Skip to content
Call Us Today! 212-533-4646 | MON-FRI 12PM - 4PM (EST)
DONATE
SUBSCRIBE
Search for:
About Us
UNWLA 100
Publications
FAQ
Annual Report 2023
Annual Report 2022
Annual Report 2021
Initiatives
Advocate
Educate
Cultivate
Care
News
Newsletters
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Join UNWLA
Become a Member
Volunteer With Us
Donate to UNWLA
Members Portal
Calendar
Shop to Support Ukraine
Search for:
Print
Print Page
Download
Download Page
Download Right Page
Open
1
2-3
4-5
6-7
8-9
10-11
12-13
14-15
16-17
18-19
20-21
22-23
24-25
26-27
28-29
30-31
32-33
34-35
36-37
38-39
40
“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЛЮТИЙ 2016 WWW.UNWLA.ORG 7 en who serve as fighters. Another part of the pro- ject dealt with women’s participation in the Eu- romaidan, especially in the so-called “Women's Hundred,” since soon after the revolution many of its women participants became soldiers. First and foremost, the sociologists sought to explain the motivation of women volunteers. All of these women joined due to patriotic feelings and planned to remain in service until the end of the war. These women, emphasize the research- ers, are significantly more motivated than men: in order to actually become fighters, they must over- come the stereotypes, prove their right to fight, and become reconciled to the fact that they can- not count on social support. Ukrainian legislators have made up a list of positions which cannot be held by women. These are not limited to snipers or scouts. Among others, women cannot be drivers, photographers, media technicians, instructors, or translators. As one of the lead researchers, Maria Berlinska, re- ported, all positions which include the words “head” or “chief” are inaccessible to women, an exception being the chief of the bathhouse. “A woman cannot be chief of provisions, yet she can be a cook, without any problems,” says Berlinska. These rules are published in two documents: “A temporary list of jobs for privates, sergeants, and officers” from May 2014 and “The Order of the Minister of Defense concerning the positions of officers to which women who serve under con- tract can be appointed.” In fact, women perform the same assign- ments as men, but they are either not officially registered, or officially hold other positions. As a result, they do not have any right to benefits or other forms of social remuneration, says Maria Berlinska. Before the war this situation was kept se- cret. People may have known about Nadiya Savchenko who stood in front of the Ministry of Defense for days in order to meet with the Minis- ter and obtain permission to get training as a pi- lot. “However, this was before the war. Now it is a completely different story. Vast numbers of wom- en have been on the front, have been wounded and have gained experience. Yet they are still only ‘cooks’,” observes Berlinska. According to the researchers, “The Un- seen Battalion” project has unearthed a series of problems that are not discussed in the media. These are, for example, the absence of appropri- ate uniforms and medical gynecologic services, post-traumatic stress disorder in women and problems of reintegration into civilian life. A few women reported that Social Services attempted to take away their children while they were serving. When asked whether the military will be- come more effective with women’s participation, the majority of the respondents said “yes.” Wom- en are frequently better snipers and medics be- cause of better fine motor skills; in addition, they are more disciplined and less prone to alcoholism. At the same time, some men answered that they had positive examples of women in service but were still convinced that war is not “a woman’s business.” Stereotypes were also expressed by women respondents: many of them felt that they were performing less important service than men. The sociologist and chief investigator on this project, Tamara Martseniuk, asserts that in today’s society women should be able to decide for themselves whether to cook borshch or die on the barricades. According to Martseniuk, “[t]he paternalistic attitudes of the government are con- sidered antiquated. Many international docu- ments declare the current viewpoint that women are not only victims of conflicts but also full par- ticipants in conflict resolution, equal with men.” As Martseniuk explains, the reason that women are prohibited from performing many of the military jobs stems from the fact that Military Service is part of the job market; women’s rights there are determined by the Labor Code. Since the Soviet times, this code has preserved certain norms that regulate and limit women's work. Colonel Vitaliy Holota, Head of the Mili- tary and Social Work Department that handles personnel issues in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, explains that women cannot hold military leader- ship positions because they have fewer opportuni- ties for training in military specialties. At the same time, he states that the prohibition of cer- tain positions for women is a legislative problem. Yet he does not consider the list of posi- tions from which women are banned dis- criminatory. He adds that, for example, the job of the driver in the army is not limited to driving. “It includes disguising military transport, its repairs, etc. With due respect, a woman in some instances may not be able physically to accomplish this.” Currently 14,500 women serve in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, almost 2,000 of them are officers, and 35 hold leadership positions in the Defense Ministry and the General Staff of var- ious branches of the Armed Forces. 938 women have the status of participants in combat opera- tions.
Page load link
Go to Top
1 
2-3 
4-5 
6-7 
8-9 
10-11 
12-13 
14-15 
16-17 
18-19 
20-21 
22-23 
24-25 
26-27 
28-29 
30-31 
32-33 
34-35 
36-37 
38-39 
40 
