Ukrainian Women’s Congress in Mariupol

The discussion platforms and public talks united 110 participants from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Kirovohrad, Lviv, and other regions. 18 experienced speakers took part in Ukrainian Women’s Congress who raised the hot topics of gender policy, equal rights of men and women in security and defense sectors, gender quotas, and the issue of creating comfortable local spaces for all citizens.

Ukrainian Parliament Member and IFA Co-chair Svitlana Voitsekhovska formally opened the session “Women in Politics and in Security and Defense Sector” and illustrated statistical data: “Gender Policy Uniting Men and Women Deputies”. “However, when they say that we have equal rights, this brings up the question: “then why do Ukrainian women receive salaries by 23% less than men do? Why does the Parliament have only 11% of women of the total number of deputies? And if we really want to find answers, we should go into politics!”. After Ms Svitlana, Ukrainian Parliament Member Dmytro Lubinets took the floor. His sincere words won the audience: “I am a feminist. As a man, I would like to break the mould that men do everything to deny access for women in politics. No, we don’t! We are waiting for you in the Parliament. I hope the number of women-deputies will grow in the next convocation. Even if it is 25%, this will be a fairly good result”.

Government Commissioner for Gender Policy Kateryna Levchenko (who was appointed to this position exactly two years ago, on 07.06.2017), Gender Counselor of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Viktoriya Arnautova, NGO’s “New Mariupol” Chairperson Mariya Podybailo (who noted that activism culture was emerging in Mariupol), and veteran Andriana Susak-Arekhta (who reported on discrimination in soldiery) shared their thoughts. Head of Veteran Business Development Center “SUVIATO” Liya Kotiash gave a special speech, saying that “she had been inspired by the legislative opportunities for women to hold the positions which had been previously considered to be for men only and that she was glad with the prospects of implementation of the gender-sensitive approach in military schools as early as in the following year”.

After a short break, the audience were engaged in a public discussion on creating equal opportunities in cities. Head of “Parity” Youth NGO Nataliya Tarasenko, Zhytomyr, highlighted some case studies of how to make a gender passport of a city and expressed her hope for the possibility to carry out a study and introduce a gender passport in Mariupol shortly afterwards. The Consultant on Gender-oriented Budgeting Project in Zaporizhia region Tamara Ohorodova mentioned that the gender-oriented analysis was significant not only because of statistical data and numbers, but also because of the certainty and a clear insight into that the aims and performance targets had been achieved. Besides, Kharkiv City Council Deputy and Mayor’s Counselor Olga Chychyna stressed on the importance of citizens’ solidarity and their awareness of gender policy issues. The speakers and participants applauded the panel moderator for the special atmosphere created during the “open-talks” session. Member of Parliament and Co-chair of the “Equal Opportunities” IFA Aliona Babak was professional in moderating each question asked by the attendees, giving experience-related examples and guiding the open-talk process.

The final session of Ukrainian Women’s Congress in Mariupol included the discussion platform “New Ambassadors for Gender Equality and Building of Friendly Cities – Who are They?”, promoting the interests of the public, top managers of urban construction companies, and media. Activist Uliana Pcholkina, Deputy Director on Corporate Relations of “Interpipe Ukraine” Liudmyla Novak, and journalist Andriy Kulykov were enthusiastic about illustrating the cases of various Ukrainian cities, which they had visited and where they had personally seen how the issues of discrimination, inclusion, and creation of comfortable spaces for all categories of citizens were being solved. The participants were interested in that and assessed such success stories as a call for action and creation of projects in their cities.

The results were summed up at the closing session of Ukrainian Women’s Congress in Mariupol. Most of all, the audience were impressed by the inspirational thoughts shared by Ukrainian Parliament Member and Co-chair of “Equal Opportunities” IFA Svitlana Voitsekhovska, who said: “If you have a dream – so pursue your ambition. Today and now”. Ukrainian Women’s Congress in Mariupol took another step towards achieving equality of rights and opportunities for men and women in all the regions of our country. This platform became a space for dialogue between local and central public bodies, public activists, businesses, and media, for sharing experiences and ideas and for creating joint initiatives. It is expected that the organizer – “Ukrainian Women’s Congress” NGO – is going to conduct a national-level event at the end of this year in Kyiv, and that its agenda will certainly include the results of Mariupol’s Congress.