Empowering women in the labor market: results of a meeting with UN Women
On September 9, 2025, a working meeting between the representatives of the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine, led by Minister Oleksii Sobolev and Deputy Minister Daria Marchak, and representatives of UN Women in Ukraine took place. The parties discussed key areas of cooperation in the field of gender equality, human capital development, broader involvement of women in the labor market, and humanitarian demining.
“In the field of human capital, we pay special attention to expanding opportunities for women: due to barriers in the labor market, not all of them have access to the jobs they want. Our strategy is to bridge the employment gap and create a macro framework for further action so that every Ukrainian woman has equal opportunities to realize her potential. We want women to discover new professions and opportunities, especially in areas where few of them currently work,” emphasized Oleksii Sobolev, Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine.
Oleksii Sobolev also thanked UN Women for the leadership in the project “Ukrainian Women at the Frontlines of Demining and Recovery,” funded by the Government of Canada. The project involves training 220-240 women in the principles of humanitarian demining, an information campaign, and support in finding employment in organizations involved in mine action.
“A key priority in human capital development is to increase women’s participation in the labor market and create local mechanisms to support women entrepreneurs, including mentoring programs, business incubators, and microgrants. We are also working to institutionalize gender-sensitive approaches in employment and entrepreneurship policies and the economic reintegration of internally displaced women and those who have returned. I am grateful to UN Women for our ongoing partnership and consistent support in these extremely important areas," said Daria Marchak, Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture of Ukraine.
In addition, representatives of the Ministry emphasized the importance of cooperation within the framework of the information campaign “Sure You Can!”, which was implemented by UN Women in partnership with the Office of the First Lady with financial support from the Government of Sweden.
Other topics of discussion included:
support for Ukraine's European integration and the implementation of EU gender standards;
increasing women's participation in employment and ensuring equal pay, developing a methodology for gender-neutral job evaluation;
implementation of the National Strategy for Reducing the Gender Pay Gap by 2030 and engagement of the private sector through the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) initiative;
engagement of women in the labor market, within the framework of the Women For The Future initiative, providing opportunities for professional development and employment;
Creation of a digital system for labor market issues.
The parties confirmed their readiness to continue effective cooperation to ensure equal opportunities, human capital development, and the involvement of women in the labor market, especially in areas where women are not widely represented, such as humanitarian demining.
Background information
UN Women has been working in Ukraine since 2015, and the organization's country office was opened in 2018. Its efforts focus on three key priority areas: governance, leadership and Women, Peace and Security (WPS), economic empowerment and scaling up, humanitarian response and coordination, ensuring that women's voices and needs are central to these processes. In 2023, UN Women in Ukraine provided over USD 10.5 million to women-led organizations.