Ukrainian authorities found themselves buried in controversy Friday after official pictures showed women soldiers practising for a parade in heels.<\/p>\n
Ukraine is preparing to stage a military parade next month to mark 30 years of independence following the Soviet Union’s breakup, and the defence ministry released photographs of fatigue-clad women soldiers marching in mid-heel black pumps.<\/p>\n
“Today, for the first time, training takes place in heeled shoes,” cadet Ivanna Medvid was quoted as saying by the defence ministry’s information site ArmiaInform.<\/p>\n
“It is slightly harder than in army boots but we are trying,” Medvid added in comments released on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The choice of footwear sparked a torrent of criticism on social media and in parliament, and led to accusations that women soldiers had been sexualised.<\/p>\n
“The story of a parade in heels is a real disgrace,” commentator Vitaly Portnikov said on Facebook, arguing that some Ukrainian officials had a “medieval” mindset.<\/p>\n
Another commentator, Maria Shapranova, accused the defence ministry of “sexism and misogyny.”<\/p>\n
“High heels is a mockery of women imposed by the beauty industry,” she fumed.<\/p>\n
Several Ukrainian lawmakers close to Ukraine’s former president Petro Poroshenko showed up in parliament with pairs of shoes and encouraged the defence minister to wear high heels to the parade.<\/p>\n
“It is hard to imagine a more idiotic, harmful idea,” said Inna Sovsun, a member of the Golos party, pointing to health risks.<\/p>\n
She also said that Ukraine’s women soldiers — like men — were risking their lives and “do not deserve to be mocked”.<\/p>\n
Ukraine has been battling Russian-backed separatists in the country’s industrial east, in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people since 2014.<\/p>\n
Olena Kondratyuk, deputy speaker of the legislature said authorities should publicly apologise for “humiliating” women and conduct an enquiry. <\/p>\n
Kondratyuk said that more than 13,500 women had fought in the current conflict.<\/p>\n
More than 31,000 women now serve in the Ukrainian armed forces, including more than 4,000 of whom are officers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ukrainian authorities found themselves buried in controversy Friday after official pictures showed women soldiers practising for a parade in heels. Ukraine is preparing to stage a military parade next month to mark 30 years of independence following the Soviet Union’s breakup, and the defence ministry released photographs of fatigue-clad women soldiers marching in mid-heel black […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201765,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-201759","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n