Famous Ukrainian Women

Milla Jovovich (Actress and Model) 

known for The Fifth Element, Joan of Arc and the Resident Evil movies.

Yulia Tymoshenko

Prime Minister of Ukraine

In Ukraine the gender roles are more traditional. Men not necessarily are gently to women by opening doors to them. Besides that, women are more feminine and try to be more attractive compared to women of other Western Europe countries though Europe is known for being more liberal in terms of women rights and clothing.

Men respect more women in the courtship by bringing flowers and gifts, paying the bills on dates, and women on the other hand, try to look nice and elegant for them, while men tend to be careless about their looks and appearance.

The women stereotype in Ukraine is the woman being the traditional housewife that is cooking, cleaning and having everything ready for their husbands when they arrive from a working day. Men are more likely to be workaholic or lazy if they don’t work and even alcoholic. It is common to see in parties celebrated in houses that the woman is always in the kitchen preparing food for guests, even on her birthday party. These stereotypes can be seen in older generations or in smaller areas.

Today you can also find many women that do not fit these stereotypes especially in young couples where the jobs are shared mostly the same by the woman and the man. Both cook and clean and also both work. Even with that, Ukraine is a new country compared to most of the ones that are in Europe so Ukraine is a lot of years late. This is one of the reasons why it is more male chauvinist.

Women's rights in Ukraine

           

More than the 60% of Ukrainian women have higher education but, the amount of them that do not have a job is enormous compared to men that have the same level. The unemployed people in Ukraine are mostly women.

According to the law, women and men have the same rights but in the practice some employers refuse to hire young women because of the possibility they might get pregnant. Companies also refuse to hire women that are older than 35 years old having in mind that 55 years is the age for retirement and 73 years is the life expectancy. The few women that got a job get less money than men for the same job and having fewer opportunities.