Members of the Ukrainian Feminist Network participated in The Ukrainian Women’s Congress with the issue “The Courage to Be Yourself”. The event brought together politicians, scientists, public figures and women in business for an exchange of experience, discussion platforms and presentations.
The event was opened by the co-founder of The Ukrainian Women’s Congress Olena Kondratyuk, the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, Yulia Svyrydenko – Prime Minister of Ukraine and Katarina Maternova – EU Ambassador to Ukraine.
During the day 4 discussion panels were held under the title “The Courage to Be…” The topics were divided into the categories of “The Courage to Be…”: first, visible, being in power, and being different.
The speakers of the panel dedicated to the issue of being first ever among others were astrophysicist Olena Kompaniets, military Veronika Stoyanovska and Kateryna Datsenko, a public activist and founder of the NGO “Respect”.
“Courage to be Visible” brought together entrepreneurs and women in business. The speakers were Natalia Butkova-Vitvitska – member of the board of “Oschadbank”, Albina Voytovych – deputy director for human resources management, Comfy, Oksana Rudya – director of the secondary school of the village of Kudrivka in Chernihiv region and others.
During the panel “Courage to be in power”, politicians shared their experiences: Tetyana Berezhna – Vice Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy – Minister of Culture of Ukraine, Minister of Energy Svitlana Hrynchuk, People’s Deputy and co-founder of the Ukrainian Women’s Congress Maria Ionova and others.
“Courage to be Different” brought together human rights defenders and experts. Among others speakers,
Olena Shevchenko from the Marsh Zhinok NGO, international expert on gender issues Olena Osadcha, and chief engineer of the United Plant Enterprises of the agricultural company Margarita Sheremet.
One of the special guests was Mathias Schmale, UN Coordinator in Ukraine.
The event ended with the presentation of the monograph “Women’s Stories of Leadership in Ukraine.”
