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Minsk, 7 October 2005 A final conference in the framework of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s project, “Support to Expanding Public Space for Women in Belarus,” was held in Minsk.
The conference, which was entitled, “Breaking through the Glass Ceiling,” reviewed the results of the project that started in spring 2002, and exchanged experience among project participants with regard to gender development in Belarus.
“The project promotes gender equity and empowerment, a goal that is shared not only by women, but the society at large,” said Ms. Cihan Sultanoglu, UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative in Belarus, in her opening speech. “By creating artificial barriers to women’s professional, political and social advancement, society fails to benefit from the enormous potential possessed by this social group.”
Attending the conference were more than 100 people, including graduates of the project’s training programs, experts, and representatives of partner organizations throughout Belarus.
Conference participants recognized that the UNDP project has managed to draw the public’s attention to the problem of discrimination against women. This was achieved through social advertisements made in the framework of the project, films, television shows and newspaper stories. Journalists, whose training was the focus of attention during the implementation of the project, have done a lot for creating a friendlier social environment.
More than 700 women leaders have been trained at workshops and summer schools. In addition, the project has created a unique gender-oriented Masters course for women in business administration, which has trained 34 women.
“Assessing the results of the project, I can say that it influenced both legal and social regulators, creating preconditions for the fullest realization of women’s potential in labor and social activities,” said Irina Chutkova, National Coordinator of the Project who heads the Population, Gender and Family Policy Department of Belarus’ Ministry of Labor and Social Protection.
The project actors and participants involved in the project actively cooperated with lawmakers and law drafters. This process revealed the need for significant improvements in the national legal framework. As a result, the project experts have come up with specific recommendations for the improvement of the 2006-2010 National Plan of Action on Gender Equality in Belarus.
For further information please contact the manager of the project, Irina Dunayeva, at telephone number 284-29-94, or UNDP Information Officer Vladislav Khilkevich at 227-38-17. You also can visit the project’s website at www.gender.by.
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