The first anniversary of signing of the Declaration for Gender Equality and the Prevention of Domestic Violence was celebrated. It should be recalled that last year UNFPA and the Center for Corporate Social Responsibility Development initiated the signing of Ukraine’s first Declaration for businesses and associations, which aims to address gender discrimination in the workplace and combat domestic violence.

Thus, according to a survey conducted by UNFPA together with the Center for Corporate Social Responsibility Development in 2019, 77% of respondents agreed that in Ukraine there wa a division into “male” and “female” occupations; 24% of office workers (in 80% of cases – women) experienced domestic violence; 53% of respondents felt the need for special family-friendly corporate policies.

“Today we’re celebrating the first anniversary of signing the Declaration. This initiative has been a landmark event for us. When we started working on gender equality issues, this topic was of interest to a narrow circle of experts, and for Ukrainian society there was no such problem. Now the situation has changed. The feedback from the business community shows that we have managed to change the situation and society has a different attitude towards this problem. We are interested in helping Ukrainian businesses implement effective practices that will promote gender equality. After all, the success of Ukrainian business is the success of the country as a whole and the well-being of citizens”, said Pavlo Zamostyan, Deputy Representative of UNFPA to Ukraine.

“The signing of the Declaration has become a driver for businesses to focus on issues that are particularly relevant this year – the safety of employees and their well-being. The issue of combating domestic violence has become a point on the corporate agenda, and it is the signatory businesses that demonstrate leadership in the prevention of domestic violence and promoting gender equality”, said Maryna Saprykina, Chairman of the Board of the Center for CSR Development.

Today, three more companies joined the Declaration: Truman Agency, Mondelez Ukraine and Syngenta. Thus, in total, 31 businesses have already committed themselves to promoting and implementing gender equality in the workplace and combating domestic violence.

“Ensuring gender equality is one of the key priorities for our company, and the signing of the Declaration is a logical continuation of our work. It so happened that the agricultural sector is traditionally considered a male sphere. We are willing to change these stereotypes both in the company and in the sector as a whole. By our example we show that there are a lot of female experts in our field. It is important for us to sign the Declaration and we hope to share the results of our work in the near future”, said Anzhela Fokina, HR Brand&CSR Manager, Syngenta.

Tetiana Haiduk, Head of External Relations, Truman Agency, said: “We believe that equal opportunities are a core value. The main challenge for us as signatories of the Declaration is to find like-minded people, because it is easier to overcome obstacles together. It is also important that the initiatives to be implemented under the Declaration are not declarative, but become effective mechanisms for promoting change”.

During the event, representatives of the signatory companies shared their experiences and achievements in ensuring gender equality for 2020. Thus, Yana Honcharenko, Sustainability Lead StarLightMedia, noted: “We established a corporate program to combat domestic violence, which is the first such program among Ukrainian businesses. We also introduced changes to the content. For example, there is a separate special project on the ICTV channel. But the biggest challenge was to make this topic important for all company employees”.

Forum organizers: UNFPA and Center for Corporate Social Responsibility Development with the support of the British Embassy Kyiv and the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine.