Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 283 from 25.04.2001 on improvement of social status of women - Ukraine

The purpose of this legislation is stated as follows:

“improving social status of women, increasing their role in the society, guaranteeing favourable conditions for developing their intellectual and constructive abilities, and forming a democratic world outlook of the citizens..”

The relevant provisions may be summarised as follows:

a. Article 1 provides that the:

“realisation of the State policy regarding the improvement of social status of women and the creation of more favourable conditions for granting women equal rights for participation in the political and social life of the Ukraine is to be considered as one of the leading directions of the executive power policies.”

b. Under article 2 the government must develop and put into action in 2001 a plan of for 4 years concerning the improvement of women’s status and increasing their role in the society. Specifically the plan must cover:

i) Creation of a Coordination Council, whose main activity would be improvement of women’s status and increasing their role in the society, as well as providing women and men with equal rights;
ii) Enforced control in order to ensure organisational, economic and legal guarantees for women’s right to labour and to decrease the unemployment rate among women;
iii) Providing assistance to women suffering from competition in the labour market by offering them professional and additional skills training and the possibility of getting a higher professional qualification in their occupation or an entirely different profession;
iv) Increasing legal awareness of women and their employers of legislative requirements in order to help them protect their employment and health;
v) Control over the development of women’s entrepreneurial activity and assistance to women entrepreneurs at the starting stages of their entrepreneurship;
vi) Development of social services, including maintenance and improvement of the pre-school educational facilities, as well as improvement of the level of services provided to children there, in order to assist women and men in combining their parental responsibilities with professional and social activities;
vii) Supervising social and professional rehabilitation of women with physical disabilities and women who take care of disabled children;
viii) Conducting an analysis of laws and other legislative documents of Ukraine on the question of the status of family and women with the purpose of improving these documents and getting them to correspond to the norms of international legislature.

c. Under article 3, the Head Office of the State Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and The State Committee of Statistics of Ukraine are to prepare and present to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine propositions regarding improvements of the order of employee reserve formation for the State Service with ensuring a proportionally balanced ratio of women and men.

d. Under article 4, The National Academy of Sciences is to consider the question of establishing a National Bureau of Gender Research as a deliberative body with a purpose of providing women and men equal rights in the society.

e. Under article 5, the State Committee of Youth, Sports and Tourism of Ukraine, Ukrainian Ministry of Labour and Social Politics, Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, Ukrainian Ministry of Health, Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science, Ukrainian Ministry of Agricultural Politics and Ukrainian State Committee of Statistics are to present to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine every fours years, starting with the second trimester of 2002, a report concerning realisation in Ukraine of the UN Convention “On the liquidation of all forms of discrimination against women”.

f. Under article 6, the State Committee of Youth, Sports and Tourism of Ukraine, Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, Ukrainian Ministry of Justice, the Rada of the Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea and the regional, Kiev and Sevastopol state administrations are to promote the creation of rehabilitation centres and other similar establishments for women, who have found themselves in extreme conditions, have suffered from violence or have become victims of women trafficking. These centres and establishments are to be supported organisationally, logistically and financially by the previously specified institutions.

g. Under article 7, the State Committee on Youth, Sports and Tourism, Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Arts, Ukrainian Ministry of Science, the Rada of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and Kiev, Sevastopol and other regional state administrations are to implement the most effective and progressive strategies of working with families, oriented towards the revival of traditional national holidays and customs, as well as preserving and developing the historical traditions of the Ukrainian people, forming the democratic world outlook of the citizens and teaching them to love their Motherland and respect the Woman and the Mother.

h. Under article 8, the Rada of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Kiev, Sevastopol and other regional state administrations are:

i) To employ methods for achieving a more significant representation of women in the leading positions of the executive power bodies.
ii) To guarantee an increase in the professional qualification of workers, whose work is associated with the questions of designing and implementing policies regarding family, women, youth and children.
iii) To support women’s social organisations, clubs, unions and cultural and business centres for the purpose of increasing the role of women in the process of state policy-making.

i. Under article 9, the State Committee of information, television and radio of Ukraine:

i) Together with the State Committee for Youth, Sports and Tourism of Ukraine and The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, is to provide in the media a wide promotion of policies directed towards implementing in Ukraine the provisions of the UN Convention “On the liquidation of all forms of discrimination against women” and other international legal documents concerning women’s rights.
ii) Is to increase the supervision over mass media in order to eliminate the propaganda of violence and disrespectful treatment of women.

j. Under article 10, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is to provide full information to the President on the progress of implementation of this decree.