As part of International Women’s Rights Day and its thematic initiatives, the Communal Social Action Center (CCAS) of Sailly-lez-Lannoy, a French village twinned with Semenivka in Ukraine, organized a weekend entitled “Women in Times of War”, featuring several events highlighting the experiences of war as lived by women in France and Ukraine.
The municipality organized a workshop to raise awareness among 4th and 5th grade students about gender equality and the fight against stereotypes and discrimination. A participatory workshop on “Gender and Armed Conflict” was also offered to residents. Both workshops were led by Julie Bernard-Duteil, a manager at the Gender Institute in Geopolitics.
A conference on the same topic followed. Carol Mann, researcher and sociologist who introduced this field of study in France, shared her work and experiences. Her talk was followed by testimonies and discussions with the women of Semenivka and the descendants of Marthe Hautebar, a local resistance fighter from Sailly who was deported and murdered in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. It was a significant moment of reflection on common misconceptions and the diverse roles of women in wartime.
The weekend concluded with a wreath-laying ceremony in tribute to Marthe Hautebar and the women of Ukraine, led by the mayor and the children of the Municipal Youth Council. The Holding the Sky exhibition, inaugurated on the same day at the municipal library, also honors the heroines of the Semenivka community – witnesses and actors of resilience in times of war – in parallel with the story of Marthe Hautebar. Personal items that belonged to her – notably her glasses, the only keepsake recovered by her family from the Ravensbrück camp, along with the medals awarded to her posthumously – were presented to the public for the first time.
Ceremony of March 9, 2025, with a wreath-laying in tribute to Marthe Hautebar and Ukrainian women.
