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Women have long ceased to be the stereotypical “rear” for men. Especially in times of war, when Ukrainian women fight for freedom as equals as soldiers on the front lines, and in civilian life, they work in gender-unbalanced professions that were previously dominated by men. Today, their role is more important than ever, and this is what two stories from Ukrainian media tell us about.

 

“Suspilne” and Marie Claire are two different media companies with different editorial policies and content. Both signed the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) with the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion and are actively integrating gender equality norms into their own work policies. The companies provide women with jobs and create inspiring projects dedicated to them.

 

With the beginning of the full-scale invasion through mobilization, “Suspilne” launched an initiative to help women develop in professions that were previously dominated by men. This concerns production, information infrastructure, and technical and technological areas of the company’s work. Women have begun to study the professions of engineers, broadcast operators, technical and production directors in all regions where Suspilne operates.

 

“This initiative not only supports the company’s sustainability, but also promotes the professional development of women, providing them with more opportunities for career growth,” explains Dmitry Kozlov, a member of the Suspilne board responsible for human resources management.

 

The company conducts training and education for women to improve their qualifications. In addition, a gender equality policy is being implemented, since before the war 70% of the Suspilne team was men. Work is also underway with the company’s main product as part of the BBC’s 50:50 initiative, a project that should inspire organizations around the world to create journalistic materials and media content that “fairly represents our world.” This is what Suspilne is striving for, as it strives for equal representation of women and men in the workplace. The 50:50 system, to which it is attached, allows you to track data on diversity in the media in real time. Companies that have joined the initiative record this data in the system, and then publish it on the 50:50 internal website every month. The project team analyzes it to track progress in both attracting and increasing the number of women represented in media content.

Over almost three years, about 50 women have participated in the training program from Suspilny. As a result, women have taken on new positions in the company's Lviv, Mykolaiv, Uzhgorod, Kharkiv, Cherkasy and Chernihiv branches. Now they work as deputy chief engineers, videographers, broadcast specialists, etc.

 

“The initiative ensures the stability of business processes even in the absence of men. And although when launching the program, a lot of explanatory and educational work had to be done in the team, long-term and systematic are what are its foundations, and no resistance will stop the changes that have come,” comments Maria Frey, a member of the board of “Suspilny”, responsible for news and regional broadcasting.

 

At the same time, the international women's publication Marie Claire launched the “Faces of Faith” project in 2023 to support Ukrainian women and demonstrate their strength. The publication says that today, in addition to household chores, Ukrainian women actively volunteer, restore destroyed cities and enterprises, continue to create and teach even in the most difficult conditions.

 

“Participants of the “Faces of Faith” project are women who restore production lines destroyed and looted by the occupiers, develop their businesses in extremely difficult conditions. They not only relocate businesses, saving them from destruction, but also develop a social direction, providing support for the treatment of childhood epilepsy or psychological assistance to veterans. These women are real heroines who build new worlds even in the most difficult circumstances,” comments Yulia Brosko, general producer of Marie Claire Business Ukraine magazine in Marie Claire.

 

Over the course of the project’s existence, more than four thousand women have participated in it. Of these, 50 finalists were selected, who are examples of resilience, creativity and leadership in wartime. They received “support, inspiration and resources to continue their activities even in the most difficult moments.” Marie Claire says that these are the steps that are fundamental in the implementation of WEPs.

 

“This project not only shows the strength of women, but also becomes a symbol of recovery, faith in the future and joint efforts for a better life. The face of faith is the face of women who create the future of their country and the world every day,” notes Yulia Brosko, general producer of Marie Claire Business Ukraine magazine in Marie Claire.

 

This material was created as part of the initiative “Empowering Women in Business”, which is carried out within the framework of the project “Transformative Approaches to Achieving Gender Equality in Ukraine”, which is implemented by UN Women with the financial support of the Government of Sweden in cooperation with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration.