watts, I. WWP: Women, War and Peace. E-International Relations. 2016. 24 IDEM. Jennings, K. 2011. 25 IDEM. Fortna, V. P. 2008 44 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

bring something different that man cannot, such as greater awareness and sensitivity. The reality is that the current UN agenda in gender and peacekeeping has primarily come as a response to the UN’s damaged image and reputation following a number of reports of peacekeepers’ involvement in acts of sexual abuse. 26 Consequently, that puts on women peacekeepers to be deployed a heavy weight to carry, as wonder women: to solve the conflict by being gentle and nice with the victims or perpetrators; to take on the responsibility for preventing sexual exploitation and abuse; to protect local women; and to rescue the organizations’ image. Diverting responsibility to women does not address the problem of sexual violence. The contributing countries must take responsibility, exercise accountability, and prosecute acts of sexual violence committed by their respective troops. 27 Second, and not-so-often mentioned, there are additional moral aspects that underline the efforts of UN DPKO to increase the number of women as peacekeepers. It is expected that a progress in their involvement will result in a decline in the number of brothels around peacekeeping compounds, as well as a reduction in the number of“UN babies” abandoned by male peacekeepers once their mission comes to an end. Moreover, HIV is intrinsically related to women, war, and peace. Besides the sexual transmission, the virus is also transmitted through blood transfer in poor sanitary war and poverty conditions. In Burundi(2002), 80% of hospital patients with HIV were women, not including those who died before because they could not manage to get medical treatment. 28 Consequently, there is an underlying assumption that it will decrease sexual exploitation by male peacekeepers and local female population devastated by poverty, lack of education or economic resources, as well as decrease the number of HIV/AIDS cases directly or indirectly linked to PKOs. Third, and very important, efforts have concentrated on gender balance. It is believed that once balance is achieved, it will automatically translate into gender equity and that is mainly a“gender mainstreaming” policy. However,“adding and stirring” does « that puts on women peacekeepers to be deployed a heavy weight to carry, as wonder women: to solve the conflict by being gentle and nice with the victims or perpetrators; to take on the responsibility for preventing sexual exploitation and abuse; to protect local women; and to rescue the organizations’ image not translate into homogenous gender power structures. 29 Gender continues to be seen as a women’s issue and the idea of gender balance has become a synonym for gender mainstreaming. Consequently, efforts to recruit more women peacekeepers have become a part of the strategy to“mainstream” a gender perspective in PKOs. Therefore, changes seem to be mostly numerical and cosmetic rather than substantive. 30 Fourth, to be a peacekeeper is not having a superman or wonder woman altruistic 26 IDEM. UN News Centre 2016. 27 IDEM. Simic, 2013 28 IDEM. Rehn, E.& Sirleaf, E. J. 2002 29 IDEM. Jennings, 2011 30 Gender Statistics by Mission. 07 September, 2016 ed. New York: UN DPKO. 2016. See also: IDEM. SIMIC, 2013. UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 45

syndrome. Peacekeeping is ossified by the“holy trinity” principles of consensusimpartiality-neutrality. 31 That means that professionalism is crucial and that personal leit motivs and peacekeeping must not be underestimated. Peacekeeping is an expensive challenge and subject to a budget of US$ 8.7 billion. 32 As per the UN-Brahimi and HIPPO 33 reports, there is a strong call for increasing robustness in UN Peacekeeping Operations. The ideological motivations to fight and die for strangers 34 do not come in vain. To convince member states to increase troops’ contribution, particularly from western armed forces who are often said to be well-trained and well-equipped for military operations, it requires a professional package of incentives. Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India are the countries that most contribute with troops. 35 As for any professionals, police and military female officers might not be only interested in a heroic mission of making a better and peaceful world. If existent, this motivation comes second. Based on the principle of equity and equality, equivalent benefits must be guaranteed in relation to the responsibility required, and that means career advancement and financial benefits equal to those of male experts. Further than that, other interests are common to all female and male law and order security officers, such as aspiration to work and live in an international environment to learn and share experiences. Fifth, the creation of all-female units in peacekeeping operations is not a rosy cosmetic policy remedy. Many missions have all-female units such as the Bangladeshi forces in Haiti(MINUSTAH) and the Rwandan unit in South Sudan (UNMISS). On one side, the Indian female contingent in blue helmets is believed to have inspired Liberian women, building in them the spirit of professionalism and encouraging them to join operations to protect the nation, resulting in 17% of the security services according to the President of Liberia and Noble Peace Laureate, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. 36 On the other side, this “special units” trend has been criticized as it leads to segregation from rather than integration with male peacekeepers, precisely the opposite to the gender mainstreaming envisaged by UNSCR 1325. Additionally, it might have some effect on other“normal” mixed-gender contingents. Consequently, although the initiative has proliferated among best practices, it might also be counter-efficient towards the implementation of the broader mandate of keeping the peace and stability. Last but not least, as affirmed by Anthony Banbury, 37 former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for field support,“I love the UN, but it is failing” due to a heavy political and over-bureaucratic inertia. Recruitment must be made impartially 31 Bellamy, A. J., Williams, P. D.& Griffin, S. Understanding Peacekeeping. 2010. 32 IDEM. UN-DPKO, 2016 33 UN-Brahimi 2010. Brahimi report- Comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects. UN General Assembly Security Council Fifty-fifth session A/55/305–S/2000/809 See also: HIPPO-United Nations Report of the High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations on uniting our strengths for peace: politics, partnership and people-HIPPO. In: Nations, U.(ed.) A/70/95-S/2015/446. New York: United Nations, 2015. 34 Badescu, C. G. Authorizing Humanitarian Intervention: Hard Choices in Saving Strangers. Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique, 40, 51-78, 2007. 35 -DPKO. 2016. A fact sheet of Peacekeeping. Available: http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/about/dpko/[accessed 5.12.206] 36 Lesley J. Pruitt, The Women in Blue Helmets Gender, Policing, and the UN’s First All-Female Peacekeeping Unit, California-USA, University of California Press, 2016. 37 Banbury, A. I Love the U.N., but It Is Failing. New York Times. 2016. 46 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

and based on capacity strictly to the responsibilities to be performed. It should not be enforced based on old-fashioned political quotas that mostly contribute to the victimization of women. Notably, it leads to the de-legitimation of very capable and experienced professionals who want to develop their job based on skills and field know-how, but are often accused and undermined by the wrong assumption that their selection was privileged by quotas or by simply wearing short skirts. Additionally, two important factors contribute to the fact that 96% of peacekeepers are male: for various reasons, including legal and cultural, police and military forces are predominantly made up by males in the domestic conjecture of the member states. National security institutions of the main troops-contributing countries are not“gendered” themselves. Moreover, those professionals are also family breadwinners. Conflict zones are nofamily base. Therefore, it is more difficult for female police or military officers to leave their children behind to fight and protect foreigners far away from home. This also created inequality among female offices themselves. Females have to fight legal and cultural barriers to be part of the arduous and sometimes not-so-transparent selective process without as much experience as males. Moreover, single women or those without kids would be privileged for moral, logistical, and operational reasons, as well as financial to save on the insurance policy in case of death. 10 Policy Recommendations: Re-Gendering Women for More Effective UN PKOS Peacekeeping is a serious task with its own challenges. Besides the efforts of increasing women blue helmets, 96% are male. Therefore, it is difficult to draw any substantive conclusion on gender and peacekeeping operations. The mere female presence is insufficient to alter patriarchal and hierarchical heavy ethos of the organization and the predominant macho culture of the majority of the member states. The magic gap between the narrative and practice needs to be tackled, and the erroneous conceptual assumptions need to be rethought or – re-gendered. Increasing the number of female peacekeepers is important. Nevertheless, it will only translate into gender equality if it is backed up with political commitment and concrete policies that will turn an agenda of gender balance into the meaningful participation of women in policymaking. To progress in the women, war, and peace arena, resources are needed in eight areas: leadership and political participation, economic empowerment, ending violence against women, peace and security, humanitarian action, governance and national planning, sustainable development, and HIV and AIDS. For that, actions in five axes are important: intergovernmental support, intergovernmental coordination, particularly among the UN member states, programme and technical assistance, as well as persistent research and data collection for better policymaking. 38 There is not an easy remedy beyond the incorporation of women into senior and decision-making peacekeeping posts. However, 10 key recommendations can be formulated to make the inclusion of women in peacekeeping more effective and efficient: • To improve the selection, preparation, and accountability of senior mission leaders, through merit-based selection processes. Women should not be deployed because of stereotypical 38 IDEM. Pereira Watts, I. 2016. UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 47

assumptions about their“feminine qualities” but because of their commitment to gender issues. • To foster political commitment at all levels – local, national, and international – ensuring gender mainstreaming, and not only focusing on women’s victimization in order to have more females in law enforcement and security forces(gendering national security). • To increase and improve training, capacity building, and empowerment for female blue helmets. • To improve coordination and incorporation of a gender perspective in all early warning, relief, and recovery efforts operated among different donors, international agencies, and NGOs. • In parallel to peacekeeping operations, to increase participation and empowerment of women and girls in the prevention, management, and resolution of conflicts. • To reinforce the principle of“do no harm”. Zero-tolerance policy to enforce the law and remove impunity from accountability at all levels of PKOs must be reinforced. Troop-contributing countries must be accountable and responsible for their peacekeepers for sexual crimes committed while deployed to“keep the peace”. • To operationalize the SecretaryGeneral’s Human Rights Up Front agenda. • To improve safety, security, and crisis management systems, as well as medical and hygienic standards, including toilets, as well as fatalities compensations platform. • To promote interaction and collaborative approach among allfemale units with mixed-gender units and other civilian peacekeeping milieus. • To invest in research and data collection to examine the ways in which women and men peacekeepers contribute to the operational effectiveness of PKOs. Conclusions There is not only one side of the conflict. Contrary to the common belief, women are both victims of and participants in armed conflict. They are also players in the postconflict phase, acting as agents of change. The political, moral, sociological, and legal dimensions of feminist viewpoints are genuine in women, war, and security issues. Moreover, no country can pretend to be on route to democracy and participative governance without half of its population. However, it turns into a monotonous symphony that frustrates most of the affected women themselves either as victims or agents of change such as leaders, influencers, and decision takers. Gender balance is necessary to achieve women’s quantitative, but not sufficient towards qualitative, representation. By critically analysing the portrait and the reality behind the idea of women in blue helmets, the rhetoric on the victimization of women in gender and war should be taken with precautions. Gender equality in peacekeeping is not a cure-all demagogy. WWP should be taken seriously: Women, war, and peace is not about a gender battle that tries to enhance the female“status” as superior to the opposite sex. It is a cross-cutting triangulation that is fundamental to any discussion on democracy, conflict management, natural disasters as well as security, development, social justice, and good governance policies. In times of “global civil wars”, it is about inserting multi gender-specific policies and perspectives in decision making, at the local, national, and international level. It is time to take distance from over-simplistic viewpoints where females are locked in stereotypes 48 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

as victims of war or heroines of peace or super women. Balance, equity, and equality are consolidated principles in gender issues. But competence and commitment to conflict resolution are also fundamental and should be prioritized towards building an effective positive peace. In war and peace dialectic, recognizing their role as freedom fighters or as peacemakers, capacity building and empowerment are more important than just insignificant or political artificial statistical figures. Izabela Pereira Watts has been nominated“Top 99 Young Professional World Leaders in Foreign Policy under 33” (2013-Diplomatic Courier-USA). With a large professional experience in peacekeeping, democratic governance, political affairs, and international cooperation, she is currently a lecturer and PhD researcher on International Relations and Political Science at Charles Darwin University(Australia). With experience in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Europe, she has worked with several international organizations such as UN DPKO, UNDP, UN Women, Organization of American States, as well as with the private and public sectors as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil. She is also the founder of International Development Solutions Consultancy. UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 49

FUNCTIONAL PARTICULARITIES OF THE PRESENT GENDER POLICY WITHIN THE STATE BORDER GUARD SERVICE OF UKRAINE: HOMELAND EXPERIENCE Olga DERKACH, PhD, lieutenant colonel Administration of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Nowadays in Ukraine, state agenda is changing in many spheres. A tendency for promoting a gender component within the security and defence sector is quite evident. The issue of gender inequality is still urgent because it remains a serious current issue worldwide to be prioritized in all spheres of life. The law enforcement agencies are no exception, as it is known that women do not achieve equality in many of them. The level of women’s access to equal opportunities and rights within the security sector is not high, though the situation in the border agency is better than in other law enforcement bodies of Ukraine. Unfortunately, women are currently underrepresented within the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, but every year the number of female personnel increases. The presence of female staff can be a key element of the border security, increasing effectiveness of detection and investigation. The more law enforcement institutions recognize the benefits women bring to them in serving communities, the more will be done to address gender-based discrimination within law enforcement structures. The State Border Guard Service is committed to the national and international principles of gender equality, though female personnel are still not part of decision-making process. What we all notice and identify nowadays in our country is the change of the Ukrainian state agenda in many spheres of the present life on all levels. The Ukrainian nation now requires changes in goals, strategies, and actions so that both women and men can influence, participate in, and benefit from development processes. The goal of mainstreaming gender equality is thus the transformation of unequal social and institutional structures into equal and just structures for both men and women. The Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine has changed our society greatly and we all now see the consequences. What we monitor now are the new reforms in the system of public administration, enormous changes in political hierarchy, and the process of launching reforms within the security sector of Ukraine. A tendency for promoting a gender component not only in the Ukrainian policy but also within the security and defence 50 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

« The presence of female staff can be a key element of the border security, increasing effectiveness of detection and investigation sector of Ukraine is quite evident. Gender mainstreaming is actively underlined here and seems to be an integral and an essential part of activity of the law enforcement bodies of Ukraine. A talk about gender within the security sector of Ukraine often involves misunderstanding, i.e. the term ‘gender’ is correlated only with women or with some problems in relations between men and women or even with feminism. Any time you start describing issues regarding gender policy, the main thing is its definition. We know that: • Gender relates to particular roles and relations, personality traits, attitudes, behaviours, and values that society ascribes to men and women 1 ; •‘Gender’ therefore refers to learned differences between men and women, while sex refers to biological differences between males and females 2 ; • Gender roles vary widely within and across cultures, and can change over time 3 . • Gender roles depend on the culture – yes, it is true – and can change over time – this is what is visible now in Ukraine. Every year we are approaching closer and closer to gender mainstreaming. The concept of bringing gender issues into the mainstream of society was clearly established as a global strategy for promoting gender equality in the Platform for Action adopted at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing(China) in 1995. And in July 1997, the United Nations Economic and Social Council(ECOSOC) defined the concept of gender mainstreaming as follows:“Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in any area and at all levels. It is a strategy for making the concerns and experiences of women as well as of men an integral part of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres, so that women and men benefit equally, and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal of mainstreaming is to achieve gender equality.” In our opinion, gender mainstreaming is not about adding a“women’s component” or even a“gender equality component” into an existing activity. It goes beyond – increasing women’s participation; it means bringing the experience, knowledge, and interests of women and men to be equal no matter what their profession is. Gender equality in Ukraine is now regarded as an important parameter in relation 1 Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe(OSCE), Gender and Environment, A guide to the Integration of Gender Aspects in the OSCE’s Environmental Projects, OSCE: Vienna 2009. 2 Muller M.,“Gender, Social Inequality and Waste Management”, Gender and the Waste of Economy. Vietnamese and International Experience, National Political Publisher: Hanoi 2003. 3 Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe(OSCE), Aide-Mémoire on Gender Mainstreaming Projects, OSCE: Vienna 2006. UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 51

to security issues, because women, who represent over a half of population – and have equal rights with men, have much to contribute to resolving security issues. It is obvious that the attitude to gender equality in law enforcement must be reconsidered and it must circulate in law enforcement society aiming: • To promote women’s participation at all levels of decision-making and in fields related to security policy; • To focus on and address gendersensitive issues in the security policy; and • To introduce structures to ensure respect for women’s rights and interests. The issue of gender inequality is an urgent one and a great deal of different organisations put this problem in the first place. Law enforcement agencies are no exception, and it is known that women do not achieve equality in many of them. Here we would like to pay attention to the security sector of Ukraine, in particular to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (here and further – the SBGSU). The Administration of the SBGSU is constantly trying to take necessary organisational, administrative, and practical measures for equal and proportional deployment of all categories of the military staff in their positions according to their educational level and qualifications, professional skills, and gained experience in the units of the border agency. With this purpose, even a special order of the Head of the SBGSU was signed in 2011, which cancelled any restrictions for female personnel while being assigned or promoted to any position. The national legislation in the sphere of the provision of equal rights and possibilities for men and women includes: Decree of the President of Ukraine, On Perfection of Work of Central and Local Executive Bodies in Relation to Providing of Equal Rights and Possibilities for Women and Men(2005); Law of Ukraine, On Providing of Equal Rights and Possibilities for Women and Men(2005); Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, On the Approval of Conception of the Government Program for Providing of Equal Rights and Possibilities for Women and Men in a Period to 2016(2012); Resolution of Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, On the Adoption of the Government Program for Providing of Equal Rights and Possibilities for Women and Men in a Period to 2016(2012). The border agency of Ukraine started to make its first steps towards gender mainstreaming only in 2006 after examining the situation, which was almost catastrophic. If we look at the statistics of 2006, we will see the following picture: as of 1 January 2006, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine had only 308 female officers – that meant 4.7% of all officers within the service and no gender-oriented strategy at all. Since that time, a state policy on equal rights and possibilities for men and women under the conditions of military service and law enforcement activity has been implemented within the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. The results of gender research in the State Border Guard Service show the following. Today, the total number of the personnel that fulfils duties in the SBGSU constitutes approximately 32 thousand of military staff. Six thousand among them are females, which comprises about 20% of the whole SBGSU personnel; 22% of them are officers (1,320 women). 52 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

At the present time in the administration of the SBGSU(the central headquarters), the percentage of women constitutes only 10% of the total number; at the regional level, this figure is bigger and comprises 20% of the total number of personnel. Women are currently underrepresented within the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, but every year their number increases. It is obvious that there are specific advantages for the border agency to hire and retain more women who may be absolutely“applicable” to the border management. The presence of female staff and integration of gender into the system of border control can be a key element of the border security, increasing of operational effectiveness by means of: • Facilitating protection of and adherence to human rights; • Increasing the level of prevention of and combating illegal migration and trafficking in human beings; • Increasing female representativeness within the border control institutions; • Developing cooperation with local population and ensuring of democratic civil control. There are some spheres of activity where women may have better outcomes than men do, being people-centred and consistent with a human security approach, or just being more attentive towards small details. For example, female personnel can define faster female victims of human trafficking, or may check female travellers who wear a veil or recognize men who with the help of such a veil pretend to be a woman and cross the border illegally. The presence of women in border control helps to decrease the level of problems connected with gender discrimination at the border, enhances reactions to sexual harassment cases, leads to the absence of usage of excessive force. Besides that, the operational effectiveness of border management is strengthened by ensuring that the border agency is a representative of and mirrors the society it serves in terms of sex, language, nationality, religion, etc. I am convinced that the absence of women in border service reduces its legitimacy and the explanation here is very simple. The local population, foreigners, travellers, « The presence of women in border control helps to decrease the level of problems connected with gender discrimination at the border, enhances reactions to sexual harassment cases, leads to the absence of usage of excessive force. especially women, cannot trust and work with all-male personnel. The presence of female staff contributes to ensuring a“healthy border environment”, and can potentially play a distinctive role in prevention and resolution of conflict situations. The more law enforcement institutions recognise the benefits women bring to them in serving communities, the more needs to be done to address gender-based discrimination within law enforcement structures. When it comes to military ranks, which in the law enforcement environment means much, it is necessary to outline that within the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the female border guards have the following military ranks: • Senior officer grades – more than 5%; • Junior officer grades – almost 17%; UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 53

• Non-commissioned officers – approximately 17%; • Junior enlisted – approximately 5%. However, the situation with the decisionmaking level is even worse – only 37 women possess the senior positions(2.8% of female officer personnel): • Six of them serve in the Administration of the SBGSU(two deputy heads of the department, two heads of sectors, two heads of units); • Thirty-one women – in the border detachments(two heads of military hospitals, in Kiev and Odessa, and two their deputies; the head of clinical health resort; seven assistants to the heads of border detachments – the chiefs of press services; three heads of departments at the National Academy of the SBGSU; one deputy rector of the National Academy and one head of the faculty; 16 heads of border sub-units). Such a deeply troubling survey against the background of unprecedented challenges for Ukraine presumes that we still do not have enough level of women’s access to equal opportunities and rights within the security sector, though the situation in the border agency is better than in other law enforcement bodies of Ukraine. It is true that to some extent the border guard females in Ukraine continue to face gender discrimination. I absolutely agree that the roots of that can be found in patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes within the Ukrainian society(especially the military), weak capacity of national machinery for the advancement of women, lack of will of the higher border officials, and absence of a social protection system inside the agency. I must confirm that the State Border Guard Service does not neglect the national and international commitments on gender equality, but the female personnel are still not part of decision-making process. The mechanism of the advancement of women within the border agency of Ukraine remains weak, even in spite of the existence of the SBGSU internal Plan of the Implementation of the National Action Plan on Realization of the Provisions of the UN Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security for the Period to 2020 4 and the common OSCE project on ensuring gender equality. This prevents a comprehensive and wide implementation of the gender equality agenda within the border agency of Ukraine. Sometimes women are unable to rise to supervisory positions despite their qualifications. Very often, these female officers feel that they are constantly in a position“needing to prove themselves” and have to actively“fight the system” just to be “leaders” in a male-dominated world. At the same time, their male colleagues are easily accepted for positions where women were automatically refused. Only after being able to change this perception will it be possible to reach the target – to ensure gender equality. This example shows that gender should not be an issue in what the leadership must be – only responsibility, leadership, and knowledge are the features that should be taken into account by both the officers and the public while promoting a person for a new position. I must confess that discrimination against women today is not extreme, but it is still a problem, though the State Border 4 “The National Plan of the Implementation of the National Action Plan on Realization of the Provisions of the UN Resolutions 1325 on Women, Peace and Security for the Period to 2020”, approved by Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, 2016[http://zakon2.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/113-2016-%D1%80, access: 18 February 2017] 54 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017

Guard Service of Ukraine is working on improvement of gender mainstreaming and it seems to be doing well. More and more women have the dedication to climb the ranks and they succeed at making the climb. Women of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine today, just like men, are responsible for their own careers. They need to be assertive and listen to their inner voice – urging them to strive for success. Nowadays the SBGSU commandment adheres to the following line and concept – personal characteristics of individuals that allow them to fulfil their service border guard duties regardless of sex can be defined as follows: high level of motivation for achievement, persistence, independence, communication skills, high level of understanding of emerging problems, responsibility, self-criticism, ability to control emotions and good orientation in tense situations, courage, and high self-control. Nevertheless, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine has room for improvement and the following recommendations may be defined. To address gender-based inequality, the State Border Guard Service should: • not only increase the number of women serving as border officers, but also properly address their concerns on an equal partnership with men; • employ oversight mechanisms, such as internal affairs units, which can help address the challenges women police officers face in service; • create a law enforcement workplace which does not need to be equal but needs to be“gender intelligent”; • fulfil national commitments on gender equality; • integrate gender-sensitive and genderoriented topics into the training programmes and schedules. To cut the long story short, it is worth mentioning that under the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the Ukrainian military female personnel fulfil their duties together with men, and not worse than men do, within the anti-terrorist operation zone. More than 150 female officers and noncommissioned officers – border guards – were awarded by the President of Ukraine with medals and other awards for courage in defending Ukrainian territorial integrity. We are convinced that the State Border Guard Service will continue implementing the best world and European experience and practices in the sphere of gender mainstreaming and will stay committed to the idea of ensuring gender equality. Olga Derkach , lieutenant colonel, PhD in public administration, senior officer, International Cooperation Department, Administration of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. Since 2005 has worked in different positions within the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. The field of study is the national security of Ukraine, reforms within the national defence and security sector, foreign policy of Ukraine, border security in general and integrated border management, gender equality. Has published 15 articles in the sphere of national security of Ukraine in national and international sources. UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 55

56 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 1(7), 2017 Issue 1 (7), 2017 ISSN 2518-7481