The Ukrainian military is one of the most feminized https://thegirlcanwrite.net/ armed forces in Europe, according to the country’s deputy minister of defense. The common experience of war brings an understanding of the scale and nature of the contributions that Ukraine’s women are making to protect and defend their country. This shared understanding, reinforced by everyday encounters with women veterans who are friends, neighbours and family, might mean these women’s experiences will be valued in the years to come. Ukraine’s commitment towards addressing women’s needs and rights is reflected in the government’s strategic documents for the next decade.

When she told Amir she wanted to leave and find a different job, he threatened her. “There are so many vulnerable people who survive in desperate situations and do not get any help,” one NGO worker who does not wish to be identified told The Times of Israel. The alleged rape happened at night, after weeks of lewd remarks, hints and overt suggestions of sex. A few months after arriving, she said, she was raped by the man who wrote the letter of invitation that had gotten her out of the war zone.

• She is an important figure to promote empowerment of women in Ukrainian politics given that she is a self-made woman of power.
• Ivanova and Petrovskaya both took over their fathers’ farms, putting them among the 10,000 or so women in Ukraine who run a farming enterprise—about 20% of agricultural managers.
• Given equal fighting status with men in 2018, women today make up to 22 per cent of Ukraine’s armed forces, although their numbers on the front line remain small.
• “The women hear about these jobs mostly from Israeli men posting in Telegram and other social media channels, jobs that sound glamorous with fantastic salaries.

Ukrainian women’s contribution to the fight against Russia “will change the role of women in society,” said Alla Kuznietsova, who spied on the Russians during the occupation of Izium. “I heard, ‘You’re a woman, you need to make babies, go home,’” said Anastasia Blyshchyk, 26, who initially was rebuffed when she volunteered. Rather than sitting on a long waiting list to serve, like many other Ukrainians, she reached out to commanders and found one who said he could use her. The involvement of women is a reminder that half the human resources in any society are female, even if countries don’t always appreciate that.

Women and girls lead humanitarian response to war in Ukraine

Alongside the parties, the hotel offered jobs to the Ukrainians staying there. Ukrainians who have fled the war playing chess in a windowless room in a hotel in Jerusalem, June 2022. Katya Chehova came to Israel in the spring of 2022 in a desperate bid to save her left leg after shrapnel from a Russian missile strike left her unable to walk. In Israel, doctors managed to not only save her leg but also get her walking again, with Chehova’s evacuation and arrival broadcast on Israel’s Channel 12 news. It’s like having a double-faced policy — yes, you can work, but at the same time it’s doing its best to prevent them from doing so. I feel the blame should be first pointed at the Interior Ministry for leaving these people vulnerable,” says Ben-Dor.

In the direction of Kherson, two plumes of gray smoke are visible in the distance. Usually at this time of year, Ivanova is busy organizing transport of wheat—the farm’s main export— to nearby ports on the Black Sea, where it will make its way to shops and bakeries around the world. But months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war has brought Ukraine’s ports to a near standstill, exacerbating an already growing global food crisis.

Ukraine’s need for women in war conflicts with nation’s gender norms, VCU professor’s new research finds

As of 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea, women were still barred from combat roles. It wasn’t until 2018 that female soldiers were finally given the same status as men — and, according to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, women now account for close to a one-fifth of Ukraine’s armed forces. Unlike men of conscription age, Ukrainian women are not barred from leaving the country. An initiative to extend the draft to women working in critical professions was due to be enacted last October, but it was postponed amid popular outcry.

Many Ukrainian female combatants mention in interviews with journalists that they must avoid captivity by any means and that they are ready to die rather than being captured by the Russians. One indication of the recognition of women’s presence in the military and society’s rating of their contributions was when National Defenders’ Day was renamed in 2021 as the Day of Men and Women Defenders of Ukraine. Only a handful of cases of using services from trafficking victims get prosecuted. I’m happy for the family and overjoyed that they will be reunited,” Kuleba wrote in a Facebook post on Monday. “Mothers and daughters were in captivity and their relatives were waiting for them,” he wrote, adding that 12 civilians were among the women freed. Thirty-seven women who had been captured after Russian forces took over Mariupol’s besieged steel plant in May were also released.

In some cases, the women’s dire economic situation, coupled with the trauma of war, snowballs into the worst possible outcomes. When Svetlana followed up with the help of former MK Ibtisam Mara’ana as to why, the police said she was welcome to appeal the decision by providing further evidence. By then, Svetlana, severely traumatized, said she had no strength to continue with the investigation. She has since left Israel for “a country that accepts refugees,” according to Udovichenko. Svetlana is one of over 47,000 Ukrainians — the vast majority of them women — who traveled to Israel since the start of the invasion but who are not eligible for citizenship under Israel’s Law of Return, according to Israel’s Welfare Ministry. Of these, only approximately 15,000 currently remain in Israel, with the rest having chosen to leave. Not a single Ukrainian fleeing the war has been accorded refugee status by Israel.