On November 5, Olha Melnyk, Vice-Rector for Scientific-Pedagogical Work and Social Development, attended the Eighth Ukrainian Women’s Congress: Time to Form a Strategy for the Future. This year the Congress was held under the slogan “Women’s Potential: New Roles, New Quality”.

The Congress was opened by Olena Kondratiuk, co-founder and Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Her report set the tone for the discussion: specific, informative, and emotional.

О. Kondratiuk noted that the Eighth Ukrainian Women’s Congress aims to look into the future: to imagine what Ukraine will be like in 5, 10, 15 years, to systematize the challenges we face, and to try to find ways to avoid them.

This year’s Congress was attended by First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, Ambassadors Bridget Brink of the United States and Natalia Tsmots of Canada, and Yevhen Hlibovytskyi, Director of the Frontier Institute, an organization that shapes Ukraine’s strategic vision.

First Vice Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko spoke about the role of women in the new economic realities.

New roles and new qualities of women, a change in the social paradigm of attitudes towards women’s roles were discussed by Nobel laureate Oleksandra Matviychuk, military servicewoman Oksana Rubaniak, and Svitlana Zaluzhna (Lithuania), head of the largest Ukrainian hub in Europe.

Representatives of big business from traditionally “male” fields described how gender policies are changing within their companies and how more and more women are taking positions at various levels.

The demographic crisis and the value of human capital were discussed by government officials, scientists, doctors, sociologists, and entrepreneurs for the first time at such a high level.

The critical importance of women’s participation in Ukraine’s post-war recovery was emphasized by UN Women’s representative Sabine Feyzer Günes and the European Union’s Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Maternova.

As always, the discussion platform “Politics without women is a threat to democracy” was informative, with speakers including Oleksandr Kornienko, Yulia Tymoshenko, Petro Poroshenko and Serhiy Prytula.

The military panel brought together Canadian and Ukrainian servicewomen, representatives of the Ministries of Veterans Affairs and Strategic Industries. After this panel, it became clear that Ukrainian society will be different.

For a more detailed view of the discussion platforms, please follow the links:

Eighth Ukrainian Women’s Congress

https://www.facebook.com/womenua.today/videos/573459801856430/; https://www.facebook.com/womenua.today/videos/1230210521615678 .

“Believe me, you will be amazed at the transformational shifts taking place in Ukrainian society, particularly at the level of gender policy. After watching the program, you will not remain indifferent to these processes in Ukrainian society, and the discussions will be transferred to our team. We can agree or disagree, accept or not accept new trends, but I know for sure that we must be aware of the trends that are not on the threshold, but already in the Ukrainian space,” assures Olga Melnyk.