Representation of women in tech professions in Ukraine fell to a critical 20% - UNDP Resident Representative to Ukraine at STEM is FEM webinar

On September 17, the participants of our project had an online meeting with the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program in Ukraine Dafina Gercheva. She told the girls about the organization, its functions, and opportunities provided by the UNDP. One of the discussed topics was the impact of UNDP on the development of the gender issue in Ukraine.

'On average, women are paid only about 80% of the salary of men who do the same job and have the same work experience. Girls are three times less desirable than boys in STEM professions. In 2010-2011, there were approximately 27% of girls who studied engineering. Today, the girls' number dropped down to 20%. However, this area keeps on growing and creating new vacancies that need to be filled, so today we have a double need to encourage girls to choose STEM specialties,' said Gercheva.

UNDP representatives encouraged girls to participate in the organization's educational projects. They offered them to attend, for instance, a course for youth workers, or U-Inn, a youth innovations program that runs training camps on democracy building and a competition for the best innovative ideas. The winners of the competition receive funding for the implementation of their project. Apart from that, from time to time, UNDP holds competitions for grants and international volunteer programs which can be found on the official website.

All these organization's activities are aimed at achieving the goals of sustainable development in Ukrainian society. Gender equality is one of these goals.

'Gender equality is not only a beautiful social goal but also a smart economy. The World Bank estimates that if we wake up tomorrow in a world where men and women are equal, the world will be one hundred and seventy-two trillion wealthier. However, gender equality does not fall from the sky and cannot simply be picked up from the ground. The gender quality must be reasonable and must be established in law. As for now, women face numerous social and legal obstacles that need to be removed for the sake of sustainable development,' Gercheva said.