Center for Political Analysis «Observatory of Democracy»

«Gender equality is a sensitive indicator that shows how developed and democratic is the state» noted outstanding American political analyst Ronald Inglehart.

The scientist devoted a special work to the issue of close interrelation between the political representation of women and the level of society’s democratization: «Gender equality and democracy».

The inferences of his study suggest that countries with high rates of women’s representation in political institutions demonstrate not only the highest level of civil rights abidance. Such states are more economically developed, since they create conditions for political and economic diversity, tolerance, inclusiveness and interpersonal trust.

Today we can clearly observe that developed societies move from a strictly hierarchical management style to a more collegial one. Hierarchical style or so called «male» emphasizes domination and competition. Whereas the collegial style and, accordingly, the «female» style focuses on cooperation and support in leadership. The collegial management style displaces the hierarchical and bureaucratic type of leadership and is considered to be more effective for maintaining the stability of public institutions.

In general, the acceptance of gender equality is a part of a broad cultural transformation that alters the functioning of traditional societies and fosters the development of democratic institutions. Adoption of the gender equality value provides a transition to post-materialistic values of self-realization, which contributes to the economic development of countries.

That is why gender policy in Ukraine, especially in the context of the defined course for building European democratic institutions, appears in a completely new and relevant perspective. And it requires the approval of the gender equality value both in society as well as within its various institutions. First and foremost, it is necessary to prevent gender discrimination, to ensure equal participation of women and men in making socially important decisions (primarily through election to representative bodies and appointments to government posts), to provide equal opportunities for women and men to reconcile professional and family responsibilities, to prevent gender violence.

Modern Ukrainian women: maximum education, minimum impact

According to the Global Gender Gap Report for 2016, presented by the World Economic Forum, Ukraine ranks 69th in the gender equality index (in the ranking among 142 countries).

The index is measured on the basis of statistical data on the interrelation of inequality between men and women in the four-scaled spheres: economic participation and career opportunities, education, health and survival, political rights and opportunities. The top 10 countries of the gender equality index includes Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Rwanda, the Philippines, Switzerland, Slovenia and New Zealand.

Comparing these data with the indicators of the past years, it is obvious that the condition of gender equality in Ukraine has become worse. Ukraine showed the best result in 2006, taking the 48th place. That time, according to some of the four measured parameters, Ukraine approached the 1.00 mark, which means full gender equality in this area. Quite significantly Ukraine’s positions also declined during the period from 2014 (56th place) to 2015 (67th place).

Source: Global Gender Gap Report

According to the results of that study, Ukraine traditionally has the best indicators in the field of access of both sexes to education. In particular, the report shows almost complete coverage of primary and secondary levels of education (primary and secondary education). As for higher education, women even have better indicators (in the proportion of 88 to 77). Indexes of women’s economic and political participation are significantly worse. The lowest is the number of women deputies (12 %) of the national parliament and local representative bodies, at the highest positions of executive power or in local government bodies.

And although such a tendency of certain «alienation» of women from political and economic participation, as a whole, at the moment is rather a typical world trend, the indicators still differ greatly. On average, in the world, women occupy 22 % of seats in national parliaments.

Thus, according to the study of the women’s influence on the European Union policy «Women in decision making roles in European Union», published by the Open Polis organization in March 2016, in parliaments of 17 EU member states the representation of women is below 30%. In others, the best indicator does not exceed 42 % (Sweden, it also establishes gender parity at the level of the leading positions of the government). Two more countries – France and Slovenia have a gender balance in the government of 50:50.

This study also shows that women are most often the chairs of the ministries related to social policy and work (50 %), families, youth and sports (43 %), education and culture (40%). Nevertheless, 14 % of European Ministers of Justice and 7 % of foreign ministers are women. Among EU institutions, a third of the women’s membership is held by the European Parliament and the European Commission (33 % and 37 % respectively). However, in the Council for Foreign Policy, women make up 10 %, while in the Council for Economic and Financial Affairs, women occupy 8 %.

National regulators of gender equality issue

The development of the legal framework for regulating gender policy in Ukraine began in 1980 with the ratification of the UN «Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women». In 2000, the UN «Millennium Development Goals» (mandatory for implementation until 2015) were ratified, among which the goal of «ensuring gender equality» was defined. Within the framework of this goal, Ukraine has set two tasks:

1. Ensure gender balance at the level of at least 30 to 70 % of one or another gender in representative bodies of government and higher levels of executive power.
2. Halve the income gap between women and men.

Those tasks were aimed at ensuring gender equality in the political sphere and the labor market in Ukraine.

At the regional level, the «Millennium Development Goals» were also adopted for each specific region. Ensuring gender equality has become an integral part of these documents. On the basis of the «Millennium Development Goals», regional programs for social and economic development should have been developed for the regions, but for the most part gender priorities were «dissolved» in the points of the programs related to the family, youth and childhood.

Ukraine became the first Post-Soviet state, which in 1998 established criminal liability for trafficking in human beings (Article 149 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and adopted the Law «Оn the Prevention of Domestic Violence» (2001). The «Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence» defines the legal and organizational framework for preventing domestic violence as well as the bodies and institutions responsible for implementing measures to prevent domestic violence. In 2008, the law was amended. Now it extends to relations between individuals, who are married, are living in the same family, but who are not married, their children, individuals under guardianship, relatives of direct or indirect kinship, provided the fact of common residence.

At the national level, gender equality is guaranteed, first of all, by the Constitution of Ukraine, the Code of Labor Laws of Ukraine, and the separate Law of Ukraine «On Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men», the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine «On Approving the State Program for Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men for the period until 2016» and other legislative acts.

The basic document in the sphere of gender policy – the Law of Ukraine «On Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men», – the Verkhovna Rada adopted with the eighth attempt in 2005. In this regard, in the same year, the «National Mechanism for Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men» was developed. It should include legislative institutions, central executive bodies, local self-government bodies, the institute of gender advisers and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. In addition, it provided the cooperation with public organizations.

During 2006-2010, a range of institutions responsible for the implementation of gender policy were established in the central executive bodies and regional state administrations:

1. Gender working groups and coordination councils;
2. Interdepartmental Council on Family, Gender Equality, Demographic Development, Prevention of Domestic Violence and Counteracting Trafficking in Human Beings (Cabinet of Ministers);
3. Into the structure of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights the position of the Commissioner for the Rights of the Child, Non-discrimination and Gender Equality was introduced, and the Gender Equality Section was established;
4. The Expert Council on the consideration of applications for gender-based discrimination facts – an advisory body acting on an ongoing basis under the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine.

In addition, on the basis of the Law of Ukraine «On Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men» and the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated April 12, 2006, gender-legal expertise of the legislation was introduced. The main purpose of such expertise is to provide a conclusion on the compliance of draft laws with the principle of ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men. The conclusion of the examination should become an obligatory component of the package of documents submitted alongside with the draft of legal act for consideration.

Nevertheless, as practice demonstrates, gender expertise covers on average only six legislative acts annually. In 2015, for example, such acts were the laws of Ukraine «On Resorts», «On Tourism», «On Innovative Activitу», «On Indexation of Income» etc., and critical or negative conclusions of gender-legal expertise do not lead to the withdrawal of a legal act draft for reconsideration and do not complicate the process of voting for it.

The electoral-political cycle of 2010-2013 brought the gender issue out of the focus of the government. As part of the «optimization of the administrative apparatus» in the end of 2010, the central executive body responsible for implementing the gender policy was reduced. This led to the braking and temporal suspension of the important components of the National Mechanism functioning. The Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports Affairs was disbanded, and its functions were transferred to other central executive bodies, removing the issue of gender equality from the sphere of special competence of government structures.

EU-Ukraine Association Agreement – a new impulse for the development of gender policy

The Association Agreement with the European Union became a new impetus for the development of gender policy in Ukraine. Ensuring equal opportunities for women and men, combating discrimination are important goals of cooperation as defined in the Agreement. These principles, combined with the implementation of the best EU practices, have made it possible to prepare a result-oriented «State Program for the Equal Rights and Opportunities of Women and Men for the Period until 2016». Also in 2016, the issue of the gender balance in government structures was included in the «Strategy for the development of public administration for the period 2016-2020».

In August 2016, the Ministry of Social Policy promulgated the draft of the «Concept of the State Program for the Equal Rights and Opportunities of Women and Men for the period up to 2021». However, the Cabinet of Ministers did not approve it until the spring of 2017, and, accordingly, the new State Program was not developed. A positive step was the development by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine of the Strategy for the Promotion of Gender Equality and Non-Discrimination in Education «Education: Gender Dimension – 2020». Nevertheless, this Strategy is still not approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

By Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine № 113-р of February 24, 2016, the National Plan of Action for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 «Women, Peace, Security» for the period until 2020 was approved. However, the adoption of the Plan did not receive predominantly positive expert assessments for a number of reasons:

1. The plan is not mandatory, since the Order of the Cabinet of Ministers only recommends that local government, the State Judicial Administration, the Security Service ensure its implementation.
2. The text of the Order does not require the disclosure of the annual results of its implementation. This may lead to the fact that these reports will repose in the Ministry of Social Policy and the Cabinet of Ministers as a «dead weight».
3. The plan provides for the implementation of 49 activities, but due to the presence of a very general category of «other sources» (financing) among the designated sources of financing, there are doubts about their implementation.
4. Such doubts become even more justified if to look at the ratio of resources that should come from each source: 3,2 % from the state budget, 29,75 % from local budgets, and 67,05 % from other sources.

Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy: expectations and reality

On June 7, 2017, at the Cabinet of Ministers meeting, the position of the Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy was introduced and the relevant Regulation was approved.

Implementation of the decision should contribute to the improvement of the government mechanism in the field of promoting equal rights and opportunities for women and men, as well as improve the effectiveness of activities for the promotion of gender equality in society, the development of the culture of gender equality. The idea of ​​introducing the position of the Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy, which was supported by the Prime Minister, belongs to representatives of parliamentary inter-faction association «Equal Opportunities».

The main tasks of the Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy:

1. Assistance in ensuring the implementation of a unified state policy aimed at achieving equal rights and opportunities for women and men in all spheres of society;
2. Participation, in accordance with the competence, in coordinating the work of ministries, other central and local executive bodies to ensure equal rights and opportunities for women and men;
3. Conducting the monitoring of the accounting by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine the principle of gender equality in the adoption of regulatory and legal acts;
4. Participation in the implementation by the Prime Minister of Ukraine the representation of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in international meetings and forums, including the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the UN Security Council in sessions from the agenda «Women, Peace, Security», the Council of Europe, OSCE and etc.;
5. Cooperation and interaction with civil society on ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men in all spheres of society.

However, among the actual mechanisms of influence of the created position – mainly information and expertise functions. In particular, obtaining information from officials and organizations, preparing inquiries and reports, informing the public through the media about ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men, the right to initiate the creation of expert groups and convene meetings, and participate in meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers and other government structures with a right for the consultative vote.

Furthermore, the establishment of this position does not affect the automatic increase in the budget funding of government programs or the number of gender policy arrangements, since the Regulation provides for the change in costs only to the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers, the structural unit of which is the new office of the Commissioner.

State funding of gender policy

Indeed, state funding is one of the most important indicators of the (im)perfection of institutional support for gender equality policy.

According to the report of the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports on the implementation of the State Program for the period to 2010, during 2007-2008, 1 million 143 thousand 900 UAH were used for the implementation of the State Program. But already in 2009 from the state budget for these goals were allocated only 100 thousand UAH, which is associated with the saving of government spending during the financial and economic crisis.

This also applies to the amount of expenditures from local budgets for the activities of the State Program. So, during 2007-2008, 1 million 957 thousand 473 UAH were allocated from local budgets, and in 2009 – only 895 thousand 927 UAH. This period was also marked by the lack of access to information on the financial provision of the State Program and the lack of its funding from alternative sources.

As for funding from the regional budgets, the total amount of allocations for regional programs of gender equality in various regions of Ukraine was from 10 to 300 thousand UAH. In 2008, the volume of such expenditures increased, but in 2009 it decreased again (on average by 25-50%). In 2010, in some regions, funds for implementing regional programs of gender equality were not allocated at all. In most cases the amount of allocated funds was only 50-80% of the amount of the request.

Analyzing the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers «On approving the National Action Plan for the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 “Women, Peace, Security” for the period to 2020», it becomes obvious that the current state funding of gender policy is also rather limited.

For example, funding for the assessment of the impact of conflicts on the national human rights system, in particular on the protection, assistance and rehabilitation of victims of gender-based violence, women’s participation in peacemaking and conflict prevention is fully assumed to be financed from «other sources».

The analysis and development of recommendations for the creation of the necessary infrastructure, taking into account the needs of girls and boys, women and men, including persons with disabilities, also rests with regional administrations and local budgets with the financing of 15,000 UAH. During 2016-2017 (1 378 000 UAH for the implementation of these tasks is expected to attract from «other sources»).

Source: According to the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers «On approving the National Action Plan for the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 “Women, Peace, Security” for the period until 2020»

To the shame of the state: «other sources» of financing

Compared with the state «contribution» to the development of gender policy, much more substantial financial, technical and expert assistance to Ukraine in this area is provided by a number of international institutions. Namely: the US Agency for International Development, the Israeli Agency for International Development, the Canadian International Development Agency, the Swedish International Development Agency, the Swiss Cooperation Office, the Embassies of Austria, Great Britain, Denmark, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Finland and Japan. They also include non-state funds: the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and others.

During the period 1995-2014, the EU provided the largest amount of technical assistance aimed at achieving the goals of gender equality. Thus, in 2008-2011 the EU allocated EUR 14 million to UNDP, ILO, UNICEF and the Council of Europe to implement projects aimed at ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men in various spheres.

In the National Action Plan for 2016-2020, these organizations and funds that most often appear as «other sources» provide much more funding than is provided by the state or local budgets to address or advance gender issues. For example, for the development of thematic programs and social advertising for placement in the mass media regarding the gender aspects of conflict prevention and resolution, the state budget envisages spending in the amount of 98 thousand UAH during 2016-2017. At the same time, 685 and 585 thousand UAH are allocated from «other sources» to implement the same task in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

The greater financial weight of «foreign sources» compared to the state ones is also indicated by the fact that on June 10, 2017, UN Deputy Secretary General, Executive Director of the UN Women Program, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Swedish Ambassador to Ukraine Martin Hagstrom signed an agreement on the financing of the project «Gender Equality in National Reforms and the Establishment of Peace and Security in Ukraine». The project provides for a budget of five million euros and is designed for four years. The funding will be used to support the work of the newly established Office of the Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy, as well as to foster the implementation of the National Action Plan «Women, Peace, Security».

Gender quotas without political responsibility

Another important factor hampering the proper and effective implementation of the laws, adopted in Ukraine over the past 20 years to ensure gender equality, is the weak and «diluted» responsibility for their non-compliance. This is embodied either in the absence of norms that prescribe the conditions for the operation of sanctions, or in the practice of applying laws by the judiciary system.

A vivid example of the first option is an attempt to encourage the parties to adhere to gender quotas. So, in Ukraine, in 2013, a legislative quota of 30 % was adopted, which did not give the expected results in the 2014 elections (20 out of 29 parties did not fulfill this requirement). According to the results of the early parliamentary elections, only 12 % of women went to parliament (although this figure is slightly better compared to the parliamentary elections in 2012, when 9,4 % of women deputies were elected). This legislative norm did not work, because it did not contain appropriate sanctions and did not intend to fix clearly the places for women candidates in the «pass-through» part of the list.

The law «On local elections in Ukraine» in 2015 also provided for the mandatory inclusion of at least 30 % representatives of the other sex in the political parties’ electoral lists. However, again the political responsibility of the subjects of the electoral process for violating the electoral quota was not prescribed.

The local elections of 2015 were regarded as a wide field of opportunities for women to be elected, primarily due to the much lower «price of the mandate», compared to the parliamentary elections. On average, the level of representation of women on the lists in the regional councils throughout Ukraine was 29,6 %, and in urban – 32,1 %. The threshold of 30 % was overcame only in one city council and in none of the regional councils. According to the final report on the results of gender monitoring of local elections in 2015, in 22 region councils the number of women deputies was 15 %, and in city councils – 18,1 %. The highest level of women’s representation is in the Sumy Region Council, 21,9 %: 14 out of 64 elected deputies of this council are women. In the Khmelnitsky Regional Council, the representation of women reached 21,4 %: out of the 84 elected deputies, 16 are women. The lowest representation of women in the Odessa Regional Council (9,5 %), where among 84 deputies only 8 women.

Currently the Verkhovna Rada contains the Draft Law «On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine (Regarding Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men in the Election Process) № 1456 of 12.12.2014», which provides for the introduction of a gender quota into the electoral list. For non-compliance with this rule, there is a sanction in the form of non-acceptance of documents from a political party for registration at the elections. For a long time the bill was being considered by the committees, and only in the spring of 2017 was included in the agenda of the sixth session of the Verkhovna Rada.

Judicial practice: the issue of the proper legal qualification

Judicial practice also reinforces the problem of non-observance of gender legislation by both political and economic actors.

The survey conducted within the framework of the Council of Europe project «Promoting access to justice for women in the five Eastern Partnership countries – Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine», demonstrated a significant problem in the field of judicial practice in Ukraine. Namely, the inability of judges and lawyers to identify those cases where the violation of the rights and legitimate interests of women is the result of the discriminatory provisions of legislation or gender-neutral laws that in practice lead to discriminatory consequences.

The results of the research showed that 100% of judges know the «Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms»; 70% know only this Convention and are not familiar with the content of other international documents; only 3% – are acquainted with all the basic documents in the field of human rights, including, with the still unratified, but signed «Convention on the Prevention of Violence against Women and Domestic Violence». The judges also admitted that they only apply the «Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms» in their practice, since the national legislation is sufficient to resolve court cases. The poll also revealed the conviction of the overwhelming majority of judges that in Ukraine there is no discrimination on any basis.

In addition, the judges indicated that they can not in their decision judge the existence of discrimination, unless the plaintiff himself refers to it. Judges believe that in such a case the rule of their association with the lawsuits applies. That is, they can not go beyond the claims of the plaintiff, and since the plaintiff does not refer to discrimination, this means that the court can not consider the case in this context.

The position of judges in this issue is disputed by Ukrainian human rights activists who note that the issue of discrimination is not a matter of claim. This is a matter of the proper qualification of the legal situation. Even if the victim of discrimination claims a violation of his right without referring to the fact, that the corresponding violation was the result of discrimination, it does not restrict the judge in providing the correct legal qualification.

Therefore, the problem of ensuring gender equality lies not only in the weakness of its normative, financial and institutional support from the executive branch, but also in insufficient accentuation from the judicial power branch. Similarly, political parties – the main subjects of the formation of representative bodies in Ukraine – often ignore the requirements of the legislation regarding gender quotas on the lists, without actually conducting educational and information campaigns on gender issues. Although some of them receive state funding, which could potentially be used to train women leaders in the perspective of the next elections.

Conclusions

Unlike many countries in Africa and Asia, Ukrainian women have almost equal opportunities in education, access to health services and justice. According to the trends of many Post-Soviet and Eastern European countries, women almost equally «fill» the labor market and the public sector. However, they are less represented in the spheres and positions with the maximum concentration of financial and power resources.

Compared with European countries, Ukraine maintains a low level of gender balance in the field of political representation and leadership of state and economic processes.

The constant slide of Ukraine in the world rankings of the gender gap does not indicate a catastrophic deterioration of the policy of non-discrimination in the country. However, the results of international studies clearly demonstrate Ukraine’s lagging behind the global trends and the lack of an effective gender policy, in contrast to other states.

Despite the accession to international agreements and the adoption of national legislation on equal rights and opportunities for women and men, there is a lack of political will to implement gender transformations at the level of the legislative and executive bodies and at the local government level.

Legislative declaration of gender equality, prohibition of discrimination on the basis of gender in the Ukrainian case does not lead to real progress in this area – they require the correction of a significant number of other legislative acts and the stability of institutional provision with responsible institutions, regulatory sanctions and incentives.

The introduction of the position of the Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy is a positive step, but it does not lead to an increase in the number of gender-sensitive government programs and does not enlarge the funding or resources of the relevant projects.

The level of representation of women in public and political life is extremely. As a result, women have limited opportunities to influence the decision-making process relating to their lives, the lives of their communities and the entire country.

Recommendations

Like in many other spheres of public life, the «pathos» and rigorousness of Ukrainian legislation are devastated by the lack of compliance and the absence of direct orders. That is why many aspects of legislative norms governing the electoral process, state funding of political parties, secondary education, social insurance, labor and family relations should be reviewed.

In particular, the following steps in the sphere of legislation should be implemented without delay:

1. Do not postpone the adoption of the Law «On the Ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Violence against Women and Domestic Violence» (Istanbul Convention) because of political and opportunistic interests of politicians.
2. Bring the normative acts of Ukraine in correspondence with the requirements of the «Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Violence against Women and Domestic Violence», create an effective national mechanism.
3. A separate task is the need to create legal mechanisms for the realization of women’s rights, which can potentially become victims of double discrimination (women – internally displaced persons, women of pre-retirement age, women living in rural areas, etc.).
4. Update the methodology for conducting anti-discriminatory and gender expertise of normative legal acts, to assign responsibility for its implementation to the office of the Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy (make appropriate amendments to the Resolution of Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine № 390 of June 7, 2017), to make it mandatory to take into account the results of the expertise in the adoption of political solutions.
5. Provide for an increase in the financing of state and regional programs for the equality of women and men, to take the necessary steps to ensure the implementation of existing national programs and plans related to women’s rights, and take measures for the timely development of new programs and plans at the regional level.
6. Develop and implement real mechanisms for integrating women’s rights and gender equality into the work of state institutions and local authorities (in particular through strengthening the role of the National Agency for Public Service in this process).
7. Revise the Law of Ukraine «On Local Elections» regarding mandatory representation 30 % of the other sex in the electoral lists of political parties, as well as provide for mandatory rules in this change in the legislation on elections of Ukrainian deputies. Lead subordinate regulatory CEC framework into compliance with existing legal requirements regarding the 30 % quota size, which determine the minimum level of representation of women and men from the party in the electoral list of candidates for Ukrainian deputies, candidates for deputies of local councils, and prevent the violation of this provision.
8. Increase the involvement of civil society institutions in the National Mechanism for Ensuring Equal Rights for Women and Men in Respecting Women’s Rights and Gender Violence Prevention, ensuring gender balance monitoring in government bodies, local government and local party structures.

Published on the website “Hvylya”

Julia Bidenko, Valentyna Kyselova

Center for Political Analysis “Observatory of Democracy”

The material was prepared within the framework of a project implemented with the financial support of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) and the Government of Canada