Today, during the online webinar ‘Businesses and 16 Days of Activism Against Violence: A Call to Action’, 6 more private companies, trade unions and business associations signed a Declaration in Support of Sustainable Development Goals 5 and 8 on gender equality, including combating domestic violence, and ensuring decent work for all. These are Globallogic, KPMG, Servier Ukraine, trade union committee of ‘Prykarpattiaoblenergo’ JSC, the family of social Aurora stores and the Dnipropetrovsk Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Currently, 27 private companies declared their intention to promote the implementation of policies of equal opportunities for women and men, as well as to assist in cases of domestic violence. L’Oreal, AVON, Corteva, StarLightMedia, METRO, EY, Nestle, Kernel, UKRSIBBANK, Danone Ukraine and others declared it earlier.

“The issue of gender inequality affects people’s lives every day. That is why it is important that businesses support such initiatives and are ready to work on creating gender-sensitive approaches and favorable conditions, to ensure a work-family balance for their employees”, said Pavlo Zamostyan, Deputy Representative of UNFPA to Ukraine opening the webinar.

Six more private companies, trade unions and business associations signed today the Declaration for Gender Equality and Prevention of Domestic Violence, which was initiated last year by the United Nations Population Fund and implemented jointly with the Center for Corporate Social Responsibility Development.

“Servier strives to create a work environment where everyone has the same opportunities regardless of their gender, implementing projects that promote diversity, equal opportunities and combating discrimination in all career paths”, said Olha Shylova, Head of Human Resources, Servier Ukraine JSC.

“Over the past 20 years, the world has made significant progress in promoting gender equality. The European integration of Ukraine envisages harmonization of domestic legislation aiming to achieve high European standards for the regulation of gender relations in practice. Therefore, gender equality and women’s empowerment are among the priorities in Ukraine. The Dnipropetrovsk Chamber of Commerce and Industry also supports the ensuring of gender equality and equal opportunities and joins the Declaration”, said Vitaliy Zhmurenko, President of the Dnipropetrovsk Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“We consider Sustainable Development Goal 5 [Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls] very important. There are a lot of women in our company and among our clients. Respect for their rights is a priority for us. We believe that the implementation of equality policy is a very relevant issue. That is why we are signing the Declaration for Gender Equality and Prevention of Domestic Violence”, said Zhygura Aliona, Head of CSR Department, family of social Aurora stores.

“KPMG joins the initiative and signs the Declaration for Gender Equality and Prevention of Domestic Violence, because we understand the importance of this issue and have long been committed to creating equitable working conditions, career, wages, attitude and relations in business. In the new lived reality, we also understand and support the leading HR trends on maintaining the mental health of employees, provision of psychological assistance and prevention or provision of assistance to those who may suffer from domestic violence”, Olena Galushko, Head of People, KPMG.

“The company’s compliance with all legal requirements does not yet guarantee full gender equality and the absence of domestic violence in the families of all employees. It is always easier for an employer not to notice such cases than to try to acknowledge them, to train the staff and improve the situation. In matters related to decent work, equal employment, prevention of violence and work-life balance, the goals of businesses and trade unions are exactly the same. Our goal is to have happy employees that experience no discrimination. That is why we join the Ukrainian ‘4 B’ model (to recognize, to respond, to establish effective partnerships and to measure) and sign the Declaration for Gender Equality and Prevention of Domestic Violence”, Olha Tyshko, Chairman of the Primary Trade Union of ‘Prykarpattiaoblenergo’ JSC.

Within the programme the Study on Gender Equality and Combating Domestic Violence in the Workplace was conducted, a Guide and a Declaration for businesses in support of the Sustainable Development Goals 5 (Gender Equality) and 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) were prepared. 21 Ukrainian and international companies and business communities have already signed the Declaration. Read more: https://ukraine.unfpa.org/uk/корпоративний-альянс

Organizers of the webinar: UNFPA Ukraine with the participation of the Center for Corporate Social Responsibility Development and with the support of the British Embassy Kyiv.