Something Old, Something New, Something Yellow and Blue An Analysis of Frames on Gender Inequality of Civil Society Members working on Conflict Transformation in Kyiv from a Role Theory Perspective

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the frames of civil society members working on conflict transformation in Kyiv on gender inequality in Ukraine since the Euromaidan using Jabri’s role theory and Benford & Snow’s framing theory (2000). The role of civil society members in the framing of gender inequality was examined by looking at normative and discursive continuities in Ukrainian society, institutional frameworks of civil society organizations and purposive agency of individual actors. It was found that there is a general lack of constitutive and regulative rules on gender based discrimination in Ukrainian society that limits the possibility of common frames between different groups of the population and incites a possibility of conflict between different understandings of gender inequality and gender based discrimination, most particularly a ‘Soviet’ understanding, a ‘Ukrainian nationalist’ understanding and a ‘Western/European’ understanding. The Euromaidan and the start of the conflict in the East seem to have added fuel to the fire by making the quest of whose ‘understanding’ prevails even more important. At the same time, organizations practice different beliefs and goals regarding their relationships with other actors, such as the Ukrainian state, the international community and the Ukrainian population, that influence their processes of information gathering on gender inequality. Organizations also position themselves differently towards normative expectations from Western and European donors and other CSOs. In this positioning a difference becomes visible between organizations that view gender equality policies as part of European Integration strategies, organizations that reproduce much of the Ukrainian nationalist rhetoric on gender -even if they are required by Western or European donors to have certain policies on gender- and those that work on gender equality for its inherent value and are not too much influenced by Western or European donors. Individual level factors also influence the framing of gender inequality, as it was found that factors such as gender, age, place of birth and differences in personality have some influence the diagnosis and prognosis of gender inequality as well as the motivation for advocating for gender equality. The frames of civil society members working on conflict transformation in Kyiv, in the end, show ‘something new’: the perceived opening up of new opportunities and new ways of viewing gender inequality, particularly within a European framework. However, they also show a debate on the old images of gender inequality: ‘something old’ in the ideas about gender equality in the USSR. Furthermore, it seems that the conflict has also resulted in ideas about Ukrainian traditions on gender becoming more salient, thus ‘something yellow and blue’ is also becoming more visible, although the content of this nationalist understanding is not clear for everyone.