Women have become an omnipresent force in Ukraine’s war six months in as they confront long-held stereotypes about their role in the country’s post-Soviet society.
They are increasingly joining the military, including in combat positions, and spearheading volunteer and fundraising efforts. And with men still making up a majority of combatants, women are taking on extra roles in civilian life, running businesses in addition to looking after their families.
That shift has been underway for some time, Kvit said, with women increasingly taking on new roles after the 2014 conflict in eastern Ukraine, accelerating changes in the defense and security sectors that filtered out broadly across society. Women had been barred from combat roles, but they were still taking part in the fighting, although without the same status, benefits or recognition as men.
Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, said that more than 50,000 women were now in the country’s armed forces, and that the number had risen significantly since the war began. Despite this, the key decision-makers and a majority of the combatants are men, often obscuring the increasingly vital role of women in the conflict, said Jenny Mathers, an expert in security, Russia and gender and conflict at Aberystwyth University in Britain.
“When the war started, I was just thinking, ‘How can I be helpful?’” said Yevgheniia Ustinova, 39, who is part of one of the countless groups that drive these transport cars to Ukraine. As the war has upended their lives, some Ukrainian women said they were confronting their own stereotypes about gender roles.
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