Ukraine’s female soldiers are fighting on two fronts — against Russians, and sexism within their ranks
Women’s role in warfare is rapidly changing and no less in Ukraine, where thousands of women are serving in the military both on the frontlines and in non-combat military roles. Many of Ukraine’s female soldiers have experienced discrimination, troops say, although there have been improvements to how women are perceived and treated. 1Many women support the war effort in other ways, from making army uniforms and protective gear designed for women, to weaving camouflage nets and caring for injured civilians and soldiers.
War, the military, combat, the frontline — all traditionally seen as a “man’s world” despite the many official and unofficial contributions that women have made both on the battlefield and on the home front in conflicts over the centuries. Women’s role in warfare is rapidly changing in the modern age, however, and particularly in Ukraine where Russia’s invasion has prompted thousands of women to sign up and serve in the military, both on the frontline and in non-combat roles.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said last October that almost 43,000 women are currently serving in the military, a 40% increase since 2021, before Russia’s full-scale invasion. Female combatants in Ukraine say the war is changing societal perceptions of a woman’s strength, capabilities and worth, but change doesn’t happen overnight. Sexism, prejudice and discrimination are still rife, they told CNBC, and they feel they constantly have to prove themselves to their male colleagues.
On the battlefield, due to the fact that you are a woman, you must prove your ability to perform a combat mission with quality. On the other hand, if you’re a man, you don’t need to prove anything,” noted Iryna Tsybukh, a combat medic in the Hospitallers Medical Battalion for the last four years.
“This discrimination is manifested in the doubt of the commander who does not want to give you difficult tasks because he is afraid that you will not fulfil them because you are a woman,” she said in emailed comments to CNBC.
Tsybukh described her current role as a “crew chief in a very female-friendly unit,” saying she felt safe and respected by her peers because of the high-quality of her work. “But my example does not affect their general prejudice against women. They consider me and people like me to be an exception to the rule and they would [rather] choose a man, not a woman, for the task.”
A decade of change
The status of Ukrainian women in the country’s military started to change significantly 10 years ago when Russia annexed Crimea and backed separatists in Donbas in eastern Ukraine. A simmering conflict in the region turned out to be a precursor to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Feb. 2022.
The conflict in Donbas acted as a call to arms for many women in Ukraine with the number of female military personnel more than tripling in the last decade; in 2014, the number of military servicewomen was around 14,000, Ukraine’s defense ministry stated. By 2020, their number had more than doubled with more than 31,000, representing 15.6% of the total number of personnel at that time.
As of Oct. 2023, there were around 43,000 servicewomen with an estimated 5,000 on the frontline, the ministry said and was then the commander of an artillery platoon for two years in Donetsk before “retiring” in 2020.
Olena Bilozerska, a Ukrainian journalist who became a sniper in 2014. Bilozerska has raised the profile of female soldiers in Ukraine and has become a target of Russian propaganda, falsely declared dead a number of times.
A week before Russia invaded on Feb. 24, 2022, she said she, her husband and other “brothers in arms” signed up at a military unit in anticipation of the invasion.
Since 2022, she has returned to her role as a sniper and has achieved a legendary status in Ukraine for her abilities and courage, so much so that Russia has tried to spread fake news about her “elimination.” It’s something she’s positive about, however, saying it means the Russians haven’t forgotten about her: “That means they are afraid,” she says.
Nonetheless, Bilozerska has her own experience of discrimination among her peers, noting “every woman in the military has her own story, even several, about how she was not allowed somewhere because she was a woman, or that somebody was allowed to make offensive remarks.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/08/ukraines...exism.html
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(after 2 yrs war on Ukraine)
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Russia but no to others.
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