The Industry Award 2011 celebrates Ukrainian companies who are improving gender equality in the workplace.

30 June, the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine and the EU Delegation to Ukraine launched a contest for Ukrainian businesses with the best equal opportunities practices. The contest will take place under the auspices of the EU-ILO Project ‘Gender Equality in the World of Work’.

Companies can register to participate on-line: www.rivnist.in.ua until 30 September 2011. The major prize for the winners will be a year long membership in the European Business Association and tailor-made business trainings.

“A policy of equal opportunities for men and women helps employees to combine family and working obligations, enables their professional development, and protects them against discrimination and sexual harassment. Whatever the forms of support are, they demonstrate that employees are the most important component for the success of their companies,” declared Mr José Roman Leon Lora, Head of Section for Economic Cooperation, Social and Regional Development, Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine.

In 2010, more than 90 leading businesses took part in the industry award demonstrating best practices of equality for their employees. The companies included Ernst & Young, UniCredit Bank, the Bank of Cyprus, the British Council, Porsche Ukraine, LLC “Winner Imports Ukraine”, “Obolon”, Oranta and other companies of various types of activities. The contest took place under the auspices of the EU-ILO Project ‘Gender Equality in the World of Work’.

However, 86% of top managers in Ukrainian companies are men and 40% of employers recognise that men have a better chance to get a management position. Around half the employers provide no special conditions for combining working and family obligations, and practices such as flexible working hours and distance work exist in less than 20% of companies.

That is why between two contests the Project has been active in the field of raising awareness of companies on equal rights and opportunities for women and men in the workplace.

In March 2011 with technical support from EU-ILO project "Gender Equality in the World of Work" a campaign was launched to develop gender equality plans for four Ukrainian companies - Obolon, SKF-Ukraine, URGA and Victoria Veritas, who were participants and winners of the contest "Equal opportunities - the best employer 2010" and represent different sectors, different regions and different number of employees.

During a round table discussion that took place on 23 June 2011, the pilot companies presented their gender equality plans, developed after a thorough gender audit of the companies with employees’ representative involvement. The gender equality plans include detailed plan of activities and establish indicators for performance monitoring.

“A lot of women are traditionally employed in the food industry. And JSC Obolon is no exception: there more than 28% of women employed in our company. The company realizes the direct relationship between equal pay opportunities for women and men, balancing work and family life and healthy working environment and growth of productivity and competitiveness of our company” – mentioned Sergiy Bloschanevych, Chairman, HR Director of JSC “Obolon”, the project’s pilot company that engaged in the development of the gender equality plan.

"The project helped us in practical implementation of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value in our company", - said Nataliya Starikova, HR manager at SKF-Ukraine, the project’s pilot company that engaged in the development of the gender equality plan.

Furthermore, representatives of 10 companies, who participated in the contest in 2010, joined the trainings on the gender equality in the world of work, held within the framework of the Project.

“We want to show that the success of a business depends on the balance of its team. We hope that in 2011 there will be more businesses taking part in the contest launched today. Both women and men want to have an opportunity to spend their free time with their children and realize their full potential in their professional life. This is their legal right. The principle of gender equality can help them to make this come true,” said Rick Flint, the team leader of the EU Project “Women and children’s rights in Ukraine – Communication component”.

For additional information, please, contact Mrs. Anastasia Trotska, PR manager of the EU Project “Women and children’s rights in Ukraine – Communication component”, tel.: (+38 044) 278 3376/ 288 2726, mob.: +38 095 139 93 52, e-mail: pr@cwrights.com.ua

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