At women leaders’ summit in Tokyo, Rada’s first vice-speaker calls for broader gender equality in all spheres, including politics and military
27 June 2019, 19:09
The First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Herashchenko attended the Women Political Leaders Summit 2019 that was taking place on the eve of the 2019 G20 Summit.
This time in Tokyo, the summit brought together more than three hundred fifty representatives of parliaments and governments from seventy countries to discuss sustainable development goals and ways to achieve them, engagement of women in politics and business - and other gender equality issues.
During the summit, Iryna Herashchenko took there part in panel discussions, which ventilated the issues of development of inclusive education and women's political career. Speaking at the summit, I. Herashchenko reported about the participation of women in politics and decision-making processes in Ukraine and characterized their important role in peacekeeping processes. The first vice-speaker then stated that there is a complete rethinking in Ukraine of the importance of women’s role and overall involvement. According to her, in the current parliament and government there are 12% of women, while the party lists are feminized at around the 20 to 40% mark.
As a representative of the Interparliamentary Association "Equal Opportunities", Iryna Herashchenko told about the work of the body and observed, in particular, the importance of introducing updated gender quotas in Ukraine’s electoral legislation.
Iryna Herashchenko also spoke about the introduction of gender advisers staffing in law enforcement agencies, adoption of a law that enshrines equal principles for women’s contractual service in the military, giving women access to three hundred military professions and up to 458 civilian occupations forbidden for women previously.
Iryna Herashchenko said that Ukrainians are doing a lot today to protect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, including throughout the front line area. She emphasized that more than twenty seven thousand servicewomen are currently in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, whereas about 4,000 of which are regular officers only.
"Ukraine is paying a huge price not only for preservation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, but also for being the only guarantor of European security," highlighted Iryna Herashchenko and informed about the consequences of the Russian military aggression against Ukraine. According to the politician, since 2014 there have more than 13 thousand people died in the Donbas, both civilians and military men. Iryna Herashchenko also drew attention to the fact that 1,500 servicemen’s wives became widows, alongside some 1 million women and children being among the internally displaced persons.
The politician stressed that Ukrainian women are actively involved in peacekeeping processes and participate in peace talks, taking care of the release of hostages and drafting bills for solving security and humanitarian issues. Implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 "Women, Peace, Security" remains among the most pressing priorities for Ukraine.
In the summit’s corridors, there were ample discussions on mechanisms for implementing gender equality principles in different countries, as well as on the legislation peculiarities, which are intrinsic to this domain of law.
In the course of the summit, Iryna Herashchenko also exchanged views with Baltic and Polish parliamentarians regarding the threats the PACE’s decision to get Russia back poses to world peace.