Ukraine has made a lot of progress in recent years in promoting gender equality and expanding women's rights and opportunities. Its parliament has ratified the Istanbul Convention, and the legislature itself has more women members than ever before. But there’s still some way to go before we can say that women are fully participating in society, with all obstacles to this having been cleared. 

A number of areas in the country are traditionally dominated by men – and remain so. For example, only 28% of FOPs (individual entrepreneurships) in the IT field in 2023 were registered by women, according to DOU data. Still, this share has increased slightly in the last year – it was 27% in 2022. 

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, women made up almost half of Ukraine's workforce. At the same time, they occupied top positions in only 27% of the enterprises that Vox Ukraine analysed, using data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine. Moreover, most of the businesses where women were in charge were enterprises in the field of education, trade, tourism, and beauty. 

There are lots of reasons why women reached the top in these spheres, and not, say, in heavy industry. One of them is that there are lingering stereotypes that determine which profession and career women choose when they are young. 

In 2020, the UN Peacebuilding and Recovery Programme surveyed students at schools and vocational education institutions and found that although prejudices had decreased among young people about which professions are “suitable” for men and women, 60% of the respondents still believed that professions can be divided along the lines of gender, and a woman’s purpose is to give birth to children. 

It takes courage and sufficient self-confidence for women to resist such gender stereotypes in society and master a profession that is considered “masculine,” the respondents in the study told researchers. 

Even girls who are good at mathematical subjects at school often hesitate to go to universities to pursue a technical education. Without role models, support, and mentors, it is difficult for them to venture into a male-dominated field. 

Specialized programmes from the government or international partners can help them gain confidence and the strength, so they can choose the professional path they want despite societal pressures or opinions. Over the last year, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) implemented three Swedish-funded initiatives aimed at increasing the share of women in STEM professions (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). 

Boosting the representation of women and girls in STEM will encourage greater technological progress and economic development in Ukraine. And everyone will benefit from it – both women and men. 

Promoting the first professional steps of young specialists 

In order to support and encourage women to study technical specialties, as well as help the professional development of women students or recent graduates of these professions, a pilot internship programme for young women in STEM was launched at the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine at the end of last year. 

Seven finalists were selected from among more than 200 applicants, with each intern competing with 29 other people for a place. They all study a range of STEM majors: IT, business analytics, software engineering, physics and astronomy, systems analysis, and computer science. 

For two months, the young women had the opportunity to work together with Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation team on projects in the field of state digitalization – and the results of their work were presented at the closing ceremony of the pilot internship programme in February 2023. In addition, educational webinars were also organized so that the programme gave them not only technical knowledge and experience, but helped them develop leadership qualities and other soft skills. 

The young women all said an inclination to STEM professions did not depend on gender or sex, but a person's professional skills. “Professionals have no gender. It doesn't matter if a man or a woman works in a certain field, anyone can understand it if they want to,” says one of the interns, Alina Voronina. 

Initiatives like internships help young women develop the skills they need to advance in technical professions, adds Daria Reshetuha, a programme graduate. “Internships – scholarships that are created to support girls – all of this synergy of support helps us to grow better in the (STEM) field and achieve success,” she says.