Working groups on gender equality: areas of activity defined

On June 20, an inaugural meeting of the heads of working groups on gender equality of faculties and educational and scientific institutes of Igor Sikorsky KPI was held. It was chaired by Tetyana Zhelyaskova, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of the University. 

At the meeting, recommendations were adopted for departments regarding the implementation of the “Action Plan for the Implementation of Gender Equality Principles in the Activities of Igor Sikorsky KPI for the Period 2024-2027” and priority measures for its implementation. In particular, it was recommended to conduct explanatory work among scientific and pedagogical teams regarding the goals and objectives of the Action Plan and to establish their interaction with the relevant members of the university's working group on gender equality. It was also proposed to conduct work in the departments to prepare project proposals for participation in the EU Horizon Europe program competitions on the basis of interdisciplinary intersections of gender issues with the substantive areas of KPI engineering schools. A separate item in the recommendations is the issue of coverage in the newspapers “Svit” and “Kyiv Polytechnic,” other university media, websites, and social media pages of materials dedicated to events and notable university activities and events in the field of gender equality. It also recommends covering the activities of prominent women who have achieved career success and recognition in Ukraine and internationally, and whose educational, scientific, and pedagogical activities are inextricably linked to Igor Sikorsky KPI. 

In a conversation with a correspondent from Kyiv Polytechnic, Tetiana Zhelyaskova noted that this meeting was the first since the appointment of working group leaders on gender equality in the departments. "We gathered to familiarize the meeting with the university's achievements in this area and actually agreed on the implementation of measures to implement the principles of gender equality in the practice of our departments. In particular, we expect the departments to prepare materials about successful female graduates for further publication in newspapers and to conduct monitoring at the departmental level of gender balance among both students and departmental staff. The recommendations also provide for the participation of departments at the level of faculties and educational and scientific institutes in the preparation of project applications for scientific projects related specifically to the interdisciplinary gender sphere.

Volodymyr Shkolny