[1] The event’s goal is to unite society around the idea of equal opportunities and rights for women and men, and to become the permanent space for gender policy implementation in different sectors.
[13] Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Vice-Prime-Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, stressed: Gender equality in the country is the cornerstone of the sustainable development of any democratic society [14] National leaders, representatives of executive authorities, international organizations, embassies of USA,[15] Great Britain, Sweden, France, Spain, Canada, Norway, Lithuania, NGOs and civil society activists, female military officers, businesswomen and also men who actively support gender equality were invited to the Congress.
[16] The third Ukrainian Women’s Congress took place on 10–11 December 2019 in Kyiv, becoming a platform for the high level discussion on equal rights and opportunities policies.
The discussion raised the issues of engaging women in peacekeeping and security sectors, eliminating gender-based violence and stereotypes and strengthening gender-sensitive education.
Participants discussed the new challenges related to the COVID-19 epidemic and its impact on local elections in Ukraine, the role of political and civic leadership in fighting the pandemic and financial crisis.
Notable attendees included NDI Ukraine Senior Country Director Mary O'Hagan, First Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Herashchenko, Ombudsman on the Restoration of Peace in Donetsk and Luhansk regions Alyona Babak, MPs Svitlana Voytsekhovska, Maria Ionova, and Olena Kondratiuk, Minister of Communities and Territories Development Hennadiy Zubko, and Head of the Odesa Region Maksym Stepanov.
Key figures at the event were MPs Alyona Babak, Svitlana Voytsekhovska, Maria Ionova, and Olena Kondratiuk (co-founders of the Equal Opportunities inter-party caucus), MPs Iryna Podolyak and Oksana Yurynets, Vice-Prime-Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Head of the Lviv Region Oleh Synyutka, and the Mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovyi.