Blog Cafe "Gender Equality: Reality and Challenges"
On October 8, students and employees of the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Humanities of Zaporizhzhya Polytechnic University took part in the blog-cafe “Gender Equality: Reality and Challenges”, which was held by Tetyana Hrytsenko, the ambassador of the Empowerment Program for Public Leaders in Ukraine of the “Together We Can” project.
The ambassador helped the participants to better understand that gender is not just “female” or “male”, but a whole system of social roles, expectations and opportunities.
They talked about how our ideas about “feminine” and “masculine” behavior are formed, why it is important to distinguish between biological sex and social gender, and how inequality in access to education, professions or leadership roles affects the development of communities.
The most emotional part was the exercise “Stereotypes around us”. Participants laughed, argued and wondered. The exercise helped everyone see how deep-rooted gender biases are in our daily lives — from choosing a profession to how we evaluate the actions of others.
Together, the participants searched for answers to the question: how to change these attitudes and form an equal, tolerant society.
After an active discussion and reflection, the participants continued their conversation over coffee: they shared impressions, ideas and plans for further cooperation.
The project “Together We Can” is implemented by the NGO “Social Interaction”, NU “Zaporizka Polytechnic” in cooperation with the NGO “Human Rights Foundation” (Kyiv) with the support of the Institute of Foreign Cultural Relations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany.
