hello everyone and welcome I want you to
imagine for a second a very simple life
situation and register your first
opinion or maybe first judgment about it
so Eastern European young blonde tall
girl with so-called Russian accent is in
Los Angeles socializing at some public
event a man full of prejudgment is
trying to introduce himself to her what
was your first opinion who is she
another model / actress / gold digger /
another blonde wannabe trying to make it
big in Los Angeles such situations
happen every time to me when I’m going
out in LA and the feeling which I have
in the moment of being an object of
clear stereotypes and prejudgments is
that I have to explain myself I have to
prove myself every time I’m going out
and this feeling of being extremely
uncomfortable as I’m a thief cut-up
shoplifting voters with a burning desire
to bring justice and to bring this
stigma and this prejudgment right away
on a spot so before I was doing music
professionally I was expressing my anger
and my unacceptance of discrimination
through music videos so I was
incorporating women rights protests in
my music videos but when later I started
to run my own women rights organization
in the US and in Ukraine such situations
of obvious prejudgments became
professionally interesting and
fascinating to me because it’s
fascinating to see changes in face
expression in men or women doesn’t
matter when I’m explaining that I moved
to the US with my child as a single
mother and we got an asylum under a
domestic violence protection program and
I’m here in California because it’s one
of the
stays in the US by level of social
innovations by level of human rights
protection and women rights
understanding adding a great Californian
weather to e that what makes a perfect
place to make a fresh start and take my
women rise activatin to the whole new
level
but such situations they happen because
of existing stereotypes against women in
my case against Eastern European girls
so among those people who know where
Ukraine in general is there is a
prejudgment then that Ukraine is a
country of beautiful girls is it going
really is approachable who are waiting
for a prince from abroad to save them to
shower with presence and give them
everything they ever dreamed of
but unfortunately the reality is
different because there is now a war
going on now in Ukraine and by HIV and
AIDS epidemic Ukraine is one of the
leading countries in Europe and in the
whole world
by the way symbolically today is
December 1st International AIDS Day so
just remember to keep on the worldís but
nobody knows that 68% of Ukrainian
female population where or are victims
of domestic violence and nobody knows
that every hour 15 women becoming
victims of domestic violence in Ukraine
and nobody knows that only 10 percent of
them report abuse and nobody knows that
3 million of Ukrainian kids are
witnesses means silent victims of
domestic violence so the time has come
for a new reality for post-soviet world
and the new reality means new
legislative protection for example
Ukraine criminalize domestic violence
only in 2017 and a new law will come in
to forests only in 2019
so can you imagine for a second that in
Italy or in any other civilized country
domestic violence is not a crime can you
imagine that you cannot get a
restraining order against your abuser or
you cannot report a sexual harassment or
even if you will your abuser will not be
punished so can you imagine what women
of post-soviet countries have been
feeling for decades so being submissive
became a habit for them to fit into just
to make herself less significant
comparing to men became somehow a part
of mentality of many women of
post-soviet countries and some countries
of Eastern Europe and it’s very sad
reality so what we observe now in the
world is that different women in
different countries experience exactly
the same
domestic violence same harassment same
discrimination because stereotypes don’t
know geographical borders or limits
there are differences in legislative
systems in different countries but there
is no almost no difference in domestic
violence level or in types of
prejudgments so such ideas led me to
understand an interest in fact then when
we speak about domestic violence towards
women women don’t do domestic violence
against each other in majority of cases
its destructive male behavior against
women and at the same time in the world
there are really few initiatives which
engage men to show up for us for women
which engage men to stop domestic
violence against women and
how I found white ribbon campaign today
I am wearing white ribbon badge
as a symbol of my personal pledge to
never condone or remain silent about
violence towards women and this pledge
is taken by all men around the world who
support white ribbon this is the largest
in the world initiative of men to show
up and to stand for women rights
protection this campaign was founded by
man in Canada in 1991 and now is present
in more than 60 countries so I’m the one
who runs way to bring campaign in
Ukraine and we’re going to open in March
next year officially White Ribbon
Campaign for the u.s. in certain from
Los Angeles and Washington so what we do
we engage opinion leaders we engage
decision makers we engage influencers
from sports political political culture
business to be our ambassadors so we
engage men to support us to eliminate
all types of gender-based violence
against women so one of our main
ambassadors for Ukrainian for example is
Andrey Shevchenko who is a famous soccer
player and our coach known in Italy as
Sheva so diversity of male engagement is
very important because the more
ambassadors we will have among men who
understand destructive violence towards
women the wider and better message we
can deliver to them so domestic violence
against women is like a two-sided coin
from one side yes it’s a destructive
male behavior but from other side there
is submissive female behavior because
sometimes I’m asking myself why women
stay in obviously abusive relations why
they don’t leave when something is just
is not right
why they don’t make safe exit from
unhealthy situations and the answer is
in many times dependency on different
level is physical emotional a lot of
times financial and fear women afraid of
themselves they are afraid of their own
rights opportunities abilities of their
own power and this fear exists because
the rock leashes the rest area types
against women so when I speak with
victims of domestic violence I hear many
times that women are afraid to leave
because man has more money here’s more
well connected and he can take his there
are kids away in court for example
because men often can afford better
attorneys or women expect that if he hit
her once it will not happen the next
time but event eventually it will so
there are a lot of self-limiting beliefs
among women for example what women often
think before opening their own business
that I don’t have a startup money that I
am little too old to start now that I’m
married I have kids I’m just too busy
for it or that I don’t have necessary
marketing or any other skills to run a
business but a study in the u.s. show
that reality is completely different
average age of women launched in their
own business is 40 less than 1% came
from extremely rich or extremely poor
backgrounds 70% were married when
they’re launching their own business 60%
had at least one child
44% had two and more children and 75%
worked as employees for other companies
for more than six years so this study
shows that our own perception about
ourselves
it’s different from reality and it’s
really on us what to do with our own
life and how to understand our role in
the society so if at some point I could
make a shift in my mentality and change
my attitude and the way I think about
myself and my role as a female in a
society you each of you can do your own
change your own shift because for
everybody at some point there is a
trigger for a change it can be a final
drop after which you understand that
there is just nowhere to go but to go up
so a way out for women not just from
domestic violence but in general a way
out for them to build themselves more
empowered and stronger is education is
professional in dependency is financial
independence E is awareness because
being aware of your opportunities it
gives you a powerful tool to build up
yourself better and to be a better
partner to build healthier relations
bill founded on the foundation of which
is equality and mutual respect so
thinking about all this journey I
experienced from being a victim to
become an a policy changer don’t mix
with politics please is the inspiration
for it was my child case even for women
even thinking about their own children
that what makes us stronger so I really
believe that we women specially we
mothers are like Phoenix’s we can spread
our wings and we can reinvent we can
rebuild ourselves as many times as
needed for the sake of our children so
that’s why at white ribbon we believe
also in gender education for kids we
develop cartoons every simple way to
give to boys and girls understanding
from the very early age that we were
born equal and doesn’t matter you’re a
boy
girl you have equal rights and
opportunities in this world and that was
granted to you by birth so if to go back
to that insecure Eastern European girl
at a party approached by a man full of
prejudgment I would answer him now that
I’m just a one proud activist who wants
to help women to change their lives and
who wants to engage man in elimination
of all types of gender-based violence
towards women around the world and you
can be part of this process as well I
can show you how but before that I want
you to remind about the global symbol of
freedom which is Statue of Liberty the
author of the words engraved on its
plaque is a female it’s a prominent
woman a poet Emma Lazarus and one of my
favorite quotes of her is that until we
are all free we are none of us free and
we will not be free until women suffer
from stereotypes we cannot be free until
the rubber judgments against women until
there is a discrimination in the form of
even abuses or violence source women we
cannot be free till our minds will
register that all people around the
world have equal rights and
opportunities so let the Statue of
Liberty and prominent women around the
world be our inspiration and our
reminder to all of us to show up and to
say strongly against all types of
discrimination stereotypes and violence
thank you [Applause]
imagine for a second a very simple life
situation and register your first
opinion or maybe first judgment about it
so Eastern European young blonde tall
girl with so-called Russian accent is in
Los Angeles socializing at some public
event a man full of prejudgment is
trying to introduce himself to her what
was your first opinion who is she
another model / actress / gold digger /
another blonde wannabe trying to make it
big in Los Angeles such situations
happen every time to me when I’m going
out in LA and the feeling which I have
in the moment of being an object of
clear stereotypes and prejudgments is
that I have to explain myself I have to
prove myself every time I’m going out
and this feeling of being extremely
uncomfortable as I’m a thief cut-up
shoplifting voters with a burning desire
to bring justice and to bring this
stigma and this prejudgment right away
on a spot so before I was doing music
professionally I was expressing my anger
and my unacceptance of discrimination
through music videos so I was
incorporating women rights protests in
my music videos but when later I started
to run my own women rights organization
in the US and in Ukraine such situations
of obvious prejudgments became
professionally interesting and
fascinating to me because it’s
fascinating to see changes in face
expression in men or women doesn’t
matter when I’m explaining that I moved
to the US with my child as a single
mother and we got an asylum under a
domestic violence protection program and
I’m here in California because it’s one
of the
stays in the US by level of social
innovations by level of human rights
protection and women rights
understanding adding a great Californian
weather to e that what makes a perfect
place to make a fresh start and take my
women rise activatin to the whole new
level
but such situations they happen because
of existing stereotypes against women in
my case against Eastern European girls
so among those people who know where
Ukraine in general is there is a
prejudgment then that Ukraine is a
country of beautiful girls is it going
really is approachable who are waiting
for a prince from abroad to save them to
shower with presence and give them
everything they ever dreamed of
but unfortunately the reality is
different because there is now a war
going on now in Ukraine and by HIV and
AIDS epidemic Ukraine is one of the
leading countries in Europe and in the
whole world
by the way symbolically today is
December 1st International AIDS Day so
just remember to keep on the worldís but
nobody knows that 68% of Ukrainian
female population where or are victims
of domestic violence and nobody knows
that every hour 15 women becoming
victims of domestic violence in Ukraine
and nobody knows that only 10 percent of
them report abuse and nobody knows that
3 million of Ukrainian kids are
witnesses means silent victims of
domestic violence so the time has come
for a new reality for post-soviet world
and the new reality means new
legislative protection for example
Ukraine criminalize domestic violence
only in 2017 and a new law will come in
to forests only in 2019
so can you imagine for a second that in
Italy or in any other civilized country
domestic violence is not a crime can you
imagine that you cannot get a
restraining order against your abuser or
you cannot report a sexual harassment or
even if you will your abuser will not be
punished so can you imagine what women
of post-soviet countries have been
feeling for decades so being submissive
became a habit for them to fit into just
to make herself less significant
comparing to men became somehow a part
of mentality of many women of
post-soviet countries and some countries
of Eastern Europe and it’s very sad
reality so what we observe now in the
world is that different women in
different countries experience exactly
the same
domestic violence same harassment same
discrimination because stereotypes don’t
know geographical borders or limits
there are differences in legislative
systems in different countries but there
is no almost no difference in domestic
violence level or in types of
prejudgments so such ideas led me to
understand an interest in fact then when
we speak about domestic violence towards
women women don’t do domestic violence
against each other in majority of cases
its destructive male behavior against
women and at the same time in the world
there are really few initiatives which
engage men to show up for us for women
which engage men to stop domestic
violence against women and
how I found white ribbon campaign today
I am wearing white ribbon badge
as a symbol of my personal pledge to
never condone or remain silent about
violence towards women and this pledge
is taken by all men around the world who
support white ribbon this is the largest
in the world initiative of men to show
up and to stand for women rights
protection this campaign was founded by
man in Canada in 1991 and now is present
in more than 60 countries so I’m the one
who runs way to bring campaign in
Ukraine and we’re going to open in March
next year officially White Ribbon
Campaign for the u.s. in certain from
Los Angeles and Washington so what we do
we engage opinion leaders we engage
decision makers we engage influencers
from sports political political culture
business to be our ambassadors so we
engage men to support us to eliminate
all types of gender-based violence
against women so one of our main
ambassadors for Ukrainian for example is
Andrey Shevchenko who is a famous soccer
player and our coach known in Italy as
Sheva so diversity of male engagement is
very important because the more
ambassadors we will have among men who
understand destructive violence towards
women the wider and better message we
can deliver to them so domestic violence
against women is like a two-sided coin
from one side yes it’s a destructive
male behavior but from other side there
is submissive female behavior because
sometimes I’m asking myself why women
stay in obviously abusive relations why
they don’t leave when something is just
is not right
why they don’t make safe exit from
unhealthy situations and the answer is
in many times dependency on different
level is physical emotional a lot of
times financial and fear women afraid of
themselves they are afraid of their own
rights opportunities abilities of their
own power and this fear exists because
the rock leashes the rest area types
against women so when I speak with
victims of domestic violence I hear many
times that women are afraid to leave
because man has more money here’s more
well connected and he can take his there
are kids away in court for example
because men often can afford better
attorneys or women expect that if he hit
her once it will not happen the next
time but event eventually it will so
there are a lot of self-limiting beliefs
among women for example what women often
think before opening their own business
that I don’t have a startup money that I
am little too old to start now that I’m
married I have kids I’m just too busy
for it or that I don’t have necessary
marketing or any other skills to run a
business but a study in the u.s. show
that reality is completely different
average age of women launched in their
own business is 40 less than 1% came
from extremely rich or extremely poor
backgrounds 70% were married when
they’re launching their own business 60%
had at least one child
44% had two and more children and 75%
worked as employees for other companies
for more than six years so this study
shows that our own perception about
ourselves
it’s different from reality and it’s
really on us what to do with our own
life and how to understand our role in
the society so if at some point I could
make a shift in my mentality and change
my attitude and the way I think about
myself and my role as a female in a
society you each of you can do your own
change your own shift because for
everybody at some point there is a
trigger for a change it can be a final
drop after which you understand that
there is just nowhere to go but to go up
so a way out for women not just from
domestic violence but in general a way
out for them to build themselves more
empowered and stronger is education is
professional in dependency is financial
independence E is awareness because
being aware of your opportunities it
gives you a powerful tool to build up
yourself better and to be a better
partner to build healthier relations
bill founded on the foundation of which
is equality and mutual respect so
thinking about all this journey I
experienced from being a victim to
become an a policy changer don’t mix
with politics please is the inspiration
for it was my child case even for women
even thinking about their own children
that what makes us stronger so I really
believe that we women specially we
mothers are like Phoenix’s we can spread
our wings and we can reinvent we can
rebuild ourselves as many times as
needed for the sake of our children so
that’s why at white ribbon we believe
also in gender education for kids we
develop cartoons every simple way to
give to boys and girls understanding
from the very early age that we were
born equal and doesn’t matter you’re a
boy
girl you have equal rights and
opportunities in this world and that was
granted to you by birth so if to go back
to that insecure Eastern European girl
at a party approached by a man full of
prejudgment I would answer him now that
I’m just a one proud activist who wants
to help women to change their lives and
who wants to engage man in elimination
of all types of gender-based violence
towards women around the world and you
can be part of this process as well I
can show you how but before that I want
you to remind about the global symbol of
freedom which is Statue of Liberty the
author of the words engraved on its
plaque is a female it’s a prominent
woman a poet Emma Lazarus and one of my
favorite quotes of her is that until we
are all free we are none of us free and
we will not be free until women suffer
from stereotypes we cannot be free until
the rubber judgments against women until
there is a discrimination in the form of
even abuses or violence source women we
cannot be free till our minds will
register that all people around the
world have equal rights and
opportunities so let the Statue of
Liberty and prominent women around the
world be our inspiration and our
reminder to all of us to show up and to
say strongly against all types of
discrimination stereotypes and violence
thank you [Applause]
Please follow and like us: