On November 26, bachelor students from all AUK programs had the opportunity to engage with Dr. Olena Strelnyk, Doctor of Sociological Sciences and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Dr. Strelnyk shared her most recent findings in gender-related sociology, focusing on how war, social transformation, and shifting cultural expectations have reshaped gender roles in contemporary Ukraine.
The session explored a wide range of topics, including changing perceptions of masculinity and femininity, cultural representations of female veterans, generational differences in gender role attitudes, youth perspectives in Ukraine and globally, and cross-country contrasts such as parental leave practices in Sweden versus Ukraine.
Students discussed the interplay between economic incentives and social norms, the universality of certain gendered patterns, and the unique dynamics emerging in Ukrainian society.
The lecture offered a timely and thought-provoking contribution to the SBA180 Elements of Intercultural Communications course, highlighting how cultural, political, and social contexts shape interpersonal and societal expectations.
The visiting lecturer joined the course at the invitation of the lead instructor, Dr. Hanna Shvindina.
About guest lecturer:
Olena Strelnyk is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. She completed her habilitation in Sociology in 2018 at Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, Ukraine. She is the author of Childcare as Work. A Sociological Perspective on Mothering (Kyiv 2017) and about 100 scientific and popular science publications on the topics of gender inequality in Ukraine, care work, and the impact of war on gender roles. She was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan (2016), at the Prague Civil Society Centre (2019), and the Technical University of Munich (2022–2024). She has been a fellow in the Ukraine Research Network at Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS, Berlin). Her project was titled Seeing the Invisible: Family Care for the Elderly in a War-Torn Ukraine.
More about Dr. Olena Strelnyk is at https://isnasu.org.ua/en/institute/profile.php?id=strelnyk-olena
Dnipro
