Today in Mariupol, the Ukrainian Women's Congress has started up, initiated by the inter-factional deputy association in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ‘Equal Opportunities’. The congress will discuss the professional development of women, raise issues of implementing the policy of equal rights and opportunities for them. The event was attended by the deputy mayor Ksenia Sukhova and city council secretary Stepan Mahsma.
The purpose of the congress is to create a platform for dialogue between parliamentarians and local authorities, activists of public organizations, women and men from the community on the implementation of equal rights and opportunities, as well as raising awareness of gender discrimination and the advantages of adhering to the principles of equality between women and men.
The event was organized by the public organization ‘Ukrainian Women's Congress’. More than 100 participants registered on it. Among them there are representatives of united territorial communities, local governments, state authorities, public activists and activists, women soldiers, veterans and volunteers. Deputies of Mariupol city council and the self-organization committees of the population also took part in the discussions.
According to the organizers, Mariupol was not chosen by chance for the Third Regional Ukrainian Women's Congress. The participants from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhya, Kirovograd and other regions will also raise the issue of the role of women in the security and defense of the country. They will also discuss the issues of discrimination of women in political life, the tools to achieve equal representation in power and what advantages this will have for the state.
The Government Commissioner for Gender Policy Issues Yekaterina Levchenko, People’s Deputy of Ukraine Dmitry Lubinets and Gender Adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Viktoriya Arnautova will take part in the discussions of the Congress.
The congress will work in two formats: a discussion platform and discussion presentations. During the first, the advantages of women's political participation and gender aspects of security will be considered. The discussion on the topic ‘Who are they - new ambassadors of gender equality and the development of friendly cities’ aims to reveal how the efforts of public activists, business and journalism influence the accessibility, friendliness and equality of public spaces in the city.
The Ukrainian Women's Congress in Mariupol is held in partnership with: the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the UN Women’s Organization in Ukraine (UN Women), the PROMIS Project (PLEDDG) and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), the International Republican Institute (IRI), the project ‘Gender Budgeting in Ukraine’ (GBR), the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, the International Organization of the Global Communities, Sweden, the Embassies of Norway, Denmark and Canada in Ukraine and the Development Fund of the UK government; in partnership with the ‘I Can’ project of the Elena Pinchuk Foundation which is being implemented with the support of the Coca-Cola Foundation.
