An easy way to highlight this is to replace the word “woman” in her article with any other group of people. Let us, for example choose “Christian people.”
When talking about politics, how rational are the following sentences?
“Is it natural for a Christian person to be like this?” or “How many Christian people in the world are able to keep up with such a pace and still be productive?” or “A true Christian politician is indeed a rare case.” They are not rational or legitimate statements.
Sadly Bugayova displayed a poor understanding of discrimination and politics. Successful representative government draws on a whole host of skills that both men and women are capable of possessing. In fact, in certain important areas, the differences between men and women make the latter far better suited. If Azarov suggested that “women” cannot do his kind of work, then this is simple discrimination.
It also reinforces negative stereotypes about women, and I believe that this is the point being so bravely highlighted by groups such as the feminist Femen movement. It is part of the same noble cause that the suffragettes were killing themselves for in the late 19th century – equal rights for both sexes.
If Bugayova fails to see how negative perceptions about women repeated at the highest level are a bad thing, then perhaps she could spend time working with groups such as UNIFEM (the United Nations Fund for Women), the International Organization for Migration in Kyiv or Femen, the feminist organization whom she appears to hold in contempt. These groups exist precisely because sexist views often translate into discriminatory policy.
There is a need to speak out against discrimination wherever it is encountered, as was poignantly illustrated in Martin Niemoller’s famous poem “First they came…” written about the role of German intellectuals in Nazi Germany:
“They came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
"Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
"Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
"Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
"Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."
Those who choose to speak out against discrimination should be applauded, not condemned.
Ian Bearder
Kyiv
