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“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ТРАВЕНЬ 2010 17 UKRAINIAN WOMEN MAKING WORKPLACE PROGRESS, BUT STEREOTYPES STILL THWART CAREERS by Kateryn a Grushenko As International Women’s Day was cele - brated all over Ukraine on March 8, the toasts to women’s beauty and intellect may have missed the mark. Today, the country’s female population needs jobs and equal opportunities more than champagne, boxe s of chocolates , and patronizing treatment. Having originated in the 1930s as an international “day of rebellion of the working women against kitchen slavery,” the holiday in modern - day Ukraine does not truly apply to the many working women who still have little to celebrate. Three decades ago, 90 percent of females held jobs and pursued higher education. Of course, that was when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, which utterly failed as an econom ic power to the point of collapse in 1991. Currently, an estimated 53 percent of women of working age are officially employed. Only two percent of big business owners are females, while only 15 percent of top managerial ranks are filled by women . Working women still earn on average 30 percent less than their mal e counterparts, despite holding most of the nation’s university degrees, according to a new study by the Equal Opportunities and Women’s Rights Program by the European Commission and United Nations Development Program. Yan Vilyukha, director for United Con - sultants recruiting company, says the figures are logical. “In the U.S.S.R., women had no choice but to work, otherwise they would have been con - demned by society. Now many beautiful women have a choice — to work for 5,000 hryvnias or marry a successful bus inessman, stay at home, go to the gym , and keep themselves in a great shape.” Researchers say that these sorts of “harmful stereotypes” are keeping women in secondary roles, earning less and being more dependent on men. “But such statements create harmful stere - otypes in the society ; they force many girls into the role of Barbie - women instead of directing their talents in many other domains. This also contributes to the perception of a woman as a commodity,” said Tamara Martsenuk, researcher on gender issu es at Kyiv - Mohyla Academy. Women are represented in most of the public sector, taking over 75 percent of the available posts. Their representation, however, drops dramatically in the higher echelons; only 8 percent of Ukraine’s parliament ary deputies are w omen. Even ex - Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's Cabinet had just two females among 20 cabinet members. As many American and European com - panies enter the Ukrainian market, recruitment becomes less gender - biased and more skills - oriented. Researchers sa y sep arati on of male and female employees will remain in some industries, but this will be more historical than gender discriminative. Marketing, for example, tends to draw more female talent and has a bigger pool of qualified women. The story goes back to the mid - 1990s when “aggressive boys” were employed on the sales posts that brought in higher incomes and bonuses while “tender girls” had low - income and passive marketing positions. But now that marketing is gaining more and more weight, females in marketing a re enjoying better careers. The human resources industry is also considered one of the domains dominated by women, probably because the majority of employees in th is domain are graduates in the humanities , which traditionally have more female students. Ant onina Ermolenko, project team leader at BrainSource International, says women are good at empathizing with others and understanding how to build relationships. The f inance industry is shared almost equally by men and women, while general mana - gement, sale s , and information technologies are still heavily dominated by men. Stanislav Vilyukha, managing partner of Exon, says gender discrimination is becoming less prevalent. He said employers are only likely to discriminate against a childless woman in her 30s who just got married, fearing that she would take maternity leave soon. While employer discrimination may not be the biggest threat for Ukrainian women, traditional social stereotypes hold them back. There are only a
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