Ukrainian women participate in Vienna exchange weekend

VIENNA - From February 29 through March 3, the U.S. ambassador to Austria, Swanee Hunt, hosted a group of Ukrainian women in the first Women Exchange Weekend as part of the Vienna Women's Initiative.

Among the women from Ukraine were two members of the Ukrainian Parliament, a journalist from the Lviv Regional Council, members of the Ukrainian Women's Hromada, a defense lawyer from the All-Ukrainian Committee for Children's Rights and representatives of academia.

Also present was Prof. Zirka Voronka from Passaic County Community College in New Jersey, director of the Ukrainian National Association's English Teachers for Ukraine and Summer Institute programs. She, together with the ambassador, had conceived the event during a previous meeting and helped target the invited guests. Viktor Kytasty, director of America House in Kyiv, assisted in logistical preparations for the participants from Ukraine.

The three-day program was filled with sessions that focused on the empowerment of women, relationship-building, identification of issues impacting the lives of Ukrainian women, exercises to share the post-traumatic stress syndrome of Chornobyl, and psychological as well as professional analysis of individual potential.

The weekend included discussion with American and Austrian participants on various topical issues. Invitees included Austrian women who were members of the delegation to international women's conference in Beijing, those working on women's issues in the Austrian government, Austrian non-governmental organizations, such as Austrian Women International, and journalists.

The Vienna Women's Initiative is a regional program operated out of the U.S. Embassy in Austria to empower women in Central and Eastern Europe as they realize and play a role in strengthening their emerging democratic societies.

Through a series of regional activities, Ambassador Hunt plans to provide a forum for women to come together to discuss their participation in their changing societies, and to form personal and professional networks across economic, academic, social and political fields.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 9, 1996, No. 23, Vol. LXIV

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