https://reasonstobecheerful.world/women-rebuilding-homes-ukraine/
"In April 2022, a little over one month after Russia launched its large-scale
invasion of Ukraine, the Russian forces finally retreated from the northern
Chernihiv region, leaving behind thousands of destroyed homes and lives.
Realizing that their attempt to capture the area had failed, Russians tried to
flatten it to the ground, shelling and bombing civilian homes from Russia’s
territory.
That’s when the initiative Repair Together was born. Today, it has brought
together over 4,000 volunteers who help clear the destruction debris and
rebuild homes for those affected in the Chernihiv region.
Volunteers came from across Ukraine and worldwide because an active position in
helping others transcends gender, race, nationality or other factors. However,
what surprised many women volunteers was that some people still judged them
based on outdated stereotypes.
“We were doing repairs, providing targeted aid, grabbing onto any work we
could,” says Daria Kosiakova, co-founder of the initiative. “In our community,
there was always 50/50 between men and women at the cleanup events, and at some
point, there were even more women. But when it came to construction, men — the
professional foremen we had to hire since there were no professional builders
among us — ended up dominating the space.”
Daria says that’s when the discrimination incidents began: “They didn’t teach
the women any tasks besides plastering holes. On top of that, they’d make
remarks like, ‘Women at a construction site are like women on a ship — not
needed,’ or make jokes about women belonging in the kitchen.”
Women, seen as more delicate, were often shielded from tasks or treated
protectively: “You’ll get hurt here,” “This will be too hard for you,” or “You
don’t need to do that.”
“In situations like these, a woman either faces aggression, as if she’s
unwanted there, or she feels like a child,” Daria explains.
Incidents like these slow down the work because instead of everyone moving
forward, time is wasted on debates about who belongs on the construction site
and who doesn’t. When, in fact, everyone should and can contribute to Ukraine’s
defense and recovery."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
