UNWLA session offers panels on organization's work, current topics (07/11/99)

Joint Conferences of Ukrainian American Organizations

UNWLA session offers panels on organization's work, current topics

by Tamara Stadnychenko
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

ARLINGTON, Va. - The Ukrainian National Women's League of America program at the Joint Conferences of Ukrainian American Organizations was held on June 25, and was moderated by UNWLA Recording Secretary Barbara Bachynsky.

During the session "All the things you wanted to know about the UNWLA," Honorary President Anna Krawczuk presented an overview of the organization's history, stressing that one of its greatest strengths lay in the diversity of its membership. Newly elected UNWLA President Iryna Kurowyckyj outlined her vision of UNWLA goals and programs as the organization approaches the 75th anniversary of its founding.

Vice-President Oxana Farion highlighted the benefits of UNWLA membership and emphasized the importance of recruiting members-at-large among young, mobile women with busy schedules who are interested in maintaining contact with the Ukrainian community.

Hanya Krill of Brama-Gateway concluded the session with an entertaining overview of the history of the Internet, focusing on its potential as an organizational tool for recruitment of members, communication among members and enhancement of the UNWLA's image.

During the session on women's health, Dr. Susan C. Stewart, associate medical director of J.P. Morgan Inc., explained how American women are experiencing the benefits of a progressively better health care system that is becoming more attuned to gender-specific health issues. Dr. Stewart also addressed issues related to menopause and concluded her presentation by emphasizing lifestyle choices that promote good health.

In stark contrast to Dr. Stewart's presentation on women's health care in this country was the dismal and sometimes overwhelmingly depressing report presented by Dr. Zoreslava Shkiryak-Nyzhnyk of Kyiv on the status of women's health in Ukraine. Citing bleak statistics on infant mortality, teenage morbidity, abortion, miscarriage and birth defects, and on the alarming increase in sexually transmitted diseases, Dr. Nyzhnyk stressed the need for economic stability and for radical changes in government policy on health care.

Alexandra Isaievych-Mason, a beneficiary of the UNWLA's extensive scholarship program, discussed the problems of Ukrainian women seeking work in the U.S. On behalf of the UNWLA, she is currently preparing a background paper on this issue for the U.S. Department of Labor.

Economist Harriet Harper of the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Labor Department spoke on the complexity of legal and bureaucratic structures that play a role in preventing women from Ukraine from obtaining legitimate work in the United States. She also addressed the problem of trafficking of women, stating that the current administration is taking active steps to combat the problem through international cooperation in law enforcement and educational programs targeting potential victims.

The final session of the UNWLA's program dealt with bio-engineering. Advocating biotechnology as a positive advancement that will benefit humanity in food production and in combating diseases was Dr. L. Val Giddens, vice-president for food and agriculture with the Biotechnology Industry Organization.

A rebuttal was presented by biologist Tamara E. Raven, vice-president of the National Council of Women, who contended that research in the area was neither precise nor predictable and who referred to bio-engineering as a form of biological pollution that threatens the environment and could lead to unforeseen consequences.

The session ended with a lively discussion on the moral and ethical implications of bio-technological research.

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