HerTalks: Women Creators of Ukrainian Reality is an online project of the Centre of Gender Culture that throughout 2024–2025 brought together researchers, educators, activists, and all those seeking a deeper understanding of the historical experiences of Ukrainian women and the history of the Ukrainian women’s movement.
The project was initiated and led by Tetiana Isaieva, who on December 1, 2025, was elected Honorary Member of UARWH. HerTalks was launched as a way to mark the 140th anniversary of the founding of the first Ukrainian women’s organization, in response to the need not merely to preserve knowledge of women’s history but to restore its voice, its visibility, and its connection to the present.
HerTalks was conceived and carried out as a series of original online lectures devoted to key figures, events, and processes of the Ukrainian women’s movement from the 19th century to the present day. At the center of attention are women who shaped Ukrainian reality in culture, education, politics, and civic life, yet long remained outside the national historical narrative.
Over the course of two years, 85 lectures were delivered, combining scholarly depth with accessible, engaging language and creating a space for questions, dialogue, and collective reflection.
The thematic range of HerTalks was remarkably broad, spanning the history of the women’s movement, art, literature, and education to women’s experiences of war, migration, genocide, the underground, resistance, leadership, and memory.
UARWH members who shared their research through HerTalks include Olha Nikolaienko, Oksana Kis, Alla Shvets, Iryna Savchenko, Ivanna Cherchovych, Olha Labur, Olena Stiazhkina, Maryna Voronina, Iryna Petrenko, Marta Horokhovianko, and Nataliia Zalietok. Most of the scholars contributed several lectures, but the true star of the project was Alla Shvets, who delivered 12 lectures in 2024 on the activities of organizations and leaders of the Ukrainian women’s movement and prominent Ukrainian women writers of the early 20th century, followed by 7 more lectures on related topics in 2025.
The online format of the lectures and discussions ensured open access for a broad audience and created a space where women’s history was not a “supplement” but a full-fledged lens for understanding the past and the present.
The project was carried out by the NGO «Centre of Gender Culture» in partnership with UARWH, with the financial support from the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the media support of the Ukrainky media resource, the Gender in Detail expert platform, and the Kharkiv Press Club. Video recordings of all lectures and discussions are available here and continue to serve as an educational resource for researchers, educators, activists, and all those interested.