The committee organized
the meeting together with the Ukraine-EU Interparliamentary Club and the National
Democratic Institute of International Relations. People´s Deputies of Ukraine
Iryna Berezhna (Party of Regions faction), Olha Bodnar and Olena Kondratiuk (BYuT faction), Iryna Herashchenko
and Olesia Orobets (Our
Ukraine-People´s Self-Defense faction) and international experts Celinda Lake (Lake Research, USA), Christine Wilford (Director of NDI - National Democratic Institute
for International Affairs, Ukraine) and Olena Yena
(Head of the Program "Women-Leaders", National Democratic Institute of
International Relations) took part in the meeting.
The People´s Deputies of Ukraine and international experts on gender issues stated that the number of female deputies in the next parliamentary convocation can fall considerably, if the elections to the Verkhovna Rada in 2012 are held under the mixed majoritarian - proportional election system, since women are not allowed to the administrative and financial resources that will play the leading role to gain victory in districts.
I. Herashchenko stressed that if election laws are not changed (proportional system with closed lists), nearly 11,1% of women can be elected to the Verkhovna Rada, which might be the highest number of women in the Ukrainian parliament.
People´s Deputy of Ukraine O. Kondratiuk called for debunking the stereotypes regarding gender issues in Ukraine. According to her, female parliamentarians have sufficient experience "of cooperation to promote socially important bills on family matters, healthcare, and children protection."
Olha Bodnar, Deputy Chair of the Committee on State Building and Local Self-Government, informed about the problems of female politicians in the local councils.
People´s Deputy of Ukraine I. Berezhna stressed that the matters concerning children protection, family relations, and domestic violence can unite representatives of different political factions to draft socially important laws.
Leading expert on the matters of women´s participation in law-making Celinda Lake is of the opinion that proportional system is ideal for female politicians, since it enables them to actively participate in party work and be represented in legislative bodies.
The participants also focused on setting up an interfactional union on gender policy in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine which has been discussed for a long time.