Record number of applications: despite the difficulties of the war, the Ukrainian Women’s Congress will be held in Kyiv

Despite constant shelling, power outages, and daily casualties, over a thousand women and men have applied to participate in the 10th Ukrainian Women’s Congress, which will take place on October 22 in Kyiv. This is a record number of applications in the entire history of the Congress.

This was reported on the official website of the Housing and Urban Development Corporation.

“We thought for a long time about what this year’s Congress should be like. When there is news every day about shelling and deaths, it is very difficult to talk about major events and anniversaries. But over a thousand applications showed us how much people need this meeting.

“Today it is especially important to support women, on whom so much depends. To talk about their responsibility and courage, about women’s contribution to the stability of the state, about life despite the war,” said Olena Kondratyuk, co-founder of the Congress, Vice-Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

This year, the Ukrainian Women’s Congress will be held under the title “From Exceptions to New Standards” and will bring together over 45 Ukrainian and international speakers. The program includes seven discussion platforms, a special dialogue, hard talk, presentations, and a performance by the creative association MUR.

“It is customary to look back at decades, to sum up. But we will not. Because today what is more important is what will happen next. We want the changes that have occurred over these ten years to stay with us, so that women no longer have to be exceptions. So that exceptions become new standards. This is what our 10th Congress is about,” said Svitlana Voytsekhovska, co-founder and director of the UZhK.

Discussion topics on October 22:

“Youth: The Courage to Choose” with the participation of young girls and boys who are already taking responsibility for the future of the country;

“Courage to Fight” with women serving in the Defense Forces;

“The Courage to Grow” is about female entrepreneurs who, despite difficult times, find opportunities to grow and scale their businesses;

“(So-called) unfeminine work” with women who have retrained and now work in areas that were previously considered male;

“Visible and Invisible Labor” about the care economy: the invisible second shift for women who care for children, parents, and the injured;

“Culture as Strategy,” about how during wartime culture became a matter of security, resilience, and identity;

“From exceptions to new standards… and back again?”, in which we will explore why women’s responsibility is increasing, but their influence on decision-making is not always.

Special events include presentations on responsible business, a special dialogue between demographers and government officials on human capital, and a musical performance by the creative association MUR, which will be held with the support of Congress partner PrivatBank.

Traditionally, the Mary O’Hagan Award will be presented during the Congress for outstanding achievements in the field of gender equality and women’s leadership. The name of the fourth laureate will be announced at the event.

“Gender equality is part of our movement towards the European Union. Over the past ten years, Ukraine has really done a lot: legislation has changed, the representation of women in politics has increased, new opportunities have opened up in various areas. The Ukrainian Women’s Congress has been and remains one of the platforms where solutions are proposed and changes are promoted. But it is important not to stop. Our task is to make equal rights and opportunities a familiar part of life in Ukraine,” said Maria Ionova, co-founder of the Ukrainian Women’s Congress.

Registration for offline participation in the Congress has already been completed. The organizers invite you to join online. The live broadcast will begin on October 22 at 12:00 on the information resources of the Ukrainian Women’s Congress.

Since 2017, the Ukrainian Women’s Congress has been a national platform that shapes the agenda of women’s leadership and gender policy for state bodies, local communities, the private and public sectors, and the media community, and also involves international women’s and human rights organizations, leaders, and opinion leaders in promoting the principles of equality in Ukrainian society.