Women and girls must be encouraged to pursue degrees in fields deemed critical for Ukraine’s recovery

The critical occupations refer to jobs that will be essential in Ukraine’s recovery and are currently male-dominated. However, to ensure these vital roles are adequately filled in the future, it is essential to advance women’s representation and opportunities in these areas of study now.

Milena Goryachkovska, Project Coordinator at the Ukrainian Women’s Fund, highlighted this point during a discussion at the Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform.

“We face significant educational segregation. The specialties in high demand now, and which will be even more critical in the future—such as technical fields and construction engineering—are predominantly studied by males, with boys and men making up 70-80% of these students,” Goryachkovska explained.

She stressed the need for immediate action to prepare the country with the necessary critical workers for its rebuilding. This effort must start with education.

“To ensure we have a skilled workforce during the recovery phase, not just at the trades career but also among engineers and specialists, we must act now. We need to attract and retain girls to enter and thrive in these specialties to specially train and educate future professionals,” she said.

Additionally, Svitlana Voitsekhovska, Co-Founder of the Ukrainian Women’s Congress, emphasized the need for the state to update its financial assistance on grants, contracts, and scholarships for institutions of higher education to align with future job market demands in Ukraine.

“It is crucial for the state to revise its funding opportunities to ensure universities are not just producing lawyers and economists, who are certainly needed, though. It may be necessary to reevaluate these programs regarding education agencies grants and loans offered and focus on the professions that will be in demand in a year or two,” Voitsekhovska said.

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news