Guidance on Gender Equality and Non-discrimination for Employers
On 1 March 2021, the Confederation of Employers of Ukraine presented the Guidance on Gender Equality and Non-discrimination for Employers.
According to Oleksii Miroshnychenko, Confederation’s Executive Vice President, “the Guidance, developed with support from the International Labour Organization in Ukraine, is aimed at assisting employers in practical implementation of the rather complicated and diverse Ukrainian legislation on gender issues and non-discrimination”.
In her welcome speech, Kateryna Levchenko, Governmental Commissioner on Gender Policy, emphasized the importance of applying the Guidance both by state-owned and private enterprises: “To state-owned enterprises and the state as the largest employer, it is important to understand the principles and practical aspects of the use of the gender and non-discrimination legislation, and in this aspect the Guidance is surely an important document answering the question on how to do that”.
Sergiy Savchuk, ILO National Coordinator in Ukraine, underlined the importance of the Guidance as a practical tool for implementation of a number of the ILO Conventions in Ukraine, particularly the Convention concerning Equal Opportunities and Equal Treatment for Men and Women Workers: Workers with Family Responsibilities (No. 156), the Convention concerning Equal Remuneration of Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value (No. 100), and some other.
According to Julia Drumea, Senior Specialist for activities of employers’ organizations at the ILO Office for Central and Eastern Europe, the Guidance, developed on the basis of well-established practices of many countries with account of the Ukrainian specifics, provides a good foundation for disseminating national and international best practices on the application of the gender and non-discrimination legislation.
Speaking of a way forward, the presentation participants unanimously stated that development of the Guidance should not stop on the very fact of its drafting. “The Guidance is a live document that should change depending on legislative amendments, realities and challenges of time”, Oleksii Miroshnychenko pointed out during a panel discussion.