On September 25, Sumy National Agrarian University hosted the “Women in New Professions” forum—a space for open dialogue regarding professional training, retraining, and opportunities for women in fields that, until recently, were considered predominantly male-dominated.
The forum is organized by the NGO “League of Modern Women” in cooperation with the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and with financial support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
A highlight of the event was a panel discussion featuring representatives from higher, vocational, and postgraduate educational institutions. Participants included Marharyta Lyshenko, Vice-Rector for Academic and Pedagogical Work at SNAU; Liudmyla Starchenko, Director of the Center for Vocational and Postgraduate Education at Sumy State University and Head of the Department of Accounting and Taxation; Oksana Hanytska, Deputy Director for Academic and Practical Training at the Sumy Interregional Higher Vocational School; and Yuliia Tishchenko, Deputy Director for Academic and Practical Training at the Sumy Center for Vocational and Technical Education.
The participants discussed the professions and fields of study women are choosing today, how the demand for professional retraining is evolving, and the factors that may still deter women from mastering new specialties. They also addressed the experiences of women choosing professions traditionally viewed as “male” and the role educational institutions play in ensuring that such choices are genuinely viable options rather than merely formally accessible ones.
The panel discussion also included questions tailored to each speaker’s personal experience. Marharyta Lyshenko was asked, among other things, about training women as tractor operators—a field long associated primarily with men. The discussion covered the students’ own reactions to this choice, the attitudes of those around them, and how perceptions of professions within the agricultural sector are shifting.
As Marharyta Lyshenko noted, SNAU was one of the first institutions to rethink the role of women in the agricultural sector. Today, the university makes no distinction between “male” and “female” specializations; every field is open to anyone wishing to master it.
Such changes are gradually erasing the boundaries between professions traditionally labeled as “male” or “female.” Education is becoming a space where the deciding factors are not stereotypes, but an individual’s choices, abilities, and willingness to grow.
This topic is particularly important for SNAU, as the agricultural sector evolves alongside technology, the labor market, and society. Today, the university not only provides training in new technologies and professions but also helps reshape the very concept of who can be a professional in the modern agricultural sector.
