Ukrainian women fight, rebuild, create businesses, and drive the economy forward

Yulia Svyrydenko

The war has changed our society’s attitude towards stereotypes, including the role of women.

Currently, there are 40% more women in the army compared to 2021, with 62 thousand Ukrainian women serving, including 5 thousand on the frontline.

Ukrainian women fight, rebuild, create businesses, and drive the economy forward

Last year in Ukraine, 56% of all businesses were founded by women, and 49.7% of taxpayers were also women.

Many other figures confirm the trend toward increasing female leadership. Additionally, women are increasingly choosing professions that were previously dominated by men.

For example, they are using vouchers to become security guards, deminers, and to work in construction, engineering, metallurgy, and much more

And today we have many examples, both in private businesses and non-profit organizations, where promoting female leadership is a fundamental part of their values.

For instance, The HALO Trust. In their Ukrainian team of over 1100 people, 30% are women, and they have an ambitious goal to increase this figure.

This week, with former Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, we saw HALO Trust’s female deminers work in the field.

Sanna currently serves as a strategic advisor at Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

She is helping Ukraine to accelerate humanitarian demining efforts and make the land safe.

Sanna is a paragon of leadership, serving as an inspirational figure for countless women across the globe. It instills a sense of pride and gratitude within me to acknowledge that Ukraine is fortunate to count such influential and empowering individuals among our allies and friends.

Her abilities to guide and inspire not only pave the way for greater gender equality but also strengthen the bonds of international support and solidarity that are vital during challenging times.

The HALO Trust Ukraine is an example that highlights shifts in the fight for equality.

Demining was previously on the list of occupations prohibited for women in Ukraine, but this ban was lifted in 2017.

Although this is a significant step forward, there are still many challenges to overcome, including the gender pay gap, which currently stands at 18.6% in Ukraine. Women work an average of 6.5 years for free throughout their lives. Our priority by 2030 is to overcome this challenge.

Today, we remind ourselves that there is much work ahead to combat stereotypes and create a truly inclusive society. It is important to value everyone equally.

08-03-2024

Yulia Svyrydenko is the First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine – Minister of Economy of Ukraine

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Ukrainian women fight, rebuild, create businesses, and drive the economy forward