It is symbolic that today, October 20, 2020, on the Breast Cancer Fighting Day in Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna met with UN Women Representative in Ukraine Erika Kvapilova and discussed open issues, concerning women in Ukraine and in general the priorities of state policy in the preserving of gender equality.

During the meeting, Olha Stefanishyna congratulated Erika Kvapilova on her appointment to the post of Chair, noted the long-term fruitful cooperation of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister with the UN Women in Ukraine Country Office and informed about changes in legislation that took place this year, namely:

signing by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the Decree "On urgent measures to prevent and combat domestic violence, gender-based violence, protection of the rights of victims of such violence";

at the initiative of First Lady Olena Zelenska, Ukraine's accession to the Biarritz Partnership;

joining the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC);

approval by the Government of the Gender Equality Communication Concept;

raising the level of knowledge and skills of civil servants in the field of gender equality, especially those responsible for these issues;

development of a new National Action Plan to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1325 "Women, Peace, Security" (for 2021-2026).

"I am sincerely grateful for the enormous support for Ukraine in the United Nations Framework for gender equality and the empowerment of women UN Women in implementing the state policy in the field of gender equality. Today, it is extremely important that together with the UN Women, we are on the same page and are working to increase public demand for equality in education, economics, politics and society, and so on. This means that real equality of rights and opportunities for women and men in Ukraine will soon become the standard," said Olha Stefanishyna.

The parties outlined further joint steps:

- involvement of UN Women representatives in the working groups of the Commission for Coordination of Interaction of Executive Bodies to Ensure Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men headed by the Deputy Prime Minister;

- creating conditions for the systematic implementation of gender policy by strengthening the institutional mechanism for ensuring gender equality;

- prevention and counteraction to discrimination by sex, as well as multiple discrimination;

- overcoming stereotypes about the social roles of women and men and sexism;

- expert support in developing mechanisms to combat gender-based violence and conflict-related sexual violence;

- continuation of work on testing the Methodology of the survey on the use of time, including unpaid housework and care work in the household.

During the meeting, which was attended by the Government Commissioner for Gender Policy Kateryna Levchenko and Deputy Head of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Dmytro Kaplun, Olha Stefanishyna thanked Erica Kvapilova for her readiness to support and promote the implementation of all initiatives related to equality of women and men, and the parties agreed to sign a memorandum of cooperation between the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the UN Women in Ukraine.