MECHANISM FOR ENSURING GENDER EQUALITY: THEORETICAL AND LEGAL ANALYSIS

The article is devoted to the study of approaches to the definition of «the mechanism of gender equality». It has been established that ensuring gender equality is a necessary condition for the progress of any society. Therefore, a particularly important task of building Ukraine as a legal, democratic, social state is to create an effective mechanism to ensure equal rights and opportunities for men and women. It is determined that today there is no unified concept of the mechanism of gender equality and there is no single vision of its constituent elements, in connection with which it is debatable. It is determined that the mechanism of ensuring gender equality should be carried out with the help of the following elements: normative; procedural; institutional. The essence of the normative basis of the mechanism of ensuring equality of men and women is determined by the fact that it gives this mechanism a «legal life», giving it the appropriate specific legal forms. The procedural element of the mechanism of ensuring gender equality can be considered as the procedural activity of state bodies that are to implement gender equality, make administrative, judicial, notarial decisions to restore or compensate for violated rights and freedoms of men or women in the field of gender equality. The institutional element includes the activities of state authorities, local governments, bodies of territorial self-organization of the population, political parties, social movements and organizations that use their powers to guarantee, implement, protect and defend the rights and freedoms of both men and women. The author's approach to the concept of the mechanism of ensuring gender equality is determined.