International workshop on gender issues at the Richelieu Forum

One of the priorities of Ukraine’s public service is ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men. This is a guarantee of institutional stability, professional growth of civil servants, development of the country’s management potential. These issues were discussed at the international seminar “Transformation of Women’s Leadership in Wartime: New Challenges and Perspectives” in the framework of the 15th Richelieu Forum for Public Service.

Developing women’s responsible leadership in public administration in martial law, providing mentoring as a tool for developing such leadership, and successful educational cases in professional training for equal rights and opportunities for men and women, were the main issues discussed during the thematic panels. The participants were authorised persons/coordinators for ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men, representatives of units dealing with gender equality, local government officials, educators and experts. The State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control was represented by its Deputy Head Volodymyr Korolenko.

Speakers were Ulana Tokareva, Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, Julia Broussard, Deputy Representative of UN Women in Ukraine, Pavlo Zamostyan, Deputy Representative of the United Nations Population Fund, Kateryna Levchenko, Government Commissioner for Gender Policy, and Natalia Alushyna, Head of the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service.

Natalia Shamrai, Head of the All-Ukrainian Association of Centres for Administrative Services, Alla Kadyrova, Head of Rudnia village of Velykodymerska community in Kyiv Oblast, Svitlana Garnadko, Head of Petrivskyi Starosta District in Dnipropetrovska Oblast, Liudmyla Kostiuk, Head of Kochubeivska community in Kherson Oblast, Tetiana Kozyrska, Chief of Staff of Kherson Oblast State Administration, Natalia Dziailo, Head of Financial Support Department of Kherson Oblast State Administration, shared their personal stories of resilience. They, like millions of other Ukrainian women, are incredible heroines who, during martial law, demonstrated extraordinary professionalism and sacrifice in ensuring state functions.