Social services: Women as main beneficiaries of social service infrastructure

ture and jobs in the public service sector . Furthermore, it could lobby for the need to increase the minimum wage in healthcare and education, thus contributing to greater economic equality for women, employed in these sectors (while the national minimum wage is determined in Kyiv, local authorities can supplement it by additional bonuses from the local budget) .

Our findings confirmed prior research on the Donbas frontline communities that the worldview of men in these communities is generally marked by life in an industrial region, and in interviews they insisted on the need to rebuild large industrial enterprises that can offer employment to several hundred people at once . Women, on the other hand, seemed somewhat more eager to engage in entrepreneurial activity, more adaptive and innovative in this regard . Positive aspects of patriarchal family structure with husband earning a living, and wife caring for children, elderly and ill family members, were highlighted in interviews and focus groups . Steps to gradually change such stereotypes can be effective (and all municipal and social workers interviewed showed awareness of the concept of gender and the need to combat gender inequalities) . At the same time, however, support to women in traditionally feminine roles, should also be offered . The strengths of their gendered socialization related to greater empathy and commitment to the common good, are a valuable resource for NGOs to tap in and benefit from .

Part-time employment by NGOs (again, mostly women), offers a source of income and valuable skills to gain confidence in further searches of employment . For instance, one woman in site 1, who was formally employed by a large international NGO, went on to set up her own local NGO, and has already applied for several successful grants on behalf of community, including repair of water wells, creation of a small gym, and purchase of an electric bike for social workers to distribute produce to their beneficiaries .

Family-run (and mostly female-led) service provision in communities could be one of the ways to empower women, as it offers alternative income-generating activities in a patriarchal industrial setting, while being sensitive to “traditional” female roles of serving the community . In conversations with active women during field visit to site 1, some women argued in favour of small grants to start family-run businesses . In their view, even if this cannot solve the problem of unemployment, it can nonetheless benefit entrepreneurs’ families, and offer goods and services that are currently lacking in communities (hairdresser, pharmacy, photocopying services, etc) and contribute to intensification of trade (including agricultural produce exports) .

This study confirmed prior research on gender stereotypes about roles and functions of men and women in frontline communities . Men are still seen as “breadwinners”, and in the case of long-term unemployment are pressured to migrate in search of work . Women commit to the “service” roles of taking care of children, old-age and disabled relatives, as well as visiting all the social institutions on behalf of their household8 . They are expected to sacrifice work if it is in conflict with other household duties:

8 For instance, such gendered division of roles was observed in all-Ukrainian survey of IDPs which led the authors to conclude, that “навіть змінюючи місце проживання, зайнятість та часто навіть при суттєвій зміні соціального статусу, гендерні ролі та стереотипи у стосунках, ставленні та очікуванні до поведінки чоловіків та жінок зберігається” http://gutszn .kr-admin .gov .ua/rivnist/gendernuy%20analiz .pdf The worldview of men in these communities is generally marked by life in an industrial region, and in interviews they insisted on the need to rebuild large industrial enterprises that can offer employment to several hundred people at once. Women, on the other hand, seemed somewhat more eager to engage in entrepreneurial activity, more adaptive and innovative in this regard.

Part-time employment by NGOs (again, mostly women), offers a source of income and valuable skills to gain confidence in further searches of employment.

I know a few younger women, girls who travel to work in a shop. I would have also liked to get such a job, but I have no possibility… I cannot return to the mine either, because I am on forced maternity leave. My child has allergies, so he is not vaccinated and the preschool refuses to accept him. I’m extending maternity leave year after year, until she turns six and will go to school. She has egg allergy, and egg whites are in this vaccine, so we can’t have it. So it’s impossible to get some kind of informal part-time job. And officially I’m still on maternity leave from the mine, but it’s difficult (focus-group participant, site 2).

— One of our neighbours has a little child, too young from preschool. So the mother had a job offer in Krastoarmeysk, but she would need to relocate there. She was offered a job, but she can’t leave her child behind, and her husband (they are not registered as a couple) is in the military in Kyiv region. — So what are the main employment opportunities for men and women? Where are people searching… — They are searching, they would agree to anything… It’s more difficult for women, because a woman is mostly attached to her children. A man can do shift work, we had men going all the way to Zaporizzhya region. But now with lockdown he could not leave. He was paid twenty thousand, and then he was told that the enterprise is falling apart. (elderly woman, site 1)

These interview quotes confirm the patriarchal expectation that for a woman, taking care of children is more important than employment . According to the World Value Survey, 40% of Ukrainian women agreed with the statement that a woman must be willing to work less in order to dedicate more time to her family, whereas in Western societies this indicator is under 15% (and just 5% in Scandinavian societies) .

Use of social and healthcare services offered by Caritas (as well as other humanitarian aid projects) is significantly higher among women than among men . In part this is due to a higher percentage of women among vulnerable categories (single mothers and women-headed households, pensioners — with life expectancy higher by 10 years for women) . Other possible explanations include, first of all, the question of service hours: if first-hand contact must be made during office hours, then men, employed in mining, heavy industry or other formal employment with regular working hours, may be unable to approach the office for assistance . They may also have less free time, and less motivation to engage in additional activities after full days for physically-demanding work . One possibility to encourage more men to make use of offered services could be to combine service-provision with recreation over weekends or after work (watching football, playing chess or card games, having a barbeque / fishing outings, etc)

Women are more aggressive. If they don’t receive what they want, they will go on a protest. And with social services and humanitarian aid, women are more active, because there are very few men left here. Men are mostly elderly, and those who are still fit to work, they don’t have the time to go to such meetings. Younger men are working, and its women, who are sitting at home (single mother, IDP, site 1).

Secondly, NGO spaces are often sites of social interaction . Because women see themselves as responsible for maintaining social ties on behalf of the household, they tend to have a more developed social network as opposed to men, whose network is more focused around work-related questions . As one male respondent from site 1 to my question whether there are any spaces to socialise, responded “The shop, the church, and that’s it… Or mostly grannies on benches.” When I further probed him, whether he would be interested in meeting others outside of his house, he answered that firstly he doesn’t have time (I asked in particular whether he thought

I know a few younger women, girls who travel to work in a shop. I would have also liked to get such a job, but I have no possibility… I cannot return to the mine either, because I am on forced maternity leave.

So it’s impossible to get some kind of informal part-time job. And officially I’m still on maternity leave from the mine, but it’s difficult.

— We need a space for mothers, who are sitting at home with children. Some kind of activities for mothers, so that they could come. Because I have friends — one mother with two children, another one with one child. They sit at home with these children all day long! There is no space to socialize, nowhere to go out. We don’t have such a place to hang out, just a normal place where we could sit… Where we could just drink some tea, just to go outside of your home. I have many helpers, my children are quite big now, so I sometimes just want to leave the house (laughs) — To go somewhere to “neutral territory”. — By the way, again it seems to be more a need for women, right? Surely, you speak of your experience as women too… — No, it’s not women, our wishes and desires are the same. — But no, it’s not a problem for men. I mean hanging out and spending time out of home. Say, when guests leave — a woman wants to go out somewhere, but where can she go? It’s not comfortable for her to sit at home all the time… — We would have liked to just go to a cafe, Sveta is telling the truth. Just to sit, drink some coffee, to talk. Or to go out with girlfriends, right? And we don’t have anything like that. (focus group, site 2)

As housewives, women generally have fewer opportunities for social interaction outside of their homes, compared to men who interact with their work colleagues on a daily basis . This may also explain statistics, provided in the UNDP report on Zolote, whereby women are much more likely to engage in communal events, like cleaning up parks, engaging in celebrations of the “Day of the City”, and volunteering, while men are more likely to engage in strikes and other trade-union activity . In an all-Ukrainian survey on IDPs, men and women also used different channels of information: men tend to trust mass media, whereas women generally get their information from social media, communication with friends, and municipal information stands in public spaces (which also proves our observation on a greater role of social networks for women) . This survey concludes that such gendered aspects of communication and information networks should be taken into consideration when choosing channels to communicate with women and men .

A further explanation is related to gendered division of household duties . While men are seen as “breadwinners” who bring in money, women take on roles of budgeting for family needs, doing everyday shopping, and making sure that available income is sufficient to “go through a month” . Thus, in cases where available income is not enough, women may see it as their responsibility to approach charitable organizations for assistance . This may be particularly so if a woman is a housewife, and thus feels the responsibility to secure a non-monetary contributions, including humanitarian aid — a frequent response is that “my husband is working, so I’m the one in charge of this” . This conclusion was also reached in PAX report where women were described as “dominant helpers” (they seem to “dominate” but in a serving, helping role) .

Finally, asking for help is perceived as “non-masculine” . This was the most frequent response I heard to the question of why it is mostly women receiving humanitarian aid — that “men are shy” . It is worth noting, that “shyness” was the key explanation both for male and female respondents .

— Who turns to you more frequently for help? — Babushkas (old women) with reduced mobility, I would say, everyone who has reduced mobility. — Are there more women or men? — Mostly women, men are shy. But we do have men as well. Those who are

Use of social and healthcare services offered by Caritas (as well as other humanitarian aid projects) is significantly higher among women than among men with social services and humanitarian aid, women are more active, because there are very few men left here. Men are mostly elderly, and those who are still fit to work, they don’t have the time to go to such meetings. Younger men are working, and its women, who are sitting at home.