Dr. Svetlana V. Kupryashkina
Director, Ukrainian Center for Women's Studies,
Kyiv-71, 19 Konstantinivska St., Apt. 15
UKRAINE
FAX: (044) 225-5330
Translated by Barbara Welling Hall
This paper analyzes correlations between environmental disasters such as Chernobyl and the increasing political activities of nongovernmental movements, namely women's. In the Ukraine, the first nongovernmental, independent women's groups emerged with an environmental agenda and only gradually evolved into women's organizations. Organizations such as ZHYNOCHA HROMADA RUKHU actively picketed the Parliament building in 1990 demanding the closing of all Chernobyl reactors and supported the students' hunger strike which finally led to the the resignation of the entire government headed by Prime Minister Masik. Women's groups also actively supported the Ukrainian declaration of independence in August 1991.
History repeats itself. In 1994, in preparation for upcoming Parliamentary elections, a bloc of women's organizations is being formed and its pre-electoral platform again includes a long section on environmental issues. This paper identifies these initiatives and analyzes the political implications of a women's movement with an environmental agenda.
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