HISTORICAL FEATURES OF THE FORMATION OF INTERNATIONAL LEGISLATION AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN THE MECHANISM OF REALIZATION OF THE STATE POLICY OF ENSURING EQUAL RIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN AND MEN IN UKRAINE

Abstract

The article analyzes the history of the adoption of international legal acts during the 20th– the first third of the 21st century, aimed at protecting the equal rights and opportunities of women and men, as well as the specifics of the activation of legal mechanisms for the formation of national gender equality policy. The purpose of the article is to investigate the historical features of the formation of international legislation based on the analysis of the sources involved in the research, using the latest principles and methods of scientific and historical knowledge and analyze its implementation in the mechanism of realization of the state policy of ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men in Ukraine. The scientific novelty lies in the comprehensive study of the historical process of the introduction of the main international normative legal acts and the peculiarities of their implementation into national legislation. The authors proposed a periodization of the history of the formation of international legislation and the implementation of its main normative legal documents into the mechanism of realization of the state policy of ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men. Conclusions. Taking into account the specifics of the chosen topic, we have highlighted three chronological periods during which the process of forming international legislation aimed at protecting women’s rights took place, as well as its implementation in the legal system of Ukraine with the aim of developing effective levers for regulating issues related to the establishment of gender equality in Ukrainian society and prevention of any manifestations of violence. The first period (1980s – early 1990s) covers the beginning of the process of signing and ratifying the first international documents on ensuring gender equality between women and men and the beginning of the formation of national legislation. The second period (the mid-late 1990s of the 20th century) is the time of active work of various platforms of world forums and conferences aimed at protecting women’s rights, as well as the participation of Ukrainian delegations in the development of international and pan-European documents aimed at expanding the rights and opportunities of women part of the society. The third period (the beginning of the 21st century – our time) is the stage when the main efforts of the international community focused on solving issues related to the protection of women during military conflicts, as well as their protection from any type of violence. The stage is characterized by the strengthening of Ukraine’s cooperation with international partners and the improvement of the national policy on ensuring gender equality due to the implementation of progressive norms of international law into its own legal system.