ECONOMIC AND LEGAL FOUNDATIONS OF ENSURING GENDER EQUALITY IN UKRAINE AND THE COUNTRIES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study the economic and legal foundations of ensuring gender equality in Ukraine and the countries of the European Union. In the process of the research, it is established that the strengthening of the processes of globalization and reformatting of the world economic order lead to the need to ensure gender equality in the context of international human rights activities. The problem of equalizing the rights and opportunities of men and women for a long time has been the object of legal regulation, as there are processes of strengthening gender asymmetry, manifested in gender violence, significant gender gaps in the labor market, in terms of wages and pensions, gender segregation, a significant level of gender inequality in the economy and critical in politics, as well as in individual inconsistencies in the legal provision of countries with European norms. It is found that highly developed countries have a better potential to ensure high indicators of gender equality, as evidenced by the high values of the Global Gender Gap Index, while countries with a lower level of development are able to ensure a minimal gender gap in access to education and health care, and in relation to women's participation in economic life and politics, there are significant problems and obstacles. It is found that the current legislation of Ukraine needs improvement in terms of strengthening criminal liability for committing gender-based violence, and at the European level, the need to find and justify effective methods of ensuring gender equality regarding women's access to political life is noted. In order to identify common features of ensuring gender equality in the countries of the European Union and distinguish Ukraine's place among them according to the Global Gender Gap Index, it is proposed to conduct a cluster analysis, the results of which indicate the division of the countries of the European Union into three groups depending on the level of gender equality in them: countries with high level, medium level countries and low-level countries. Indicators of gender equality in Ukraine showed that it belongs to the third group, which indicates the deepening of the problems of gender inequality.