About
SEXISM
*sexism (from Latin. sexus — sex; synonym — gender discrimination) is prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, on the basis of sex or gender identity.
Typically, it is presented in the form of stereotypes, officially established provisions or even ideology.
In our androcentric world, commercials apply male gaze.
And primitive sexist* filter is applied to every image.
Isabelle_Alonso
leader of the modern
anti-discrimination movement ,
(France)
SEXISM IN MODERN SOCIETY
Nowadays in Ukraine society, we encounter sexism almost everywhere. Commercials, TV and radio broadcasts, show business and pop songs, jokes, even school textbooks are infected with virus of
sexism. Sometimes we don't even notice the
sexist statements
"Take care of a woman - the source of men's well-being..."
"Dear ladies! You are the decoration of our life..."
"A woman in politics is no longer a woman..."
"With all my respect for women, it is not a woman's job to carry out reforms...",
"And if she is a woman, then she should go to the kitchen and show her whims there..."
"Well, we've protected animals, let's protect women too..."
"Unhappy women who are deprived of attention and care go into politics..."
we say ourselves or hear them from others.
Today social, cultural, and political movements oppose sexism all over the world. At the same time, in many countries religious and civil movements defending sexism are gaining strength.
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AGAINST SEXISM
On September 5, 2008, the European Parliament voted to adopt a program for issuing legal norms in EU countries that prohibit sexism in the portrayal of women and men in commercials, video games, television and other media.
According to the program, such scenes as women putting on makeup in the kitchen and men polishing their cars exploit stereotypes and undermine the fight for equality of the sexes.
“Advertising and media rather create culture than reflect it,” the program says. — Gender stereotypes in advertising deprive men and women, boys and girls of their individuality, and force them to play artificial roles, often harmful and degrading to both sexes.
According to Eva-Britt Svensson, a member of the European Parliament from Sweden, who actively lobbied adoption of the program, gender stereotypes are dangerous not only for people’s mental health, but also for their physical health, as they can lead to anorexia and bulimia.
At the same time, Sweden is the only Scandinavian country that has not taken strict measures to limit the content of messages in commercials. According to the Swedish parliament, the ban on unethical advertising can limit the freedom of speech of advertisers, and therefore contradicts the country’s constitution.
In 2009, the European Parliament issued a brochure called «Gender-Neutral Language», in which its MPs demand to abandon the use of “miss”, “mrs”, “madam”, etc. According to parliamentarians, indicating married or unmarried status can be offensive to women. In addition, they recommend not to use discriminatory words meaning the names of professions and those containing “man” in them (e.g. sportsman, policeman).
NATIONAL MOVEMENT AGAINST SEXISM IN UKRAINE
Активістки та активісти руху за гендерну рівність в Україні не тільки несуть ідеї гендерної рівності в українське суспільство, але й прикладають чимало зусиль на боротьбу із сексизмом.
Activists of the gender equality movement in Ukraine not only bring the ideas of gender equality to Ukrainian society, but also put a lot of effort into the fight against sexism.
Olga Lipovska from the St. Petersburg Center for Gender Issues came up with the idea and concept of the “Stop sexism!” campaign in the post-Soviet space and together with the Association of Journalists headed by Nadiya Azhgikhina implemented this idea in 2002 for the first time under the ironic slogan: «Non-stop Sexism or Woman as a Friend of a Human Being».
The organizers collected and presented to the general public Russian posters, videos, leaflets and other “physical evidence” of sexism as a mass practice of gender discrimination.
In 2005 the “Gender Route: Festival of Ideas about Gender” scientific and cultural forum in Minsk followed their steps.
Academic provisions for the “Stop sexism!” campaign in Ukraine was developed by the Lviv Research Center “Woman and Society” and explained by Oksana Kis in the article “Sexism in Media: Counteracting the Communicative Flows“.
The Museum of Women and Gender History expresses deep gratitude to gender researcher Oksana Kis from Lviv Research Center “Women and Society” for her help in creating this exhibition.
MAKING, RECORDING, AND PRESERVING HISTORY
In Ukraine the movement against sexism in mass media and commercials began in March 2006 with the “Stop Sexism!” action, which took place in Lviv with the initiative of Research Center “Women and Society”.
On March 8, 2006 the “Stop Sexism!” civic educational campaign with participation of academics, teachers and students of Lviv academic institutions was held at the Center for the Development of Master’s Programs in Cultural Studies and Sociology of the Lviv National University named after I. Franko.
The event aimed to draw attention of Lviv intellectuals to the facts of widespread use of discriminatory images of women in commercials all over the city. Since sexism in commercials is a clear manifestation of women’s rights violation, the campaign was timed to coincide with International Women’s Rights Day.
The Research Center “Women and Society” ran this campaign for the students of Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv at the invitation of the named university. The initiative was taken up by Ukrainian NGOs:
2006 “Women’s Network” NGO, Kyiv
2006 Series of seminars for civil servants, two broadcasts on Crimean television in Crimea
2007 Kharkiv Women’s Organization “Krona” held “Stop Sexism!” campaign at four universities in Kharkiv
2007 “Ms. Universe” NGO, Vinnytsia
2007 Gender Resource Center of Zhytomyr Regional Council and Center for Gender Education at Zhytomyr State University named after I. Franka, Zhytomyr
2008 National NGO “Women’s Consortium of Ukraine” under support of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation held “Stereotypical Images of Men and Women in Advertising” discussion in Kyiv
2008 Presentation of “Sexism in Ukrainian Media” project during the national exhibition and fair of gender ideas and projects in Kharkiv
2009 “Stereotypical Images of Men and Women in Advertising” discussion club and weekly exhibition of discriminatory commercials in Kyrovohrad
The set of sexist commercials was collected and transferred to the Museum of Women and Gender History by gender activists, theorists and practitioners from different regions of Ukraine in order to show the general public how simple and common things that are used in everyday life are advertised: food, cosmetics, construction materials, furniture, tableware, laundry products and cars use sexualized and eroticized images of women and men.
The team of the Museum of Women and Gender History would like to thank each and everyone who contributed to the common cause and hopes that all these advertising images will eventually remain only museum exhibits, and its collection will not be replenished with new examples of sexist commercials.
FUNDAMENTALS OF SEXISM IN MEDIA
Sexism is the ideology and discriminatory practice used against people based on biological sex. As a rule, sexism refers to discrimination and/or intolerance of people based on their sex rather than certain personal traits or specific actions.
In patriarchal societies (and Ukrainian one is no exception) sexism is directed mainly at women. This manifests itself in the following:
- narrowing spheres and methods of female self-realization mainly to the private sphere and the so-called “female” types of employment;
- limiting opportunities for personal and professional growth;
- stricter requirements and rules regarding female morality and behavior and, correspondingly, harsch sanctions for their violation;
- extremenly high aesthetic requirements for women’s appearance;
- control over female body and sexuality;
- hyperbolization of women’s reproductive functions and assigning the exclusive responsibility for the care and education of children to women;
- assigning certain family and household duties exclusively to women
STEREOTYPICAL WOMEN'S IMAGES IN COMMERCIALS AND MEDIA
“Happy Housewife» is mostly a young or mature, beautiful and well-groomed woman who is happy to use the latest developments in household appliances, cleaning products chemicals, cooking, etc., to please her master. The apartment is her entire microcosm, outside of which she goes only to buy everything that gives meaning to her life (food, cleaning products, etc.). Television is her window to the world, refrigerator is a source of inspiration, stove helps to develop her creativity, so her “life is like a movie.”
“Caring Mother” is a type of housewife who has children, and her husband is one of them. She directs all her energy and skills to them, relentlessly and selflessly feeds and treats them, washes their clothes and cleans the house for them. All her interests are focused exclusively on her family, and her dreams are limited by the optimization of the mentioned processes and fullest possible satisfaction of the family’s interests, because “happiness is to give joy to loved ones.”
In the framework of patriarchal discourse the male dominance is presented as natural, eternal, and therefore fair.
In this way, discriminatory practices towards women become the norm, habitual, generally accepted and imperceptible.
“Victim” is a typical image of social advertising: an unhappy-looking, sad and destitute grandmother or a little girl suffering from social problems (poor, incurable diseases, environmental pollution, orphanhood, etc.). The victim is helpless and powerless, she is dependent on external circumstances and expects help from others, “needs trust, understanding and support.”
“Goddess” is beautiful, flawless and glamorous, but her perfection is exclusive, intended only for the chosen one. For this he must worship the Goddess and bring her precious gifts, admire her and prove his devotion. The everyday life of ordinary mortals (women) does not interest her: in her temple, removed from worldly bustle, she enjoys her exceptional status, and her only goal is to “allow others to adore her.”
“Decoration” is a kind of Goddess, but her mission is more altruistic: she sincerely spreads her beauty over everyone. Society can reward her aesthetic contribution with a special status of “Miss”. Inspired by the lofty mission of “beauty that saves the world” she is ready to make any sacrifices (including those of surgical character) to become even better. “Decoration” tirelessly and selflessly polishes her external perfection not only to narcissistically admire her own appearance, but mainly to “beautify life”.
“Nature Itself” is young, fresh, pure (in all respects) and almost untouched (by civilization). She changes like seasons, her body resembles a landscape, she is like primordial matter, which in the hands of the Creator is ready to become his creation, so her “naturalness attracts”.
“Wild Cat” is a kind of Nature, through which, however, wild primordial energy breaks through. She is mad, aggressive, predatory (although covered with soft fur), unable to tame her natural instincts on her own, until she is tamed and domesticated by the strong and skillful hand of a hunter who went on a “traditional royal hunt”.
More details about sexism in advertising can be found in the article by O. Kis «Sexism in Media: Countering the Communicative Flows»//Ya, 2007, No. 1(2)
The team of the Museum of Women and Gender History expresses its sincere gratitude to the head of the Women’s Information and Consultative Center Olena Suslova for the information provided.
MAKING, RECORDING, AND PRESERVING HISTORY
The first anti-award was awarded to a cabaret commercial in the Kyiv downtown showing an undressing girl in her underwear. In response to this, gender activists started the first case against sexism in Ukraine.
Separately, a lawsuit against violation of the constitutional right to equal rights of women and men was filed and symbolized an important step in the history of the fight against sexism in Ukraine.
THE FIRST PRECEDENT IN UKRAINE timeline of the litigation process
On March 19, 2010, in an interview with a UNIAN correspondent, Prime Minister of Ukraine M. A. Azarov said:
In response to this, gender activists started the first case against sexism in Ukraine.
Separately, a lawsuit against violation of the constitutional right to equal rights of women and men was filed and symbolized an important step in the history of the fight against sexism in Ukraine.
THE FIRST PRECEDENT IN UKRAINE timeline of the litigation process
On March 19, 2010, in an interview with a UNIAN correspondent, Prime Minister of Ukraine M. A. Azarov said:
TIMELINE
2010
March 22: NGOs appealed to the Prime Minister of Ukraine.
March 22: The collective complain of NGO representatives was submitted to the Minister of Family, Youth and Sports of Ukraine in accordance with Articles 11 and 22 of the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men”. The complaint was signed by K. Levchenko, O. Suslova, and M. Yevsyukova. O. Kalashnyk, L. Kovalchuk, L. Kolos
March 27: Statement of “KRONA” regarding the words of the Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.
March 28: The head of the Women’s Information and Consultative Center Olena Suslova filed a lawsuit against violation of the constitutional right to equal rights of women and men and submitted it to the District Administrative Court of Kyiv.
March 29: The same lawsuit was filed at the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv by the president of the International Women’s Rights Center “La Strada-Ukraine” Kateryna Levchenko.
Defendant — Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov.
| April 2010 | TIMELINE |
| 01 | Article by Kateryna Levchenko “Why Did I Sue the Prime Minister of Ukraine?” |
| 01 | Pechersk District Court grants motion to dismiss claiming lack of evidence. |
| 02 | Article by Olena Suslova “Gender Monitoring of the Authorities for 40 days”. |
| 06 | Administrative court dismisses the case by O. Suslova. |
| 09 | O. Suslova appeals a motion to dismiss at Kyiv Appeal Administrative Court. |
| 09 | K. Levchenko resubmittes the case to Pechersk district court in Kyiv with additional evidence |
| 20 | Response to the complaint is sent by the Commissioner of the Parliament |
| 20 | Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports of Ukraine sends their response to the complaint. |
| 22 | Activists offer to start a fundraising to cover legal expenses of O. Suslova and K. Levchenko. |
| 23 | The meeting of the Commissioner for Human Rights female and male representatives with a group of complainants regarding the statement of the Prime Minister of Ukraine. N. Ivanova, V. Yatsenko, and N. Fedotov represented the Commissioner. The complainants were O. Suslova, K. Levchenko, L. Kolos, M. Yevsyukova. |
Лаура Мінгуцци,
президентка клубу Chircolo de la Roso
(Мілан, Італія)
25 Laura Minguzzi, president of the Chircolo de la Roso club (Milan, Italy) translates Levchenko’s article into Italian to support of Ukrainian women.
From Laura Minguzzi’s letter:
27 Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports of Ukraine refuses to accept a repeated complaint on sex-based discrimination due to impseroper consideration of the previous one. They claimed the employee responsible for such complaints were absent at the moment of the complaint submission despite the fact it was happening during office hours.
27 The repeated complaint is sent to the Minister of Family, Youth and Sports of Ukraine with registered mail.
28 Article by K. Levchenko “Limiting Women’s Right to Participate in Public Administration as a “Positive Action?” is pubslihed.
28-29 Preliminary hearing is held at Pechersk Court in Kyiv on the case by K. Levchenko regarding the violation of the constitutional right to equal rights of women and men.
May 2010
From: Kateryna Levchenko
To:
CC:
Date: May 17, 22:14:08 (Kyiv)
Subject: Lawsuit against Azarov
|
|
Part of Laura Minguzzi’s letter:
Laura Minguzzi 27 dicembre 2010 alle ore 5.54
Subject: Written by Laura Minguzzi and published
on Libreria delle Donne in response to Tetiana Isaeva
Men on Gaz Pipe
Latest news from Ukraine
Tetiana, Kateryna and Olena wrote us from Ukraine.
Recently I received a letter from Tetiana Isaieva, founder of Gendermuseum website containing the article of her friend Katerina Levchenko “Why Did I Sue the Prime Minister of Ukraine?” published on March 29, where the facts and details of the case and her actions and emotions are explained.
Prime Minister Azarov in his public statement on required national reforms said that women are not capable of implementing reforms and new government consists of men capable of working 16 hours a day. Kateryna Levchenko and Olena Suslova decided to file a lawsuit at Pechersk District Court in Kyiv. While waiting for the court verdict, which won’t change anything related to women, as far as I’m concerned, I would like to share my opinion with my friends Tetiana, Kateryna and Olena. This is not only my opinion, rather a result of discussions held at Libreria delle Donne website editorial board on the actions of the named women.
Just reading his derogatory and misogynist statement gives an idea to leave the lawsuits aside and switch to dissemination of information approach, publishing your story in newspapers, magazines, TV and to initiate changing of view on the essense of the male’s power. You could have used simple words and expain that Prime Minister Azarov just expressed how men see power and how they treat it, that they see it as a resource consuming their time and energy. And you could explain that for you, women, power is not a thing, not a profession. It’s about being heard. And you could have told that men are quite envious towards someone who wants a part of their power, how they hold on to it. And on contrary, for you power is about being able to solve certain problems of women and men, can be shared and not be present only behind the closed doors of authorities palaces.
In fact, the Azarox’s statetment shows the mens’s crisis or as we say Men on Gaz Pipe. So me and my female friends at Libreria delle Donne sugguest you could not only file a lawsuit, but also try to reconsider the topic using media influence. You could show your point of view, which is different from men’s, along with the lawsuit. Our point of view is different, and stating it could make a bigger difference that just a lawsuit. All women of Libreria delle Donne agree that your own words regarding the equality of women and men may be more powerful and effective that any appeal to public authorities!
Me and all women of Libreria delle Donne believe your own personal and emotional words will appeal to common people and probable they will remember it better and will be more inclined to listen to them than they do now.
Starting from 2010, the Representative Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Ukraine actively joined the movement against sexism. A series of round tables in partnership with NGOs were held during which joint action plans were discussed.
The advertising and gender communities took the initiative to develop the Standard for Non-discriminatory Advertising. Activities taking into account the progressive experience of European countries and based on the study of international and national associations documents were carried out.
In 2011 the meetings of expert from advertising and gender communities were held, and the text of the mentioned Standard was developed.
This Standard was adopted on September 30, 2011 at the national forum of professional associations in the field of marketing and advertising, and was signed by the following organizations: “Ukrainian Marketing Association” NGO, “National Advertising Coalition” NGO, “Union of Ukrainian Advertisers” creative union, Institute of Liberal Society, “School of Equal Opportunities” NGO, “Ukrainian Direct Marketing Association” NGO, “Industrial Television Committee” NGO, “International Association of Marketing Initiatives” NGO, “Women’s Consortium of Ukraine” NGO.
Industrial Gender Committee on Advertising (IGCA) was estbablished at the Forum.
Its main tasks are consideration of complaints from consumers, identification of standards and current legislation violations.
In addition, training for advertisers was held with the support of UNDP in 2011 in order to inform the advertising community about such initiative.
Gender Culture Center joined this movement in 2017. As part of “Centre of Gender Culture as a Platform for Empowerment of Women and Youth” project three waves of commercials monitoring sexism were conducted. 170 volunteers took part in the monitoring.
68 appeals were prepared for consideration by the representative office of the Industrial Gender Committee on Advertising in the Kharkiv region.
Also Gender Culture Center developed the «Methodology for Comprehensive Gender Audit of Urban Space», that includes Recommendations on monitoring of sexist commercials.
In 2019 “Women in Media” NGO, “Respect” Campaign Against Sexism in Media and Politics, “Institute of Mass Information” NGO, “Zmina” Center for Human Rights, “Media Detector” NGO, “Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union” NGO launched National Antiaward “It’s an Egg!”. This award, which has the shape of a symbolic chicken egg, is designed to draw attention to the problem of stereotypical portrayal of women in the Ukrainian media and discrimination based on sex or gender, and is awarded annually on the eve of the International Human Rights Day to the media for their materials about sexism and to public figures for sexist statements.
On September 10, 2020, the Parliament voted for draft bill No. 3427 “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Advertising” in the second reading. The amendments combat discrimination based on gender and introduce the concepts of “discriminatory advertising” and “discriminatory gender based advertising”, as well as liability for gender-based discrimination in commercials.
Starting from 2010, the Representative Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Ukraine actively joined the movement against sexism. A series of round tables in partnership with NGOs were held during which joint action plans were discussed.
The advertising and gender communities took the initiative to develop the Standard for Non-discriminatory Advertising. Activities taking into account the progressive experience of European countries and based on the study of international and national associations documents were carried out.
In 2011 the meetings of expert from advertising and gender communities were held, and the text of the mentioned Standard was developed.
This Standard was adopted on September 30, 2011 at the national forum of professional associations in the field of marketing and advertising, and was signed by the following organizations: “Ukrainian Marketing Association” NGO, “National Advertising Coalition” NGO, “Union of Ukrainian Advertisers” creative union, Institute of Liberal Society, “School of Equal Opportunities” NGO, “Ukrainian Direct Marketing Association” NGO, “Industrial Television Committee” NGO, “International Association of Marketing Initiatives” NGO, “Women’s Consortium of Ukraine” NGO.
Industrial Gender Committee on Advertising (IGCA) was estbablished at the Forum.
Its main tasks are consideration of complaints from consumers, identification of standards and current legislation violations.
In addition, training for advertisers was held with the support of UNDP in 2011 in order to inform the advertising community about such initiative.
Gender Culture Center joined this movement in 2017. As part of “Centre of Gender Culture as a Platform for Empowerment of Women and Youth” project three waves of commercials monitoring sexism were conducted. 170 volunteers took part in the monitoring.
68 appeals were prepared for consideration by the representative office of the Industrial Gender Committee on Advertising in the Kharkiv region.
Also Gender Culture Center developed the «Methodology for Comprehensive Gender Audit of Urban Space», that includes Recommendations on monitoring of sexist commercials.
In 2019 “Women in Media” NGO, “Respect” Campaign Against Sexism in Media and Politics, “Institute of Mass Information” NGO, “Zmina” Center for Human Rights, “Media Detector” NGO, “Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union” NGO launched National Antiaward “It’s an Egg!”. This award, which has the shape of a symbolic chicken egg, is designed to draw attention to the problem of stereotypical portrayal of women in the Ukrainian media and discrimination based on sex or gender, and is awarded annually on the eve of the International Human Rights Day to the media for their materials about sexism and to public figures for sexist statements.
On September 10, 2020, the Parliament voted for draft bill No. 3427 “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Advertising” in the second reading. The amendments combat discrimination based on gender and introduce the concepts of “discriminatory advertising” and “discriminatory gender based advertising”, as well as liability for gender-based discrimination in commercials.
The exhibition “Sexism — the practice of discrimination” was created with the support of