Female Entrepreneurship & Economic Empowerment in Ukraine

"Women's Empowerment through Entrepreneurship with a View to Contexts of Displacement: A Focus on Ukraine" was held on Saturday, March 18 on the 10th Floor of the Church Center of the United Nations. The panel was sponsored by the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations (WFUWO) and was moderated by Dora Chomlak, Board Member of Razom. The panel included Lyudmyla Porokhnyak-Hanovska, President of the Nation Council of Women of Ukraine, Karyn Gershon, Executive Director of Project Kesher, Iuliia Shykalova, Business Development Executive at Hideez Technology, Oleksandra Rohachova, CEO and co-founder of Inkhunter, and Larysa Polansky, Director of Textiles, Fashion & Women's Education at Ukraine Global Trade and Investment. 

Over the past three years Ukraine has experienced military aggression and up to 1.8 million people - mostly women and their dependents - have been internally displaced. Women in Ukraine are a disadvantaged sector: they are paid 25% less than men, mainly because they tend to hold lower-ranking positions, and 1/3 of Ukraine's women are rural residents. Although rural women own 60% of all land shares, little of their land is economically viable. Urban women that have small businesses trade in the Ukranian hryvnia, the local currency, and thus lack the benefit of the banking system, affecting their ability to accumulate capital.

The success stories of female entrepreneurs, such as the women on this panel, provide insight into new possibilities for displaced Ukrainian women along with the concept of acting locally and connecting globally. 

Gershon talked about the creation of ORT KesherNet Vocational computer centers which train women to become economically self-sufficient, particularly older women who are displaced due to their inability to gain new skill sets needed in their jobs. She views the issue as largely generational, as there is a lack of resources to retrain older employees with the shift to digitization. 

Shykalova provided insight into the growing IT industry in Ukraine, which she called "fresh" and has made the country more global and open, stimulating its economy. In just a six year period, more women are becoming employed in this industry, proving that there is a generational shift as software and IT attracts more young people. She noted that the "Soviet patriarchal society" criticizes women for either being too "pushy" or for being too "soft", and finds that it is easier for women to work with other women, as opposed to men. Ultimately, she is optimistic that things are changing in Ukraine as female enrollment rises and there are more women leaders in business. 

Rohachova shared her experiences as a young, female entrepreneur in the country. Having completed her undergraduate degree in 2014 and attained her Masters degree in 2015, she co-founded the company Inkhunter, an app that allows users to test out tattoos in real-time, with two of her female peers the same year. Rohachova said she was surprised to hear about gender discrimination in the workplace because she doesn't see a distinction between genders as much in her generation. She believes this type of discrimination is rooted more in "Soviet Union mindsets," although she discussed the fact that when her all-female team participated in a hackathon no one believed they would succeed (they won!). 

Finally, Polansky discussed concepts of entrepreneurship and empowerment as inspired by her six month period of work with Indego Africa. The cooperative aims to empower women by showcasing their handicrafts and introducing them to online markets to expand distribution. Polansky affirmed that when women are employed and empowered in developing countries, there is a "ripple effect" of reinvestment back into the community. Her desire is to take that framework and bring it to crafting in Ukraine, by educating entrepreneurs to participate in the global market and tying the physical work of crafting to the IT industry.