Learning activities:

Session 1. Essence of women’s movement in socio-cultural and national context.

Post-feminists women’s movements theories; concepts of "personal as political" and "the claim that can never be successful”; the gap between Real and Symbolic in the context of the women's movement; strategies of new political subjectivation in Ukraine; politics of identity in the women's movement; the “performativity” of Ukrainian women's movement; constant changes of the liberal image, including how gender undermines traditional ideological bases of authority – such as the political unbelonging to traditional social-symbolic order and realizations of personal as political as example of women's movement experience.

Activities:

1st hour: Lecture/discussion about essence of a women’s movement as a phenomenon of feminist theory in the national context.

2nd hour: Small group work, answering the following questions:

Each person in the group should consider how history and culture affects the value of women’s participation in social life.
Each person in the group should explain the meaning of the paradox in the new Ukrainian woman’s identity as “Femina Postsovietica” model (as woman’s identity of the post-Soviet social community).
Each person in the group should understand what kind of gap exists between the real and symbolic in Lacanian interpretation of the women’s movement in Ukraine and strategies of new political subjectivation as “active” based on Foucault’s theory.
Each person should consider women’s movements in their national and social contexts. Based on the performativity law of interpretation of gender in terms of power (J. Butler conception), students should analyze concrete practices of the women’s movement and answer the question: What does the “performativity of gender in the former USSR” mean?

As a group, students will compare their answers to the following questions:

Based on the readings and what we have discussed today, what processes do you think are most critical to the construction and deconstruction of sex and gender categories?
How are the constructs of gender identity and woman’s subjectivity used in these processes?
What does Lacanian thesis “subject more than he is” mean in relation to the women’s movement in post-Soviet Ukraine?
Explain the value of the concept of “doing gender” in this context. Explain what is the meaning of the “logic of impossible requirement” (or requirement that never can be executed) based on S. Zizek and R. Salecl’s theories.

Session 2. Women’s political subjectivity and democratization processes in the cross-cultural dimension.

Post-feminist and gender theories of women’s subjectivity; psychoanalytic conceptions of the foundations of women’s movements; basic elements of Ukrainian women's movement as social practice and democratization of social and political life; subjectivation and state power in the realization of the women's movement in Ukraine; “the psychic” of post-Soviet power; discoursive possibilities of representation of women’s movements in post-Soviet society and the logic of "Otherness"; performative subjectivity and discoursive possibilities of women’s representations in the post-Soviet conditions.

Writing assignment:

Students should read the materials for this section, and compare the practices of women’s movements in three countries: Ukraine, the United States and any other country of the student’s choice, analyzing the information using theories and arguments from the readings. Each student should write a 5-8 page paper of her/his analysis including the following:

What do these practices mean to woman’s subjectivity appeal?
How are these practices related to the basic gender and society issues in each country?
What can you conclude about practices of women’s subjectivities and positions of women in Ukraine and the USA? Are women characterized in these practices as different or similar?
Conclusion: Summarize key ideas of your analysis of gender and woman’s subjectivity.

Activities:

1st hour: Lecture/class discussion on readings.

2nd hour: Small group work, answering the following questions::

1. In groups of 2-3 people, discuss on what basis there can be a political association of women? What should be the purposes and forms of political action of women for their rights in contemporary conditions of subjective identity loss, including women’s, and what kind of feminist policy should be developed outside of оntological basis of a uniform category of woman?

2. Based on the assigned readings, discuss what kinds of political and social activities are possible inside feminist positions, represented now outside of the concept of the universal subject of deconstructed experience with absence of stable Self?

Session 3. Contemporary women’s movement as a liberation project: subjects of collective action.

Conceptions of women’s rights in feminist theory; sexual politics and gendered political socialization; variety of women’s movements and feminist differences within the movements; social movements in contemporary world and collective identities based on various distinctions in lifestyle, religion, ethnicity, class, nation, sexual and other orientations; identity movements as bases of women’s movements; women’s movement as social practice: research approaches; women’s movement in comparative perspective: the features of collective action and structure of political possibilities; ideology as a resource of women’s movement; liberation and the contemporary patriarchy.

Writing assignment:

Students should read the material for this section and answer the following questions in a 3-4 page report:

Differentiate the concepts of “feminism,” “women’s movement,” and “civil rights movement.”
What civil processes lead to the rise of women’s movements?
What special features of the women’s liberation project are offered by Simone de Beauvoir in her book Second Sex?
What is the essence of “revolution of life” concept offered by Alexandra Кollontay?
What do these practices mean to woman’s subjectivity?

Activities:

1st hour: Lecture/class discussion on readings.

2nd hour: Small group work, answering the following questions:

In groups of 2-3 people, discuss how traditional gender roles and their functioning are presented in public and governmental propaganda in your region and present your personal position on women’s participation in political life.
Based on the assigned readings, discuss how gender stereotypes are formulated at the level of social movements. What are the stereotypes of women/the feminine and how do they affect the processes of democratization of society and gender equality?

SESSION 4. Women’s movement in post-Soviet Ukraine: Independent organizations and civic activities.

The history and background of women’s movement and its development. Example of women's movement in Ukraine as illustration of what gender stereotypes are and how they are used in politics to support misogyny and the "practices of exlusion" in politics and social lives. The nature of Ukrainian women’s organizations in the post-Soviet period and variety of ways women participate in the construction of new institutions. Analyses of post-Soviet collective forms of political subjectivation using feminist methodology. Deconstruction of women’s identities, tracking of the basic features of contemporary women's movement in the context of new politics of identification in Ukraine. Corellations with Western feminist politics of identification. Ukrainian women’s movement as important actor at the grassroots level.

Writing assignment:

Students should read the material for this section, and will also need to conduct some on-line research in order to complete this assignment. It may be helpful to have students work in pairs and produce a joint-paper for this assignment.

Answer the following questions in a 3-4 page report:

How did the women’s liberation movement arise in Ukraine?
What are the special features of the women’s movement in Ukraine as compared to the West?
What Ukrainian women’s movement leaders do you know? How have they contributed to the movement’s development?
Are principles of gender equality observed by political organizations in your region?
What are the basic differences between activities of contempopary women’s Ukrainian organizations and the Soviet women’s organizations?
Are independent women’s organizations part of the structures of contemporary “civil society”?
What are the basic forms and types of non-governmental women’s organizations (NGOs) activity in Ukraine today? How many NGOs in Ukraine do you know? Which of them exist in your region?
What are the goals of independent women’s organizations in your region?
What are the possibilities for and obstacles to activities of NGOs?

Activities:

1st hour: Lecture/class discussion on readings and writing assignment.

2nd hour: Small group work, reflecting on what we’ve learned and what more we want to learn. In addition to the key questions revisited, groups should reflect on the following questions:

How has our knowledge of the meaning of the women’s movement in political life influenced our understandings of our everyday lives?
What can we do to employ this new knowledge in our everyday practices?
What can we do to employ this new knowledge in our professional practices?