Olena Shkrum, a 26-year-old deputy from Batkivshchyna party recalls she had some 30 minutes do decide whether she wants to join the party. She accepted the offer, even though she didn’t think that the party of Yulia Tymoshenko was the best one around.
But before doing that she reached out to her parents for advice. “Even though my parents were against the idea of young woman entering politics, they encouraged me to pursue my dream,” Shkrum explains, adding that she dreamed about a diplomatic career since her childhood.
Now Shkrum is one of the youngest lawmakers in Ukraine’s parliament. She was tapped by Batkivshyna because after the EuroMaidan Revolution she was involved a group of active, Western-educated Ukrainians.
“We said then that we are ready to work in the Ukrainian parliament, because we understood it’s a real chance for many young people to become lawmakers,” she explains.
They received inquiries from a range of parties, and Batkivshyna was one of those. Shkrum recalls she underwent many interviews before the party leaders decided on her candidacy.
“Of course I even couldn’t imagine then it would be number five (on the party list),” Shkrum said. She realized that the party wanted an upgrade, that’s why they tried to bring as many new faces in as possible. Young politicians turned out to be a great experiment, she says. “Soon we’ll see whether it was a good idea,” Shkrum smiles.
Shkrum is full of energy even though her schedule is packed. However, she said she’s not afraid to work even though it’s an enormous responsibility. Her inspiration, she says, has been party leader Tymoshenko.
“If you take a look at my room in my parents’ apartment you can see there is still a poster of Yulia Tymoshenko from 2004,” Shkrum explains. “I think she inspired many women. Since then I wanted to enter politics, but it had always been selected men-only club, so I didn’t dare to even think about it.”
She did make the right choices in her life to achieve the dream career. Shkrum studies law at the Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv then also got an MA degree in law from the Sorbonne University. She did not feel it was enough.
Her next goal was to study in the United Kingdom, because she says she was always impressed with the Birtish culture. Shkrum made it to Cambridge after the third attempt, to do another MA in law. She still recalls it as a “magical” place.
Then Shkrum went to work as a lawyer for Iryna Gerashchenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker who currently heads the European integration committee in parliament. “So it wasn’t that unusual for me to appear in parliament now,” she says, but being a lawmaker herself is a “great emotional pressure.”
One of the best things about new parliament, she convinced, is the greatest number of women the country has ever had. There are 47 women, or 11 percent of the total seats. In 2012 only 43 female lawmakers made it to parliament.
She is certain that women can shift the focus in politics and it is crucial for society. “We still have less than 30 percent of female representatives, but those countries that do have such number show an interesting trend,” she explains. “For instance, some laws that were never considered before started getting more votes. Women think a little bit different, that’s why they often lobby laws concerning child protection, and focus on education and healthcare issues.”
Shkrum said she personally will get involved in fixing Ukraine’s education system, especially university education.
She says she will also make sure to stay open for communication with her voters. “The lawmakers have to talk to electorate,” she says. She hopes to get her own website soon where it will be easy for anyone to register and arrange a meeting. Shkrum also believes the website should list all the laws the lawmakers voted for.
The most frequently asked question in the past month has been about Tymoshenko, the party leader. Although it’s frustrating for a young lawmaker to be overshadowed by the party leader, Shkrum says she tried to reply patiently every time.
“She’s always open for discussions and it’s easy to get her attention – that’s what I like the most about her. I used to think she was an authoritarian person. But in fact she’s a very tender woman,” Shkrum says.
Shkrum has a rather critical attitude towards President Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc, as well as the president himself. “I don’t think it’s good when the power is concentrated in one pair of hands,” she explains. “It’s a dangerous trend.”
Shkrum’s lifestyle has not changed much since she became a lawmaker. She still rents an apartment with her boyfriend in Kyiv and sometimes even has time for what she calls her “guilty pleasures.” That’s watching TV series related to practicing law.
“Boston Legal (American legal dramedy) is my favorite now,” she confessed.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected]
