The team of the Women’s Leadership and Strategic Initiatives Foundation (WLSIF) attended the presentation of the book “Fearless: The History of Ukrainian Feminism in Interviews”—a project that restores the voices of the women who stood at the origins of the modern feminist movement in Ukraine.
After gaining independence, the Ukrainian women’s movement took on a deeper meaning—not only as a struggle for emancipation, but as part of broader processes of democratization, the defense of dignity, and the establishment of a just society. These principles became the foundation for public initiatives, research topics, and transformations in politics, education, media, and culture launched by the pioneers of Ukrainian feminism.
The author of the book, Tamara Martsenyuk, PhD in Sociology and a researcher of women’s activism, collected dozens of interviews with women who shaped the public discourse on gender equality as early as the 1990s. Among the heroines are Marta Bohachevska-Khomyak, Oksana Kis, Nataliya Karbovska, Maria Dmytrieva, Tamara Zlobina, and other leaders who laid the groundwork for subsequent generations.
“We all stand on the shoulders of our predecessors. The achievements of Ukrainian women today would have been impossible without those who stood at the origins—without the pioneers in gender education, media, politics, and research. Without our fearless ones,” notes Tamara Martsenyuk.
The WLSIF Foundation expresses gratitude for this important project and emphasizes: visibility, the right to a voice, and equality are the result of decades of systematic work. Our goal today is not only to create the future, but also to remember and honor those who began building that future earlier.
