News

On January 31, 2024, the workshop "Synergy of cooperation between business and public organizations to improve the situation of women in Ukraine" took place in the city of Ternopil as part of the Empowering Women in Business Initiative.

35 people from various sectors of the economy joined the workshop. Among them are services, education, IT, services, creative industries, processing industry, trade, agriculture, as well as civil society organizations and associations.

 

What was discussed at the event

The participants exchanged the experience of private companies, business associations and NGOs in implementing initiatives to support the empowerment of women during the full-scale war and reconstruction processes.

They learned about the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and learned how they can implement them in their companies or create partnerships to implement them. Based on examples of successful implementation of WEPs, representatives discussed ideas for strengthening the economic capacity of women in regions and communities.

The participants also took part in the discussion using the "World Cafe" method - discussion of topics in small groups and exchange of ideas. Among the current discussion issues are support for women in the workplace, ways of cooperation and building synergy between business associations, private companies, non-governmental organizations and authorities, implementation of practical steps in the workplace that do not require large budgets, etc.

In addition, they had the opportunity to learn about the activities of each of the workshop participants, as well as the activities and initiatives implemented by companies for women. The main proposals and ideas for cooperation will be included in the concept of a road map of cooperation between business, NGOs and authorities to improve the situation of women in Ukraine.

 

What are the Principles of Women's Empowerment?

Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) are a tool for achieving gender equality, raising business awareness of gender equality and combating gender discrimination in the workplace. Any company can implement these Principles in the workplace and monitor progress towards achieving them. An important indicator is also the number of signatories of the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) in Ukraine, which is constantly growing. This shows that, despite the war, companies strive to implement such initiatives and see positive changes in this, which are reflected in the team and the company's performance.

 

"During the workshop, we were able to analyze and see bottlenecks, potential opportunities and resources that are necessary for the development of partnerships between public organizations, business and the state to improve the situation of women and create joint economic development, both in territorial communities and in the country in as a whole," says Myroslava Kazimyrets, deputy head of the personnel training and adaptation department at Ukrhydroenergo PJSC.

 

"Gender equality is not only a matter of justice and human rights, but also an effective business strategy. However, the challenges of the modern world affect women more than men. According to a new report by the McKinsey Global Institute, more women than men could lose their jobs by the end of the decade due to the advancement of artificial intelligence and automation. And UN data show that it will take 286 years to achieve equality between men and women. Gender experts unanimously agree that companies with a more equal distribution of women and men in leadership positions have higher profits, greater market share and faster growth. Developing partnerships to advance gender equality can make these benefits even more tangible. Therefore, measures to promote gender equality and empower women are very important for corporate business, as well as for non-profit organizations and state authorities," says the executive director of the Ukraine Investment and Trade Facilitation Center Iryna Tytarchuk.