October 13, 2017

WFUWO at 50th anniversary of UWC in New York

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Dear Editor:

Orysia Sushko, president of the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations and the second vice-president of the Ukrainian World Congress, was invited to participate in the September 16, 2017, conference at the Princeton Club to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the UWC. Created in Philadelphia in 1948, the WFUWO was a founding member in 1967 of the World Congress of Free Ukrainians, the predecessor organization to the UWC.

Despite the WFUWO’s 50 years of contribution to the UWC, we regret that neither at the event luncheon, nor at the 50th anniversary gala banquet did the organizers of the event see to the proper introduction of Ms. Sushko as UWC second vice-president while, in turn, choosing to recognize the two other (male) vice-presidents in attendance. The WFUWO and the UWC have a long history of cooperation and equally share a mission to ensure the well-being of our homeland. We expect wider inclusivity and gender equality in our mutual efforts.

Within the UWC, the WFUWO represents the organized women’s sector of the Ukrainian diaspora – embracing 31 national women’s organizations in 21 countries across four continents. WFUWO advocates for full equality and security for women in Ukraine’s process of democratization. No less important, WFUWO advocates for the rights of Ukrainian women worldwide, including the right of representation within their diaspora communities. This logic of equal representation is behind the automatic designation of the WFUWO president as the second vice-president of the UWC. This recognition was hard-won by former WFUWO President Stefania Sawchuk (1972-1977). Ms. Sawchuk argued that a strong voice for women must be ensured within the UWC as the highest coordinating structure of the Ukrainian diaspora, a diaspora in which women are a majority and to which women’s organizing is an undeniable asset.

Historically, WFUWO representatives have consistently chaired and enabled the UWC’s most important committees and projects. WFUWO member organizations are the foundation for the cultivation of Ukrainian identity outside of Ukraine, as well as the support for UWC efforts to help Ukraine’s process of democratization, economic development, preservation of culture, as well as diaspora provision of humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Elected WFUWO president in October 2012, Ms. Sushko also is a former president of the Ukrainian Women’s Association of Canada, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, and vice-president of the National Council of Women of Canada. During her five-year tenure as WFUWO president, she has continued to deepen the cooperation with women’s organizations in Ukraine, an effort initiated by President Oksana Sokolyk (1992-2002) and expanded under the leadership of President Marika Szkambara (2002-2012).

Since 2014, the WFUWO has taken up the United Nations agenda of Security Council Resolution 1325 for Women Peace and Security. Increasingly, we work more closely with Ukraine’s NGOs and U.N. NGO committees and structures towards the realization of global goals that will benefit Ukraine as an equal partner in the global community. We, too, want that vision of a non-exploitative, equal partnership with automatic inclusion as peers, with respect for our points of view and due recognition for our input. We invite our UWC partners to engage with us in imagining what kind of “world we want” within our community.

Iryna Kurowyckyj

New York
Main representative, U.N./ECOSOC of the ICW; president, NCW of the USA (1993-1995); president, UNWLA (1999-2008);
honorary member, WFUWO.

Marianna Zajac

Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
President, UNWLA; honorary member, WFUWO; member, board of directors, UWC.

Martha Kichorowska Kebalo

Briarwood, N.Y.
Main representative, U.N./ECOSOC of the NCW; member, UNWLA.

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