In 2010, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov enraged women across Ukraine when he declared “conducting reforms is not women's business.” Today, Svitlana Zalishchuk is one of the newly elected female lawmakers proving him wrong.
With her cascade of blonde hair and sapphire eyes, Zalishchuk is a striking figure. Recently described as one of “the most honest and toughest anti-corruption lawmakers”, her gentle, measured manner can be deceptive: she is a fighter, driven towards her vision for an accountable, transparent and stronger Ukraine.
She insists that we meet on Maidan after a vigil held for Georgiy Gongadze – a journalist kidnapped and brutally decapitated in 2000; one of Ukraine’s most shameful emblems of corruption and rotten governance. It’s a fitting setting given Zalishchuk’s important role as a coordinator in the Euromaidan revolution as well as her impressive career as a political activist, journalist and initiator of a number of civic campaigns, including “Stop censorship!” and ‘Chesno’ – an organisation advocating for greater political transparency.
