Kateryna Levchenko: The references to women as the ‘weaker sex’ should disappear from the Ukrainian news media 

Avoiding the term ‘weaker sex’ can be an important indicator of how free the media are from rigid gender roles and stereotypes.

Kateryna Levchenko, Government Commissioner for Gender Policy expressed this opinion during a discussion that took place within the framework of the country’s main discussion platform the BrainHub at the Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform.

“I would really like to see the term ‘weaker sex’ when defining a woman disappear from our news media. That’s a simple indicator, but it’s also revealing and hides deep inner meaning within. First and foremost, women are not the weaker sex, and this is proved not only by everyday life but also by the women’s achievements in general,” she emphasized.

She noted that the term ‘weaker sex’ primarily distorts social reality, and it is important, in particular, to wipe it off the media.

“To call women the ‘weaker sex’ is a skewed media representation of the social reality we live in. And, to my knowledge, instead of distorting, the media should give us a true picture of reality that we have as it is. So this indicator will be a very important point of media depictions breaking free of gender stereotyping. Just as 20 years ago I believed that the indicator of inclusive policies implementation would be installing outdoor strollers and wheel ramps to handle the people’s demands and provide accessibility to move wherever they want, so today in news reporting this concept of ‘weaker sex’ should fall into disuse,” she emphasized.

BrainHub is the country’s main discussion platform created by the Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform. It brings together experts from the state and civil society sectors. BrainHub hosts intellectual discussions around the issues of the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. It’s the birthplace of the best ideas that will become the foundation for the road map of Ukraine’s reconstruction in all sectors: economy, infrastructure, education, agriculture, security, digital, etc.

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