Women and Politics: the rules for creating gender-balanced materials about female politicians were studied in Kyiv

On September 5-6, a training for journalists on the peculiarities of creating materials about women in politics was being implemented in the capital of Ukraine.

Trainers:
- Olha Vesnianka, media trainer, co-founder of "Respect" Campaign Against Sexism. Has been working in the media since 1998, in particular on TRC "Era", 5th Channel, Radio Liberty, Deutsche Welle, Insider, Hromadske Radio. Her materials on combating sexism and equal rights have won recognition in various journalism competitions, including "Professional Honour", European Media Neighbourhood Awards.
- Yulia Zaltsberh, the IFES Ukraine trainer on regulation of financing of electoral campaigns, expert on political finances and electoral processes with experience in promulgation and implementation of political finance reform in Ukraine. Trainer of an anti-corruption school for investigative journalists and activists, analyst in the field of corruption prevention.

During the training, the trainers shared their experience on why to pay attention to women in politics, how to avoid sexism when preparing an interview with a female politician, how to prepare gender-balanced materials, and practiced successful interview techniques.

Besides, the main changes to the Electoral Code, the rules for forming gender quotas in local elections, the principles of financing political campaigns, sources of information for investigative journalism, the election calendar, barriers and ways to overcome them for women in politics were discussed.

During the two-day training, participants from different regions of Ukraine discussed the topic of gender stereotypes that exist in the Ukrainian media space, and practiced the ways to avoid discriminatory rhetoric in materials on women's participation in politics. Women's access to the decision-making process – barriers and ways to overcome them, as well as the gender balance in the Ukrainian political sector – were also discussed. Participants analysed the causes and consequences of ignoring women in politics.

Besides, the group has learned the following topics:
- New Electoral Code. Election legislation, rules and principles for financing local elections. Gender quota: forming lists in a new way
- Election calendar. What events should journalists follow
- The financial statements of candidates and parties: the main source of information for the investigation
- Violation of financing of election campaigns – what a journalist should look for.

The training was implemented in coperation with German organization "Media in Cooperation and Transition" (MiCT) using the German Federal Foreign Office resources.