As stated by the Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2023, gender equality is one of the priorities of the Council of Europe. The past three years Katja Tiilikainen has been working as a gender adviser in the Council of Europe office in Ukraine to enhance gender mainstreaming in the work of the office. As the secondment of Ms Tiilikainen by the Finnish authorities is coming to an end, we talked with her about the development of gender equality during the past three years.  

 “I have had an opportunity to work closely with different national partners. Their commitment has been crucial to enhance gender equality in Ukraine. There have been many positive developments,” Ms Tiilikainen says. For example, the increase in the number of women members of parliament from 12% to 20,5% in the last parliamentary elections. Women´s political participation at the local level is also crucial and women´s role is also increasing in the local self-government.  “While there is still some way to go to the balanced participation of women and men, this is very important progress. Hopefully, this development continues in the upcoming elections,” Ms Tiilikainen states.

Another important positive step to strengthen gender equality was the adoption of the new law on domestic violence. “Violence against women has devastating consequences for victims, their families and society. It is important to ensure that the law is implemented. We continue advocating for the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention),” Ms Tiilikainen says.

The Council of Europe is also working to ensure equal access of women to justice for example by providing trainings and awareness raising activities for legal professionals. In all our work we pay special attention to women in vulnerable situations such as Roma women, women with disabilities.

There have been positive developments in the institutional aspects as well: the position of Government Commissioner for Gender Policy was created, there are gender advisers in different ministries and the coordination at the national level with donor support has enhanced.

Despite the progress made, challenges remain. There are still many strong stereotypes, which are the root cause of gender equalities. These stereotypes need to be tackled so that boys and girls, women and men can reach their full potential.  In this sense, the recent Council of Europe recommendation on preventing and combating sexism, the first-ever international legal instrument to stop sexism, is an important tool.

“It is important to continue efforts to enhance equal opportunities of boys and girls, women and men. I would like to thank national partners as well as international organizations and embassies for their commitment and cooperation in these matters,” Ms Tiilikainen concludes.

Photo taken by Andrei Krepkikh during the CoE Seminar on bilingual education_28-29 January 2020 for teachers and curricula developers
Katja Tiilikainen, Gender Adviser in the Council of Europe office in Ukraine