The research of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives illustrates that some members of the Ukrainian parliament retain stereotypical attitudes towards gender issues. Although such views are not exceptional, they can highlight the intricacies of MPs’ thinking, experience and judgement. They can also serve as strategic guidelines for the Verkhovna Rada and the Government in countering Russia’s hybrid warfare, which is aimed, in particular, at gender equality in Ukraine.
Traditional masculinity, as well as conservative views on gender and sexuality, are at the very heart of Russia’s hybrid warfare strategy against Ukraine. By opposing equal rights, Russia is trying to substantiate its aggression. By arguing that ‘men are strong and women are weak’ or ‘men do what they can, and women do what they have to’, Russia wants to convey that it is ‘normal’ for ‘the strong to do what they can and the weak to bear what they have to’. With its consistent anti-gender policy, Russia is trying to separate Ukraine from the European value and cultural dimensions. In both senses, Russia is creating a space for disinformation and propaganda aimed at dividing Ukraine and the international community.
Thus, this study aims to explore how members of the Verkhovna Rada understand and stand for gender equality and whether this understanding is sufficient to protect against the gender equality component of Russia’s hybrid warfare.
Indicators of gender equality in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
- Gender stereotypical roles in lawmaking: while women are getting more involved in ‘male’ topics, men are rarely perceived as working on ‘female’ topics. This version of gender equality mainly involves women’s engagement in areas traditionally considered to be male and not vice versa.
- Gender stereotypical roles in the family: men and women expressed concern about the excessive pressure women experience in caring for children and family, especially in the context of evacuation and separation. However, few mentioned that men may also have difficulties fulfilling family responsibilities.
- Recognising hostile rather than ‘benevolent’ sexism: Lawmakers recognise harmful, aggressive sexism as an issue. However, they often fail to recognise that idealising women or focusing only on their roles as mothers and caregivers also undermines gender equality.
Methodology
- The qualitative research is based on 14 in-depth semi-structured interviews with nine women and five men MPs. The interviewed MPs represented four parliamentary parties: seven from the majority party and seven from the opposition parties.
- The interviews were analysed and compared using inductive narrative analysis, which allowed for the identification of patterns and themes in the interview transcripts, and discourse analysis, which allowed for the identification of common meanings in the socio-cultural, political, and historical context of the full-scale invasion.
Read more about gender (in)equality in the Ukrainian parliament — in the new ALI study.
The study was conducted within the framework of the project “Parliamentary Accountability of the Security Sector in Ukraine” (PASS Ukraine), which the Agency implements together with the Parliamentary Centre, in cooperation with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and with the support of Canada’s Foreign Policy — Global Affairs Canada as part of the Peacebuilding Program and stability(PSOPs).
