PERSPECTIVES: Women who know their place (02/27/05)

PERSPECTIVES

by Andrew Fedynsky

Women who know their place

I don't remember what President George Bush wore to the State of the Union address this year, but it doesn't matter. I already know: a dark suit and a red or blue tie - not pink, lavender, green or peach. And I didn't have to look to know what every other man had on that night; it's what they wear in the British Parliament, the Japanese Diet, the Russian Duma, the German Bundestag and it's what Viktor Yushchenko wore to his inauguration in the Rada. It's what I wear when I go to Washington: a dark suit and a subdued tie.

Men are so boring; except for the ones who wear ponytails and cowboy boots, that is: Hawaii's Congressman Neil Abercrombie and recently retired Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell. Sens. Daniel Moynihan from New York and Paul Simon from Illinois wore bow ties, but sadly they've both passed away. Which leaves everyone else: boring.

Women, on the other hand, are infinitely interesting. Like men, they legislate and govern, but also show creativity in how they look. And so, perusing the crowd of senators and representatives, I noticed two congresswomen who had their hair up in braids, wrapped around their heads like a diadem. Wow, I thought: just like Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine's prime minister.

I don't know whether the congresswomen were consciously emulating Ukraine's new prime minister or whether they even know who Yulia is, but her hairstyle became fashionable, just like freedom and democracy and the color orange - Ukrainians didn't invent any of those, but they certainly showed the world how to put them to good use. Now the artist Christo is bedecking Central Park in thousands of orange-colored portals (though he calls the color saffron). Coincidence? No. Orange is fashionable. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Late last year, by being resolute, honest and brave, Ukrainians briefly captured the world's imagination. And, with a flair for style, Ukrainian women took center stage in the drama and gave the revolution a softer, more attractive look. More than one commentator remarked about the beautiful young women who confronted young, male riot police in Kyiv, slipping flowers and slips of paper with their phone numbers into the policemen's shields and pockets, many of whom, I bet, wished they were on the other side. Nearby, on the big screen, between bouncing around on stage and singing the hits that won her the Eurovision Entertainer of the Year award, Ruslana was telling everyone what a great time it was to be Ukrainian.

In America, you know you've made it when you're on "Good Morning America" or "60 Minutes." Appearing on both shows, Katia Chumachenko Yushchenko, wife of the new president, intelligently provided historical as well as personal context for what was happening. Impeccably playing the role of mother to her children and first lady to the nation, she was cool, collected and, of course, fashionably dressed.

Historically, Ukrainian women have played a vital role, going back more than 1,000 years to Queen Olha. Shrewdly playing off the perception that as a woman, she had to be weak, Olha ruthlessly avenged her husband's death at the hands of the Derevliany tribe. Having destroyed her enemies, she then continued her husband's work of building an empire. While doing so, she converted to Christianity and brought Rus' closer to Byzantium, the premier power of that time.

Ukrainian history also records Anna Yaroslavna (1024?-1075), a Kyivan princess who ruled France for six years after her husband's death until her son Philip I came of age. In the 1500s, Roksolana (1505-1558), a priest's daughter from western Ukraine who had been taken into Ottoman slavery, used her intelligence and charm to become the exclusive wife of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who consulted closely with her on affairs of state.

When literature became one of the few outlets for Ukrainian culture, women like Marusia Churai (1625-1650), Lesia Ukrainka (1876-1913), Marko Vovchok (1834-1907), Olha Kobylianska (1863-1942) and Lina Kostenko (born 1930) helped to maintain the national identity and sustained hope for a submerged people.

Today, women play a critical role in Ukraine's development - Yulia Tymoshenko and Katia Chumachenko Yushchenko, to be sure, but also Ohio's Marcy Kaptur, arguably Ukraine's best friend in the U.S. House of Representatives and New York's Hillary Clinton in the Senate. Few of us operate at the level these women have achieved. Instead, we work at a more ordinary level where most people actually live. And that's where the role of women has been critical, starting with the songs that mothers sing to their infants in the cradle and going on to the myriad activities that make us what we are.

I'm not all that familiar with Ukraine, but I know that here in America, if it weren't for women, our community would cease to function. Women staff all the major organizations: Plast, SUM, dance classes, bandura school, pre-school, Saturday school, you name it. Hundreds (thousands?) of unsung heroines prepare varenyky every Friday to keep open the doors of their parishes and the schools attached to them. Working in the kitchens at our summer camps, they feed kids three-four times a day; organize golf outings, ski trips and every year in December prepare a warm welcome for St. Nicholas. The list goes on and on: a woman - Roma Hadzewycz - edits the newspaper you're reading. Every week, her counterpart at Svoboda, Irene Jarosewich, does the same. Nadia McConnell runs the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation. Helen Kryshtalowych heads a prestigious law office in Kyiv.

All the above and many more are no-nonsense people who show up on schedule, e-mail each other every day and move children and the community up the ladder of achievement year by year. They wear blue jeans and drive mini vans, but Saturday evening, come to the dances (zabavy, which they set up), wearing bright gowns, their hair done up in braids, curls and buns. Every year at debutante balls, our women rehearse the pretty girls to line up straight, bow just so and hold their bouquets at the appropriate angle.

Now, I could have written this article, to be sure, about the men who run Ukrainian affairs, without whom the community would collapse. Still, at the risk of being blasted for noticing, I thought it needed to be said that Ukrainian women are not only active, they're fashionable, glamorous, in many cases downright gorgeous, and a number are influential and powerful on a global stage. I'm glad all these women know their place. We'd be lost without them.

Andrew Fedynsky's e-mail address is: fedynsky@stratos.net.

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