What do women really want? Exploring contemporary Ukrainian women's magazines

Around the world, magazines for women have been one of the most popular media forms. Such periodicals have played and continue to play an important role in the production, reproduction to hegemonic cultural norms around gender, class, race, and sexuality, as well as challenges to such norms. Based on our reading of these magazines and drawing upon data from a survey and from interviews with a wide age range of women readers, we argue that Ukrainian women's periodical press does not fully meet the needs of its audience in today's society. The interests of women are much broader than the topics presented in these publications. Our study reveals that women readers are of the view that there is a need to expand the range of content to include a wider array of practical advice, educational, social, and political material. Finally, our research findings suggest that the narrow range of stereotypical gender-based content typically found in such magazines contributes to placing limits on what is imaginable and therefore politically possible in terms of advancing women's equality in the Ukraine.