Public Opinion on Gender Quotas and Women in Politics in Ukraine

Gender equality in Ukrainian society in general and in the political sphere in particular is considered from the point of view of international comparative data and international obligations of Ukraine. Ukraine, with 12 % of women in the Verkhovna Rada of the 8th convocation, ranked 156th in the world (among 190 countries listed in the international Inter-Parliamentary Union database on April 1, 2019). The Ukrainian legislation has declared the idea of equal rights and opportunities for women and men in general and in the political sphere in particular. At the same time, the declarative nature of gender equality is stated. The times of Ukraine’s independence regarding the involvement of women in big politics are called “slow emancipation”. Women face the triple load problem, because in addition to basic employment in paid work, they combine the role of mothers, wives or grandmothers with active public activities in the public sphere. Despite these obstacles, women are actively trying to engage in Ukrainian politics, as evidenced in particular by the results of 2019 parliamentary elections. The article analyzes the attitude of Ukrainians to the number of women among deputies in the Verkhovna Rada, taking into account gender, age, place of residence, and the education level of respondents. The public opinion on the introduction of gender quotas in Ukraine has been clarified. The problems of state and party support of this component of gender policy are revealed. Gender quotas are described as a mechanism for increasing the number of women in politics. At the policy level of political parties, gender quotas in Ukraine are not popular measures aimed at overcoming gender inequality. After about ten unsuccessful attempts to introduce gender quotas in Ukraine, the legislative quota of 30 % was finally adopted in 2013, which did not produce the expected results in the 2014 elections. Based on sociological data of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), the dynamics of the attitude of the adult population of Ukraine towards the use of gender quotas by political parties during 2005–2018 is studied.