Over the course of 2016–2017, UARWH carried out a project to produce the collected volume of popular scholarly essays “Ukrainian Women in the Crucible of Modernization”, edited by Oksana Kis (Kharkiv: KSD Publishing, 2017, 304 p.).
The project to produce the popular scholarly volume “Ukrainian Women in the Crucible of Modernization” was carried out in 2016–2017 by the Ukrainian Association for Research in Women’s History (UARWH).
From Idea to Realization
The idea for the book belonged to Kyrylo Halushko, director of the project “LIKBEZ: The Historical Front,” who proposed a collaboration with UARWH to promote women’s history. The final terms of the project were agreed upon in September 2016 at the Lviv Publishers’ Forum between UARWH President Oksana Kis and Kateryna Novak, a representative of the KSD Publishing House (Klub Simeinoho Dozvillia).
The goal of the project was to reveal the gendered dimensions of Ukrainian women’s lives during times of rapid change and historical upheaval in the first half of the 20th century, and to challenge stereotypes of women’s passivity in historical processes.
Project Participants
The team of authors comprised eleven prominent Ukrainian researchers, each of whom had already produced a significant body of scholarly work on women’s history:
- Oksana Kis (general editor, Candidate of Historical Sciences (PhD equivalent), Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethnology, NAS of Ukraine);
- Mariana Baidak (doctoral student, Franko University of Lviv);
- Olha Bezhuk (Candidate of Historical Sciences (PhD equivalent), Associate Professor, Stepan Gzhytskyi National University of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnologies of Lviv);
- Maryna Voronina (Candidate of Historical Sciences (PhD equivalent), Associate Professor, Skovoroda National Pedagogical University of Kharkiv);
- Marta Havryshko (Candidate of Historical Sciences (PhD equivalent), Junior Research Fellow, Krypyakevych Institute of Ukrainian Studies, NAS of Ukraine);
- Myroslava Diadiuk (Candidate of Historical Sciences (PhD equivalent), Head of the Manuscript Department, Stefanyk National Scientific Library, NAS of Ukraine);
- Kateryna Kobchenko (Candidate of Historical Sciences (PhD equivalent), Senior Research Fellow, Center for Ukrainian Studies, Shevchenko National University of Kyiv);
- Olena Stiazhkina (Doctor of Historical Sciences (habilitation equivalent), Professor, Donetsk National University);
- Ivanna Cherchovych (Candidate of Historical Sciences (PhD equivalent), Junior Research Fellow, Krypyakevych Institute of Ukrainian Studies, NAS of Ukraine).
Chapters
The book was published in early summer 2017. It consists of eleven chapters spanning the period from the late 19th to the mid-20th century:
- Marital Relations in the Ukrainian Peasant Family of the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries (Oksana Kis).
- Emancipatory Ideas vs. Conservative Practices: Women in the Ukrainian Intelligentsia of Galicia at the Turn of the 20th Century (Ivanna Cherchovych).
- Higher and Professional Education for Women in Ukraine in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries (Kateryna Kobchenko).
- Ukrainian Women During World War I: A Spectrum of Social Roles (Olha Bezhuk, Mariana Baidak).
- The Bolshevik Emancipation Experiment of the 1920s (Maryna Voronina).
- “The New Soviet Woman”: Soviet Gender Policy in the 1930s (Maryna Voronina).
- The Holodomor Through the Lens of Women’s Survival Experience (Oksana Kis).
- The Struggle for Representative Equality: Women’s Political Activity in Interwar Galicia (Myroslava Diadiuk).
- Women in the Nationalist Underground: Contributions and Losses (Marta Havryshko).
- Occupied Women: Women’s Everyday Life During World War II (Olena Stiazhkina).
- Ukrainian Women Political Prisoners in the Gulag: To Survive Means to Prevail (Oksana Kis).
Results
The 304-page book was published in 2017 by KSD Publishing House (Kharkiv). The project received high professional recognition — the book won the Best Book of the Forum 2017 prize in the “History” nominating category. The publication demonstrated how Ukrainian women, despite severe circumstances, were active agents of history, forging a “formula of resilience” that remains relevant for Ukrainian women today.
Book Presentations
The volume “Ukrainian Women in the Crucible of Modernization” was presented at several important public events, notably in Lviv:
- On June 12, 2017, a presentation took place at the Ye Bookstore (7 Svobody Ave.) with the participation of KSD Publishing House.
- On September 14, 2017, a major presentation was held as part of the Lviv Publishers’ Forum (BookForum) at the Kopalnia Kavy art center.
Co-authors of the book who participated in these events included Oksana Kis, Marta Havryshko, Olha Bezhuk, Ivanna Cherchovych, and Mariana Baidak.
Key themes discussed at the events:
- Challenging stereotypes: the authors emphasized that the book’s goal was to present Ukrainian women not as passive objects or victims of circumstance, but as active agents of history-making.
- “Victim, heroine, or traitor”: discussions focused on whether the full range of women’s diverse experiences can be reduced to these three categories.
- Ordinary women: particular attention was paid to the experiences of ordinary women who, amid wars and upheavals, assumed “male” roles, resisted injustice, and chose various survival strategies.
A formula of resilience: discussions focused on how the historical experience of the past helps contemporary women find the inner resources to overcome today’s challenges.тегії виживання. Формула стійкості: обговорення фокусувалися на тому, як історичний досвід минулого допомагає сучасним жінкам знаходити внутрішній ресурс для подолання сьогоднішніх викликів.