News

Gender Equality Week 2025 was held at KMA

Details

Published on Saturday, 18 October 2025 10:42

At Mohyla Academy, the gender equality week 2025 took place

In early September, the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy hosted the third annual gender equality week, organized by the Committee for combating discrimination, sexual harassment, and bullying at NaUKMA.  

The program included lectures and discussions featuring well-known speakers from various fields — gender studies, sociology, law, economics, cybersecurity, ecology, and Crimean studies. We sincerely thank everyone involved in organizing the events: the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Social Technologies, Faculty of Informatics, Center for Electronic Education, the Analytical Division of the Student Affairs Department «KMAnalityka», NGO «Foundation for women's leadership and strategic initiatives», and the publishing house "ARC.UA."  

The opening of the week was dedicated to the theme «The Global Advocacy Project «Invisible Battalion»: 10 years of fight for gender equality in the Armed Forces of Ukraine». During the event, a memorandum of cooperation was signed between the Department of Sociology at NaUKMA and the NGO "Institute of gender programs," which is an important step toward advancing research and advocacy on gender equality issues. Speakers Maryna Lazarenko, Hanna Hrytsenko, Maria Zvyagintseva and Maria Berlinska shared the story of the creation of the project «Invisible Battalion» and the results achieved through it. The discussion was moderated by Tamara Martsenyuk, head of the Committee for combating discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying at NaUKMA. All project researchers are alumni of Mohyla, including from the Department of Sociology (Tamara Martsenyuk, Anna Kvit, Hanna Hrytsenko).  

The first research of the «Invisible Battalion» was conducted in 2015, and over the following eight years, four more studies were carried out. These studies became catalysts for social and legislative changes, including:  

• lifting the ban on 450 civilian professions for women (2017),

• allowing women to serve in all combat military specialties,

• creating a women veterans' movement (2018),

• enabling women’s access to military education,

• normalizing women’s service in the army.

The «Invisible Battalion» helped women in the military become visible and laid the groundwork for equality and respect in the sphere of security and defense.  

The second day was dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the law «On ensuring equal rights and opportunities for men and women». Speakers included Larysa Kobelyanska — candidate in philosophy, associate professor, coordinator of the public council on gender issues under the Inter-faction deputy association «Equal Opportunities», Zoryana Skalevska — associate professor of international and European law at the Faculty of Law, member of the Committee for combating discrimination, sexual harassment, and bullying at NaUKMA, and Svitlana Oksamytna — Doctor of sociology, professor at NaUKMA’s Department of Sociology, dean of the Faculty of Healthcare, Social Work, and Psychology. They discussed the law and the challenging history of its adoption: since 1999, eight iterations and significant efforts were needed to persuade the deputies.  

Larysa Kobelyanska recalls that at that time, the main challenge was deputies’ lack of awareness about gender equality issues and skepticism toward it. However, thanks to systematic educational work by specialists in law drafting and advocacy, this distrust gradually turned into respect for international conventions and organizations (notably the UN), and gender initiatives began to find more allies among deputies. Speaker, Zoryana Skalevska shared insights on the law as a legal document and highlighted aspects that should be improved.  

Particularly interesting and informative was Svitlana Oksamitna’s presentation on her study «the Ukrainian parliament on the path to establishing state policy for equal rights and opportunities for women and men». The researcher summarized that despite the lack of experience and resources, Ukraine has made significant progress toward gender equality over 30 years — thanks to civic activists, human rights defenders, women’s organizations, international partners, and an engaged civil society.  

The theme of the third day was «The gender pay gap: why are men’s and women’s salaries still different?». Speakers Oksana Nezhyvenco — associate professor at the Department of Economics at NaUKMA and member of the Committee for combating discrimination, and Tamara Martsenyuk, head of the Committee for combating discrimination, sexual harassment, and bullying, associate professor of sociology, integrated economic and gender approaches.  

They discussed concepts like horizontal and vertical gender segregation, which explain the difficulties women face in professional development. The statistics presented showed the scale of the problem as of 2021 (the latest data available before the full-scale invasion): in Ukraine, the gender pay gap was 18.6%, while in the EU countries it was 8%. Luxembourg was the only country where women earned more than men.  

They also examined the reasons for the gap: concentration of women in the public sector and «traditionally female» professions (horizontal segregation), discrimination and stereotypes, part-time employment, and additional domestic burdens. The societal consequences were also discussed: lower GDP, growth of the shadow economy, smaller pensions, and loss of the country’s economic potential.  

At the same time, positive changes were highlighted. Ukraine has adopted the national strategy to eliminate the gender pay gap by 2030. Possible solutions include pay transparency, legislative enshrinement of the principle of «equal pay for work of equal value», the development of childcare networks, and programs to combat stereotypes. Participants unanimously emphasized that pay equality is a key condition for sustainable societal development.  

The fourth day focused on the IT sector — «expanding women’s participation in cybersecurity through education and professional communities». Speakers included Trohym Babyсh, founder of cybersecurity at NaUKMA and member of the Committee for combating discrimination, sexual harassment, and bullying at NaUKMA; cybersecurity expert and civic activist Anastasia Ostrovska; and NaUKMA cybersecurity student Kateryna Zvyrova. Additionally, sociology students presented a group study titled «women’s access to the cybersecurity field». The study showed that although the proportion of women in this sector is gradually increasing (2024 — 20%, 2025 — 22%), it remains significantly lower than that of men. Women in cybersecurity tend to have higher education levels (master’s degree) than men. Reasons for low inclusion of women include stereotypes about the «unfeminine» nature of technical professions, discrimination during hiring processes, the «glass ceiling» limiting women’s access to leadership positions, and others.  Creating mentorship programs and initiatives to challenge gender stereotypes and support women in technical fields, including cybersecurity, is an important step. Examples of such programs include Girls STEM, Google Women Techmakers, CyberFirst Girls Competition, Women4Cyber, and WiCyS (Women in CyberSecurity).  

The final day discussed «portrait of women of the Crimean civil movement (20th-21st centuries)». Professor Yevhen Khlobystov, member of the Committee for combating discrimination, sexual harassment, and bullying at NaUKMA, dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, and expert on environmental issues, spoke about the connection between the ecological crisis, specifically the shortage of freshwater resources, and the situation of Crimean Tatar women. Due to Russia’s aggressive actions, Crimean Tatar women are deprived of access to water resources for household needs. This has deep political significance, reflecting the broader trend of excluding women from resource management that directly affects their communities. Professor Lyubov Zharova from the Kyiv-Mohyla School of professional and continuing education highlighted the activities of prominent Crimean Tatar women, including Shefiya Gaspirali, one of the first Muslim feminists in Crimea who initiated discussions on education and rights for Crimean Tatar women.  

The Center for Crimean Studies at NaUKMA plays a vital role in popularizing these topics. Its director, history expert Martin-Oleksandr Kyslyi, explained that Crimean Tatars, due to historical peculiarities, follow various streams of Islam that interpret women’s participation in society differently. However, religious affiliation has not hindered women’s activism; many Crimean Tatar women see the fight for their rights as a religious duty — to stand for justice and support their community. This is reflected in resistance movements such as «Zla Mavka» and «Crimean Women for Peace,» which actively involve women.  

Values of equal rights and opportunities are essential for the NaUKMA community, where many events on this topic take place. As Tamara Martsenyuk summarized: «Such educational events, which implement state policy — particularly the Strategy for the Implementation of Gender Equality in Education until 2030 — are aimed at promoting information and knowledge about the successes and challenges of achieving gender equality in Ukrainian society. Gender equality week has already become a good annual event within the university that unites the Mohyla community around current issues».  

An important achievement of gender equality week 2025 was raising 22 thousand hryvnias through donations from the audience during a book auction. The funds will be used for scholarships for Mohyla students.  

We look forward to seeing you at gender equality week 2026 at the beginning of the next academic year!