When a Woman Helps a Woman in Need

Hanna Skarha, the Head of the Poltava Regional Chapter of the Union of Rural Women of Ukraine, provides a legal advice. Poltava region - March 26, 2009. Oleksandra Kyrychenko, the Head of the Union for People with Disabilities, is a highly respected and well-known elderly woman in her village of Lyutenski Budyshcha, which is in Poltava region.  Her villagers look up to her, but her husband does not.  For many years, Oleksandra had been returning home not knowing how she would be greeted by her husband, or where she would be spending the night – at her own home or her sister’s.  Over time, Oleksandra had lost all hope, but the tide finally turned when her friend, Hanna Skarha, invited her to participate in a seminar to learn about legal rights and protection.   The lack of legal protection of rural residents, and women in particular, is one of the most alarming and frequently overlooked problems in Ukraine.  Rural women’s rights to have access to employment, equal pay for equal work, and an equal access to education, information and medical services are continually and widely violated.  Although legally entitled to ownership rights in land plots, women – of whom elderly women comprise the absolute majority – cannot or do not know how to enforce their ownership rights.  And, even if they are lucky to be land owners, they often face acute legal problems related to land use and operation rights for agricultural activity.  In addition, women and children are the most frequent victims of domestic violence during difficult economic times. For many years, it has been the deepest desire of Hanna Skarha, who heads the Poltava Regional Branch of the Union of Rural Women of Ukraine, to help rural residents, especially women, address these problems.  She was vocal in protecting the rights of women like Oleksandra Kyrychenko at the Public Women’s Parliament of Ukraine and in the Public Councils on Gender and Agrarian Issues.  A veterinary technician by profession, she always wanted to become a lawyer.  So, after seeing a call for applications from USAID’s ABA Rule of Law Initiative, she seized this opportunity to advocate for rights of rural women.  As Hanna says, she has "put all her heart into the project." And her efforts have not been in vain.   With financial support received from USAID’s ABA Rule of Law Initiative, Hanna held seven seminars on land law, domestic violence, and other issues, in which 525 residents from 10 villages learned about their rights and the legal avenues available to protect and enforce those rights.  One hundred fifteen of those villagers are now certified by the Poltava Regional Branch of the Union of Rural Women of Ukraine as public defenders and can provide consultations and advice on many of the most pertinent and pressing issues impacting rural life, as well as advocate for those issues before judicial, executive and local governmental bodies. The empowerment that these women feel by taking control of their lives and advocating for their rights is a reward for Hanna Skarha’s work.  However, she believes that a more tangible result was the creation of the Legal Protection Center in Zin’kiv district in Poltava Oblast.  The Center serves as a hub for training and supporting public defender offices in the 10 most distant villages of the district.  These same 10 villages have also received specialized legal libraries and computers as additional resources available to them.  The lawyers of the Center provided 632 legal consultations on a pro bono basis.  Eighteen cases have been won in the courts, and 16 cases advanced through state executive bodies. Oleksandra Kyrychenko came to one of these seminars as a battered woman.  Now, due to the information and support she received through the Union of Rural Women of Ukraine, the local militia have begun to take her complaints more seriously, and she finally has peace at home.  Her husband has renewed respect for her and may be a little in awe of this new self-assured woman in his house.  This is one of the many great things that can happen when a woman helps a woman in need.

<< Back to the list of success stories