Impact of gender commitments, policies, laws and regulations on men and women in frontline communities

Interestingly, none of the respondents, neither in interviews, nor in focus-groups mentioned IDPs as a vulnerable social category . This could be linked to the fact that most IDPs in the three research sites are in fact neighbours who moved to their family members or summer homes when war erupted, so were known by respondents as locals, rather than IDPs .

Another reason could be that respondents are aware of cases, when IDPs only register in their villages, but continue to live in occupied territories, just showing up occasionally to receive social payments, and they tend to have little sympathy for such practices:

Here in our village it’s maybe 30% of IDPs on paper, but in reality maybe 10% are left and that’s it. There were people who are here on paper, but they just registered and don’t live here. They just come for the summer season, or there are those who are counted as IDPs but in reality they live on occupied territories (single mother, site 1).

Last year, in my own apartment block, a man is registered, but doesn’t live there. They come looking for him, and neighbours don’t even know who he is, where he came from, or even what he looks like (focus group site 2).

Following conclusions from previous research, however, there is reason to suspect that in some situations IDPs, even those who are seen as “locals”, may experience additional challenges related to their status . Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts accepted half of the 1 446 881registered IDPs, and it became a significant strain on local infrastructure, including healthcare facilities, where IDPs are often “forced to compete with other citizens and vulnerable groups, because most hospitals have limited personnel and resources”

Well, you understand, in Stanycia Luhanska, [the negative attitude towards IPDs] is most likely related to the border crossing point. Because if such a crossing point were opened here, we would have the same situation. Prices will go up, everything will be more expensive. Everything will be too expensive in shops. The problem is not in people, not at all. The problem is that everything, everything will get expensive. (focus group, site 2).

This quote shows potential for solidarity among different vulnerable groups, if they come to an understanding of systemic challenges that impact their condition . Instead of competing for scarce resources with other vulnerable groups, NGOs should encourage focus on challenges that impact everyone, albeit in different ways .

Ukrainian government has fairly progressive legislation on gender equality . On legislative level, equal rights of men and women are officially declared in such laws as “On Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men” (2005), “On Principles of Preventing and Combating Discrimination” (2012), “On Preventing and Combating Domestic Violence” (2017) among others . On the local executive level, all municipalities are expected to create posts of council representatives, who are responsible for implementation of gender equality in their municipalities, and to introduce gender-sensitive budgeting .

At the same time, however, realities “on the ground” are often lagging behind progressive legislation . Experts in gender studies observe persisting patterns of gender stereotypes, gendered division of labour

Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts accepted half of the 1 446 881registered IDPs, and it became a significant strain on local infrastructure, including healthcare facilities, where IDPs are often “forced to compete with other citizens and vulnerable groups, because most hospitals have limited personnel and resources.

In Stanycia Luhanska, [the negative attitude towards IPDs] is most likely related to the border crossing point. Because if such a crossing point were opened here, we would have the same situation. Prices will go up, everything will be more expensive. Everything will be too expensive in shops. The problem is not in people, not at all. The problem is that everything, everything will get expensive.

and access to decision-making positions and economic resources . Progressive legislation is seen by many not as a response to the needs of ordinary men and women (“from below”), but as following the pressures of international organizations and human rights activists in an attempt to implement change “from above” .

International human rights and charitable organizations and national NGOs contribute to the promotion of gender equality in frontline communities, and in conducting research on differing needs of men and women . Some noteworthy research on the subject includes an extensive 86-page report by PAX (Netherlands) published in March 2019, on Gender perspectives on life of people in the context of war on certain territories of Luhan’sk and Donets’k regions15 , research conducted in 2019 by UN Women together with Ukrainian Women’s Fund in 36 frontline communities in Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizzhia regions16, as well as Gender analysis of all-Ukrainian survey on the rights of IDPs, conducted by Marta Chumalo from the centre “Women’s perspectives” with support from UNDP and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark17 and research conducted by “Donbass studies” project of IZOLYATSIYA with support of Heinrich Boell foundation18, among others .

Situation “on the ground” in frontline communities show that even if political goals of achieving gender equality are formally achieved, they do not guarantee real equality . For instance, Ukraine committed itself to achieving the UN Millennium development goal 3 specifically dedicated to gender equality, measured by using indicators of representation of women in politics, as well as parity in salaries . But the indicator of political participation may not be the best way to describe patterns of gender inequalities in rural areas, as women are well represented in local councils in villages (51% of women) and small-towns (46% of women as deputies and heads of local councils)19 . Three sites in our study were no exception . However, the situation begins to change at a district (rayon) level (down to 23% of women), in large cities (28% women) and regional (oblast) councils (only 12% women) . UN claims that high visibility and leadership of women at local level in small towns and rural areas is due to their closer proximity and better understanding of the needs of the local population, strengthened by personal neighbourly contacts between voters and their representatives, as well as lower campaigning costs, compared to cities20 . Our research confirms that respondents seem to know their deputies and heads of councils personally, as in the example of our focus group of site 1 being organized in one of the rooms of rural council (with the head being present and sitting on a bench in front of the council building with other residents),

However, another possible explanation of a higher proportion of women at these lower levels of political life, is because they are associated with less control over scarce resources and more mundane duties or “caring”

15 Вплив політики (не)визнання фактів із життя людей з непідконтрольних Україні територій Луганської та Донецької областей на чоловічі та жіночі ролі у повсякденному житті https://paxforpeace .nl/media/download/pax-report-gender-perspectives-on-life-of-people-in-the-context-of-war-full-report-ua .pdf 16 «Просування прав людини та ґендерної рівності за допомогою мобілізації громад задля розширення можливостей» (community gender profiles currently unpublished, information obtained through professional communication of the author with the research team, basic information abot the project can be fond here: https://www .uwf .org . ua/project_activities/cme2 ) 17 http://gutszn .kr-admin .gov .ua/rivnist/gendernuy%20analiz .pdf 18 Гендерні дослідження . Проект “Донбаські сдудії” . Фонд ІЗОЛЯЦІЯ . Представництво Фонду імені гайнріха Бьоля . — Київ 2015 . — 228 с 19 http://un .org .ua/images/stories/docs/2015_MDGs_Ukraine_Report_ukr .pdf 20 ibid .

Experts in gender studies observe persisting patterns gender stereotypes, gendered division of labour and access to decisionmaking positions and economic resources. Progressive legislation is seen by many not as a response to the needs of ordinary men and women (“from below”), but as following the pressures of international organizations and human rights activists in an attempt to implement change “from above”

for the community, that are seen as more fitting for women . So this high representation of women in local politics is not an indicator of gender equality . Formal steps made by Ukrainian government to ensure gender quotas in party lists and more equal representation of women are unlikely to have a significant impact in project target areas . An area where Caritas could contribute to empowering women in leadership, could be in offering professional training (or sponsoring travel to larger cities for trainings and networking) to increase their real decision-making power, better awareness of relevant legislation and mechanisms to promote the interests of their communities . Another possible area of intervention could be in “filling with meaning” the currently formal posts of gender equality representatives in local councils, and offering training to municipal workers of these focal points . Working hours to fulfil the duties associated with this position are usually added to existing employees’ workload (so oftentimes this position is held by the assistant to the Head of local council), but it is generally a formal assignment21, and can be filled with practical content at the initiative and support of NGOs .

Similarly, gender gap in salaries, is also problematic as an indicator, especially in frontline communities with very few job vacancies, and a significant percentage of work in the shadow economy . Respondents questioned in PAX report suggested that such governmental measures as gendered budgeting and creation of gender monitoring posts in local councils, are unlikely to have a significant effect as long as rates of informal economy remain high . Even UN report on achievement of millennium goals admits that although women earn on average 20-25% less than men, “variation of this indicator in the last decade suggests that gender politics does not have a real impact on decreasing gender gap in salaries”22 . What may have an impact, is increasing the minimum wage in sectors that employ predominantly women (healthcare and education) . Although such a decision is a prerogative of the national government, local councils can supplement public sector workers’ wages from local budgets or other sources, and Caritas could lobby for such steps in the three research sites .

As far as questions of domestic violence are concerned, a similar observation on limited relevance of progressive legislation is confirmed by PAX research on changing gender dynamics through armed conflict in Ukraine:

Although experts consider legislation regulating gender relations in Ukraine to be progressive, many legal solutions were brought in and promoted “from the outside” (donor support), and often exist separately from the reality of the frontline areas. The low level of awareness about gender-based violence illustrates the lack of in-depth understanding of the gender-specific challenges in the conflict regions of Ukraine. Consequently, either the victims do not recognize themselves as such, or the respective authorities do not have the

21 According for FAO Ukraine National gender profile on agriculture and rural livelihoods (http://www .fao .org/publications/card/en/c/CB4501EN/ ) “The 2005 Law on Ensuring Equal Rightss and Opportunities for Women and Men requires every central executive agency (including line ministries) and regional administrations to appoint gender focal points (…) In practice, the deputy head of the institution usually holds this role (and) many focal points cover gender equailty only as an additional task and are not necessarily trained on this, while others do it out of personal interest” . 22 http://un .org .ua/images/stories/docs/2015_MDGs_Ukraine_Report_ukr .pdf с .49

knowledge and methods to solve the problems identified. For example, domestic violence is not recognised as a form of gender-based violence bt rather as a “family matter”, and is thus in the hands of family members to solve23 .

Respondents, who were employed in the social service sector (school teachers, Caritas social workers, municipal administrative, social and healthcare workers, as well as local NGO facilitators) were familiar with concepts of gender equality and gender-based violence . For instance, when I asked a representative of Valuyske rural council about differences in employment opportunities between men and women (without using the word ‘gender’), he immediately responded: “Oh, the question of gender equality…” which points to his awareness of the problem . However, he goes on to conclude that men are more likely to find jobs, because “it so happened”, and shifts the focus of conversation to broader issues of unemployment . A representative of Stanycia Luhanska territorial centre for social service provision was also aware of issues of gender stereotypes, contradicted that “As far as gender equality is concerned, we have male social workers too!” . But then she went on to reproduce these very stereotypes by specifying why men are needed in this role — because they can do more difficult physical work, electricity repairs, wood chopping, etc . This leads to a conclusion, that a formal commitment to gender equality to “obey instructions from Kyiv” is rarely substantively meaningful, and can be filled with meaning by the NGOs working in communities and aware of local needs of men and women .

To conclude, gender commitments made by the government in the context of international processes are generally reflected in national and relevant sector policies; however, current policies, laws and regulations have little impact on daily lives of men and women in frontline communities . A positive impact in terms of awareness-raising can be observed on behalf of humanitarian organisations . Information sessions, trainings, and handout materials on issues related to gender inequalities are being offered to social workers and local activists, who may in turn contribute to changing perceptions and narratives at a local level . At the same time, more effort needs to be made to identify local challenges and needs that do not necessarily match governmental commitments and goals at a national level .