Written by Mohamad El Baba
March 8th is International Women’s Day, a special day in Ukraine where Ukrainian women play a crucial role in supporting their country during the war, whether on the front lines or in the back lines. Also in decision-making centers, Ukrainian women have played an important political and diplomatic role, proving their worth and ability to carry out the tasks assigned to them.
Conflicts pose a threat to the security of countries, and their effects extend to various segments of societies; their repercussions are reflected on men, women and children alike, but women are more affected by them in light of the privacy they enjoy in societies. The Russian-Ukrainian war has cast its shadow on Ukrainian women within a set of roles, as they were active at times and passive at other times within this intertwined scene, and thus this paper seeks to shed light on the role played by women in the Russian-Ukrainian war while reviewing the repercussions that affect them during the aftermath of the war.
Ukrainian women, famous for their beauty and elegance, were also known through this war for their strength and resilience, as they played a major role in all military, social, political and diplomatic fields. They were the backbone of life’s continuation, albeit in a semi-normal way, despite the attacks of drones and missiles, and maintained a semi-normal lifestyle mixed with sweat, fatigue and even blood at times. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in one of his interviews that the role of his wife, Elena Zelensky, was important in making many decisions, the most important of which was his decision not to leave the presidential office in the early days of the war, and his steadfastness, which gave a great morale boost to the defenders of Kiev in repelling the Russian attack and preventing the storming of the capital. Women play prominent roles in a large number of national armies, and for Ukraine, women have been part of the national armed forces since 1993, only two years after the country declared its independence. The recruitment of women into the Ukrainian military has been steadily developing, as the Ukrainian resistance and women’s participation in the Maidan protests in 2013 helped reshape women’s roles in carrying weapons.
Since the Russian invasion, Ukrainian women have served “on the front lines as infantry, combat medics, and snipers,” in addition to their voluntary contributions as civilians.
In 2018, a military law was passed that called for gender equality in the Ukrainian military. This law granted women equal rights in the military, leading to a profound societal transformation, as restrictions on female admission to study some military specialties were lifted, and women were allowed to hold officer positions in important military units such as special operations. Their percentages increased between 2019 and 2020 in most roles, as shown in Figure (1). Last December, the Ministry of Defense updated its regulations to open recruitment to women between the ages of 18 and 60 to employ them during the war.
On the International Day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted via its official account on the “X” platform, thanking Ukrainian female soldiers, and confirmed that women represent 15% of the Ukrainian army according to statistics before the outbreak of the war, and now they exceed this percentage by a lot, which is impossible to limit, according to what was stated in the statement.
Women on the front lines
Of the 60,000 women in the Ukrainian army, 5,000 of them serve in combat units, working as medics and snipers, according to Yevheniya Kravchuk, a member of the Ukrainian parliament. Women in Ukraine play a major role in providing moral support, as their percentage in the Ukrainian parliament is about 21%, and they represent a strong resistance front through the airwaves, as they have a voice that resonates through various media outlets to promote solidarity to resist the Russian invasion, and they also have an effective role in preparing civil defense, food and shelter in cities that have been bombed, in addition to moral support for the army by sharing videos and photos on social media telling the stories of women who yearn to fight Russia.
Ukrainian women participate in the war by using them in psychological warfare, by invoking the memory of World War II in the conflict, by circulating the myth of “White Tights”. This term is a euphemism for brutal snipers, and is attributed to the white camouflage suits worn by Finnish soldiers who inflicted heavy losses on Soviet soldiers during World War II.
A military unit consisting exclusively of women appeared at the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kremensky sector of the front. Through radio intercepts, it became clear that they were drone operators and snipers.
The female unit belongs to the 54th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, called K-2, and is supposedly composed of female volunteers.
“War is a difficult experience regardless of gender,” says Hanna Maliar, former Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine. “Likewise, regardless of gender – whether men or women – we love our country and fight for it. Our women also take up arms and fight. In the backcountry, women do work that used to be the preserve of men, given the large number of men mobilized.”
“I am, first and foremost, a specialist in work. I do not think about the fact that I am a woman. I can bear the same loads as men and I think about the result first and foremost.
I also do not choose who I work with based on gender. The key is motivation and professionalism.
But, frankly, I believe that a team that includes men and women is stronger and more effective.”
Colonel Natalia Gomenyuk, spokeswoman for the Southern Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, believes that a woman in the army is not just an officer or a soldier. This is a special purpose, when femininity, motherhood and a little magic come together for a sacred mission – to protect the native land. A woman is discipline, awareness, care and responsibility.
To be sure, there are some difficulties in translation. But we have all these words in the feminine form. And women carry these concepts in their lives with their presence.
“As for myself personally,” adds Gumenyuk, “I became an example of a warrior who, on behalf of the Defense Forces, communicated with civilians and almost the whole world. I was the face of Ukraine and its army for many.
And to create an image of an army that fights consciously, heroically, with difficulty, but victoriously – for me, this is a great honor.
“I am proud to be a soldier of the Ukrainian army!”
“Today, I would like to wish Ukrainian women, as well as women all over the world, to be resilient, demanding of themselves and those around them, to maintain their natural tenderness, to remember that we are able to overcome all the trials that the higher powers send us. We will become more beautiful, stronger, wiser and take an active part in the fate of the world! Just as the Earth cannot live without spring, so the whole world cannot live without women.”
Tens of thousands more are playing an important role in helping this difficult war as journalists, medics, teachers, politicians, and artists.
“Throughout history, women have played a crucial role in Ukraine’s struggle for freedom and sovereignty,” said Kateryna Votovat, acting ambassador-at-large for the Secretary of State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues at the U.S. Department of State.
“Women…are the heroes of this war,” said Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, who played a key role in convincing Democrats to support her country.
As many international organizations fled Ukraine at the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, many female leaders remained, “and they risked their lives to deliver food to help other women. They risked their lives to help our armed forces and try to bring some normalcy to this terrible war,” Markarova said during a panel discussion moderated by the U.S. State Department.
She pointed to the extraordinary work of a great woman, Oleksandra Matveychuk, who leads the Center for Civil Liberties and shared the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to document potential war crimes and human rights violations. “In cities and villages, there are so many men on the front lines that women have had to keep hospitals, schools and even villages running, often without water, electricity or supplies,” she said.
As legions of men have been called up to help fend off Russian invasions over the years, women have played a key role in Ukraine’s economic resilience, filling jobs in a variety of productive sectors, even if some roles are tough, including coal mines and dairy farms. Shortly after Russian troops stormed the Ukrainian border three years ago, more than 15% of men were mobilized into the mines.
With most other major employers in the country facing a similar labor crisis, management has begun looking for women to fill some of the mines’ jobs. About 140 women now work underground in what the company considers less stressful jobs, according to a Bloomberg investigation reported Friday.
Across Ukraine, women are taking on roles that were traditionally off-limits to them, a major change in a country where, until 2017, employers were banned from hiring women. About 450 job categories are considered “a threat to health and fertility,” with some restrictions continuing until the war breaks out in 2022.
To bolster this trend and help it endure after the conflict ends, regardless of the outcome of current U.S.-Russia talks, Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy is working with the United Nations on a program called Sure You Can to provide women with training and mentor them in new jobs.
As the country seeks to wean itself off fossil fuels and increase its power generation amid ongoing Russian attacks on the grid, Greenpeace is training women to install solar panels.
A Swedish nonprofit called Reskilling Ukraine also provides free education to women and war veterans to help them start new careers.
