Women in Ukraine have equal constitutional rights as men in the economic, political, cultural, and social fields, as well as in the family. At the same time, most of the around 45 percent of Ukraine's population who suffer from violence are females. Every fifth Ukrainian parliamentarian is a woman, while among major companies only 2% are managed by women.
The history of Ukraine during the past two centuries is closely connected to that of the Russian Empire and later on the Soviet Union. Ukraine gained independence in 1991, and is now a state with more than 40 million inhabitants, most of whom are Christian Orthodox, and 70% of the population is urban. The women's rights movement in Ukraine had its beginnings in the mid-19th century, but for most of the following period its activities were centered around the struggle for general national emancipation, avoiding the reinterpretation of traditional gender roles.
The rise in feminist activism started during the latter part of 2000s, and was significantly influenced by the 2014 Revolution of Dignity and the following Russo-Ukrainian War, which once again brought women to the forefront of struggle for democracy and national sovereignty. Those events produced unique challenges for women, but at the same time gave them a possibility to enter the country's armed forces on par with men.
History Early history Kyivan Rus'
Ruska Pravda, the legal code of Kyivan Rus', recognized the equality of genders, establishing the same responsibility for the murder of a woman as for that of a man. Legal rights of women were not limited, and a widow would automatically take the place of her deceased husband as head of the family. If division of inheritance between several sons had not been mentioned in a man's will, his widow had the right to decide it herself. Part of the inheritance remained property of the widow, and she had the right to transfer it to one of her children. Daughters were excluded from inheritance and could only receive dowry. If a female slave had common issue with her owner, she was excluded from his inheritance, but received freedom along with her children. Relatively broad rights of women in comparison to the contemporary Roman and Germanic Law could result from the influence of Slavic common law.
Wives of Rus' princes could rise to important positions in the society, serving as regents and managing princely property after their husbands' deaths. They could also serve as hegumenes, heading monasteries. Several Rus' princesses entered the ranks of European nobility by marrying foreign rulers: Anna Yaroslavna, who became Queen of France; Anastasia Yaroslavna, spouse of Andrew I of Hungary; Eupraxia, daughter of Vsevolod, who became a Holy Roman Empress; Euphrosyne, daughter of Mstislav, wife of Géza II of Hungary. In 1087 a school for girls was established by princess Anna Vsevolodovna in Kyiv.
Early Modern era
According to the Statutes of Lithuania, women could be subjects of rights and duties and had no general limitations in their legal actions. Pregnant women were provided special protection by the law. Daughters were deprived of the right to inherit land, but marriage contracts involved a special clause, which provided the wife one-third of her husband's estate, which she could manage on her own. Among the lower classes, the process of enserfment led to the obligation for many women to participate in corvée labour. Many Ukrainian noblewomen of the time were active in the religious and cultural sphere, most notably , Halshka Hulevychivna, Raina Vyshnevetska, and Anna Hojska. Numerous women from Ukraine were captured and enslaved as a result of Tatar raids, ending up in Ottoman harems. Since that time, the images of female captives such as Roxelana and Marusia Bohuslavka have taken an important place in Ukrainian culture.
The Statutes of Lithuania in combination with local common law continued to define the legal status of women under the Cossack Hetmanate. According to a 1743 book of law, stricter punishment was introduced for the murder of women in comparison to men. At the same time, unmarried women were to receive less severe sanctions for committed crimes. During the Cossack era, the living conditions of female serfs were as a rule harder than those of men, many of whom could migrate to Zaporizhia. Wives of Zaporozhian Cossacks would take over the management of their husbands' estates while the latter were at war, and in some cases women would even take part in military engagements themselves. Among Cossack women who played an important role in Ukrainian politics of the era were Hanna Zolotarenko, the wife of Bohdan Khmelnytsky; Maria Mokiyevska, the mother of Ivan Mazepa; the wife of Semen Paliy; Hanna Hertsyk and Anastasia Markovych, the wives of hetmans Pylyp Orlyk and Ivan Skoropadsky respectively. During his travels through Ukraine, Paul of Aleppo marked the high educational level of local women, and mentioned the existence of a school at the Ascension Monastery in Kyiv.
Women were disproportionately affected by accusations of witchcraft, which were widespread in Ukrainian lands under the rule of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Hetmanate. According to modern research, almost 80% of all people accused of witchcraft in Ukraine during the 17th and 18th centuries were females. Evidence of application of torture to suspected witches is contained in 17th and 18th-century records from Lviv, Kamianets-Podilskyi and Kremenets. In Left-bank Ukraine, six women were burned in 1667 after being accused of employing magic against hetman Ivan Briukhovetsky and his wife Daria Dolgorukova, which supposedly resulted in a miscarriage. However, in total only around 5% of the accused were tortured, mostly due to the lack of hangmen and the generally milder character of judiciary in comparison to Western countries. Only a small part of accused were sentenced to death, and in more than half of cases the courts refused to investigate witchcraft accusations. Persecution of witches in Poland-Lithuania was officially stopped in 1776, one year after a ban on witch trials had been introduced in the Russian Empire. Despite this, accusations of witchcraft continued to be present in Ukrainian court records into the 19th century.
Early to mid-19th century
Following the incorporation of Ukrainian lands by the Russian and Austrian empires in the late 18th century, women's rights were defined by the civil law of the respective states. For the first time, noblewomen received the right to inherit land. However, the status of women from lower strata of the society didn't undergo any significant change, and they remained dependent from their families, lacking legal protection. During that time, many women in Left-bank Ukraine engage in production of handicrafts.
In the early 19th century Institutes for Noble Maidens were established in Kharkiv and Poltava (1818), Odesa (1829) and Kyiv (1833). In 1850 the first girls' gymnasium opened in Kyiv. In 1853 and 1868-1870 two magazines for educated women were published in Lviv.
Following the start of the Ukrainian national revival, many Ukrainian women became famous as literary figures, actresses and social activists. Women made a big contribution to the development of education, and some, like Yelyzaveta Myloradovych, served as patrons of science. During the 1850s and 1860s, numerous Sunday schools were established by members of Ukrainian intelligentsia, with some of them providing education specifically to women.
Beginnings of the feminist movement
Under Russian rule
The beginnings of the Ukrainian women's movement can be found in the mid-19th century, and are connected with the 1860 educational reform, which allowed women in the Russian Empire to enter universities. Although soon aborted, this decision contributed to the establishment of Ukraine's first women's organization, the Society for Help in Women's Higher Education, in Kharkiv. The movement also involved members of the Old Hromada. In 1878 Higher Women's Courses were opened in Kyiv, and in 1880 in Kharkiv. The first exclusively Ukrainian women's circle was established in 1884 in Kyiv.
Several prominent women of Ukrainian origin were active in the narodnik movement in the Russian Empire. Most prominent among them were educator Khrystyna Alchevska and revolutionaries Sophia Perovskaya and Olga Zhelyabova. During the 1900s several women were members of the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party, among them Anastasia Hrinchenko. At the same time, the Women's Hromada and the Society for Protection of Working Women were established in Kyiv and Kharkiv. Among their notable activists were Nadia Dovnar-Zapolska and Olha Kosach. The Kharkiv society, which was active between 1903 and 1919, supported a kindergarten, a girls' gymnasium and organized Higher Women's Courses with a program equivalent to one of a university.
In general, women's movement in Ukrainian lands under the Russian Empire was characterized with its members' concentration on common popular struggle for emancipation, limiting themselves with support of women's rights for work and education, and not opposing cooperation with male activists.
Under Austrian rule
Women's movement in Austrian-ruled Western Ukrainian lands began in 1884 with the foundation of the Society of Ruthenian Women by Natalia Kobrynska in Stanislaviv. In 1887 the organization published its almanac. In 1890 Ukrainian women of Galicia petitioned the Vienna Parliament to provide them with rights to receive higher education, and in 1891 the first female viche was organized in Stryi. A prominent women's organization in Galicia was the Club of Ruthenian Women, founded in 1893. In 1906, the Women's Hromada was established in Bukovyna.
An important figure in the Ukrainian women's movement was Sofia Okunevska, the first female university graduate and the first woman to serve as a doctor under Austrian rule. In 1900, women in Austria-Hungary finally received rights to attain higher education. During the early 20th century, Ukrainian women's organizations in the area engaged in social activities, which included foundations of girls' schools, workshops, kindergartens, vacation homes and protection of maidservants. In Lviv and Chernivtsi student societies for Ukrainian girls were created, and in 1908 the first magazine for young women started publishing.
In 1909 two women's organizations in Lviv merged, creating the Women's Hromada headed by Konstantyna Malytska. In 1906 and 1910 major female congresses (viche) were organized in support of women's political rights. Several women were active in the Social Democratic and Radical parties, most prominently Anna Pavlyk. Religious women's organizations were represented in Lviv by the Marian Society of Women (1904), and in Chernivtsi by the Catholic Myrrhbearers Society and the Society of Orthodox Ruthenian Women (1908). Such groups usually engaged in philanthropic and educational activities.
First World War and Interwar Era
First World War and War of Independence
During the First World War women's organizations in Ukrainian lands engaged in charity work, helping the sick, refugees, hostages and prisoners of war. Kyiv's Ukrainian Club was transferred into a hospital, where many women were employed. Important work in providing help to war orphans and prisoners of war from Galicia and Bukovyna deported to Siberia was performed by Liudmyla Starytska-Cherniakhivska. On the Austrian side of the frontline, a Committee for Help to Wounded Soldiers was founded by Ukrainian women in Vienna. Many Ukrainian women worked as nurses in the Austro-Hungarian Army, and some even volunteered to the military. Among notable female members of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen were Olena Stepaniv, Sofia Halechko and Hanna Dmyterko. Even more women served in the Ukrainian People's Army and various guerrilla units, most prominently Marusya Sokolovska.