As part of the European integration processes, on December 20, 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approvedStrategy for implementation of gender equality in the field of education until 2030.
The strategy defines the basic principles, target groups, strategic goals and tasks for the implementation of the state policy on ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men in the field of education.
The implementation of this Strategy is aimed primarily at the following target groups:
• education recipients - pupils, pupils, students, cadets, trainees, interns, post-graduate students (adjuncts), other persons who are getting education by any type and form of its acquisition;
• administrative, pedagogical and scientific-pedagogical personnel in the field of education, who ensure the efficiency and quality of its functioning, on whose ideas, views, ideals, assessments and beliefs the worldview of future generations largely depends;
• parents and legal representatives of education recipients who educate children and young people, shape their perception of the world and are a model of behavior;
• the staff of education management bodies, who make management and personnel decisions, determine the conditions for the work of educational institutions, in particular, implement the state policy on ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men in the field of education.
The World Society considers the problem of ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men in the field of education in the context of human rights. International organizations recognize the crucial importance of education for the development of the individual, society, and state.
In Ukraine, the implementation of state policy and the implementation of educational activities to ensure equal rights and opportunities for women and men are carried out in accordance withLaw of Ukraine "On Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities of Women and Men"
In 2023 the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture adopted the Concept of Educational Work, which took into account the provisions of the Strategy for the Implementation of Gender Equality in Education until 2030, as well as the norms of the Law of Ukraine "On Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men".
According to the Concept of Educational Work of the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture, gender education at the Academy is aimed at:
• approval of gender equality;
• prevention of discrimination based on gender;
• application of positive actions;
• prevention and counteraction of gender-based violence, including all manifestations of violence against women;
• ensuring equal participation of women and men in making socially important decisions;
• ensuring equal opportunities for women and men regarding the combination of professional and family responsibilities;
• family support, formation of responsible motherhood and fatherhood;
• education and promotion of the culture of gender equality among the population of Ukraine, the spread of educational activities in this area;
• protection of students from information aimed at discrimination based on gender.
The Academy provides equal rights and opportunities for women and men in obtaining an education, in particular:
• equal conditions for women and men during admission to educational institutions, assessment of knowledge, provision of grants, loans to students;
• preparation and publication of textbooks, training aids, free from stereotypical ideas about the role of women and men and aimed at the formation of non-violent behavior patterns, caring attitude towards the victims, respect for human dignity and sexual integrity;
• fostering a culture of gender equality, non-violent behavior, mutual respect and equal distribution of professional and family responsibilities between women and men.
The training programs and retraining courses at the Academy include disciplines that study issues of ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men, preventing and countering gender-based violence, and optional study of the legal foundations of gender equality based on the harmonization of national and international legislation.
Measures to prevent gender-based violence at the Academy are carried out in the following directions:
• studying the situation and collecting data on the facts of gender-based violence;
• conducting information campaigns regarding manifestations of gender-based violence and its consequences;
• carrying out informational and educational activities on the prevention and counteraction of gender-based violence;
• organization and holding of joint and specialized trainings and seminars with specialists who work in the field of prevention and counteraction of gender-based violence, as well as law enforcement officers.
The training programs and retraining courses at the Academy include disciplines that study issues of ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men, preventing and countering gender-based violence, and optional study of the legal foundations of gender equality based on the harmonization of national and international legislation.
Gender equality is also observed in the field of physical education at the Academy. In particular, students of higher education of the KhSAC, under the leadership of the Department of Physical Culture and Health, annually participate in inter-university chess and checkers competitions, in which they have become winners and prize-winners many times. According to the Regulations of the competition, the national team includes girls and boys equally.
The traditional Spartakiad of the KhSAC also includes two types of competitions with observance of gender equality. This is a darts and table tennis competition. Earlier (before the quarantine), tug-of-war competitions were held.
Problems of gender equality are also discussed within scientific and student circles. In particular, at the department of psychology, pedagogy and philology, meetings of the Student Circle are held, dedicated to the problems of such a social phenomenon as feminism in Ukraine and the world, as well as the problems of gender-based violence. On the basis of the Department of Physical Culture and Health, there is a Student Circle on "Problems and Prospects of Physical Education, Sports and Physical Rehabilitation", which also raises issues of gender equality in the field of physical culture.