Allyship — the Swiftest Tool to Support Women's Leadership

A month ago the following was planned to be an article about steps to support women, examples of women's leadership development and the importance of its development in Ukraine and the world.?

Today, the importance of allyship has reached a different meaning for all women in Ukraine. ??

Despite the 8-year war between Russia and Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea and the occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, many countries of the world, unfortunately, still have been identifying Ukraine with Russia. Often when traveling, when people heard our language, they promptly asked if we were from Russia.?

February 24, 2022. This date has changed everything at once. Today, the whole world sees that Ukraine is not Russia. The whole world is talking about heroic Ukrainian cities: Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Mariupol, Vorzel, the places where battles are being fought for the territory of Ukraine, for our national integrity and European democratic values. It was in Mariupol where the hospital with the maternity facilities, full of women and children inside, was heavily shelled, and this city is suffering from a humanitarian catastrophe.?

So what is Allyship for?

Throughout 2021, I have been the speaker at numerous conferences on women's leadership and entrepreneurship. I shared the successes of our Women IN project, examples of allyship as the fastest tool to support women at the workplace and personal development.?

Listening to speakers from Africa, India, Haiti, Georgia and other countries, I was happy with the opportunities that Ukrainian women have: we have no shortage of water, we have enough jobs, we have the right to vote, we are actively developing the trend of representing women in governmental bodies, we have enough financial resources to travel and show the world to our children, we conquer the world with our products, export and sell them on marketplaces such as Etsy and Amazon.?

What now?

The full-scale ongoing war. The women of Mariupol are short of water and have nowhere to get it from, they have been hiding in basements for 10 days, there have been numerous cases of rape and humiliation by Russian soldiers in Gostomel, Berdiansk is close to being completely destroyed.

?? Allyship in 2021 was recognized as the word of the year worldwide. But its true relevance became apparent in 2022. Why? Because it's not just about women and their support, it's about women who support!

?? Allyship is when volunteers don't let you freeze and cover you with the last blanket.

?? Allyship is when all the media in the world write the truth about the war in Ukraine.?

?? Allyship is when women and women's organizations offer help and support.?

?? Allyship is when women become the rearguards of our troops who defend our land, they prepare food, weave camouflage nets, buy ammunition and down military drones with jars of pickled tomatoes.

?? Allyship is when a 5-year-old boy is passed from hand to hand throughout Ukraine, so he has reached the border with Poland to his relatives. And he got there. And his mother stayed with his father to defend the city.?

?? Allyship is when you carry your pets in your arms to save them from rocket fire.?

?? Allyship is when Poland, Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Switzerland, Italy and many other countries accommodate and warm Ukrainians up at their homes on their territory.

?? Allyship is when the East and the West of Ukraine stand together against the terrorist state of Russia.?

?? Allyship is when Ukrainians are ready to rebuild their businesses and industries as soon as possible to help the Ukrainian army.?

I have many stories of Ukrainian women entrepreneurs on the Women IN page and my personal page as well. Olena Startseva, who won a silver medal at the London Honey Connoisseurs Competition, Victoria Maslova and her cosmetics company Vesna, Sofia Terebova and her delicious confectionery March & Co, etc.?

They all now have different stories though — the stories of war…

?? Olena Startseva is hiding in her house in the Kharkiv region, looking for any information about her sister and 3-year-old nephew, whose car was shot by the Russian occupiers as they were leaving the captured city.?

?? Victoria Maslova was evacuated to the Czech Republic from the town of Bucha, where her shops and factory were built, and which are now completely destroyed. There is only one store in Mukachevo, where some bits of products remain.

?? Sofia Terebova is forced to flee to Poland with her son after the shelling, leaving her factory behind.

?? Daria Lyushneva traveled with her one-month-old son and her 1.8-year-old daughter 2,000 km non-stop from Chernihiv, which is now being wiped off the face of the earth. She left her business - a coffee shop.?

?? Yulia Fish stays in the suburbs of Kyiv with her 1.5-year-old daughter because she does not want to leave her husband. And this is her choice without having such.

?? My story started on the 24th of February, on my son’s birthday, when we were woken up by horrific explosion blasts. During the week we had been thinking about what to do and then my kids and I left our home and went to my parents’ in the Khmelnytsky region. And now what? Where do we run to? Where our hearths and hearts are gonna be? ??

There is a lot of other war stories like these. And we will definitely bring those up at Women IN.

You can also become our allyship and support women and Ukraine. ??

1. Support our NGO by following the link here >> https://cutt.ly/ZAXGcHl. The support funds will go to help SMEs that have decided to relocate to the western regions of Ukraine.?
2. To support girls-entrepreneurs and their shops by ordering products or giving them a high response https://cutt.ly/HAXGhHT
3. To support the Ukrainian army financially and humanitarianly >> https://cutt.ly/WAXLXIu

?These are the small but necessary steps that are the fastest tools of alliance for Ukrainians.

?Glory to Ukraine! ????