Gender & War: The Unequal Burden Of War On Ukrainian Women
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 escalated the eight-year conflict following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and called into question the future of European stability and security. Western analysts have interpreted the invasion as a culmination of growing Russian resentment towards NATO expansion into the Russian sphere of influence. The strengthening of Ukrainian ties with the EU and NATO has also heightened tensions. As the conflict intensifies, Ukrainian women are emotionally and physically bearing the burden of war as financial gender disparities are exacerbated and the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war has increased to target Ukrainian women.
When analyzing the influence of this conflict on Ukrainian women, it is critical to address the history of women and gender inequality in the region. The advancement of women’s political, social, and economic status began in Ukraine following the 2013 Maidan Revolution, or the “revolution of dignity.” Similar to the #MeToo movement in the U.S., Ukraine launched the “I’m Not Afraid To Say” movement to address domestic violence as well as rape and sexual harassment. Decades of gender inequities have slowly begun to be addressed after a new law took effect in 2019, criminalizing domestic violence and leading to the development of shelters, hotlines, and a required registry for offenders. The effects of this movement have also been felt politically, where women’s participation has increased from three percent of parliament seats in 1990 to over 20 percent in 2021. However, economic progress has been slower for the women of Ukraine. They are paid 22 percent less than their male counterparts and receive 32 percent less in pension benefits. In addition to facing social, political, and financial disadvantages, Ukrainian women were also exposed to higher rates of violence before the war. Since the conflict began in 2014, pre-existing inequalities have been magnified, and gender-based violence, including trafficking and rape, has increased significantly.
Women have been central to Ukrainian efforts to fight Russian aggression and maintain a level of order. Women in Ukraine have risen to the challenge, taking on the roles of diplomats and filling in the gaps in the work of international aid organizations to address humanitarian crises. Martial law prevents military-age men from leaving the country, opening the door for women to represent Ukraine as unofficial ambassadors. Many women are also physically fighting the war, as over 50,000 women are on the frontlines actively serving in the Ukrainian military. Thousands of other women are critical to organizing and implementing social and relief services embracing the responsibility of allocating resources and ensuring the country’s economy is not ravaged.
Despite Ukrainian women’s extensive dedication to the war effort, they have received minimal recognition on the global stage and left greatly uninvolved in formal Ukrainian decision-making regarding peacemaking and rebuilding. As a result, policies inadequately address the needs of Ukrainian women and are unable to provide them with sufficient support. Ukrainian parliamentarian Mariia Ionova notes how Ukrainian women are “bearing a particularly heavy burden in this war,” as female soldiers are dying at the front but are also expected to take care of their families as their husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers are killed. Infrastructure including schools, hospitals, and shelters is being destroyed and destroying women’s futures along with them.
Ukrainian women have consistently proved they are devoted to the war effort. But who is there for them? The war has disparately impacted women in Ukraine by deepening pre-existing gender gaps regarding access to resources and safety. UN Women and the UN Global Crisis Response Group on the War in Ukraine have studied the war’s influence in drastically increasing food prices. Food shortages have also widened the gender gap in food insecurity as women are often forced to reduce their food intake to provide for other family members. Extreme poverty also puts school-aged girls at a high risk of being pressured to drop out of school and forced into marriages for money. Energy prices have also increased during the war, forcing families to use less clean fuels. Ukrainians are being exposed to increased rates of household air pollution, a health hazard that already kills 3.2 million people annually, a majority of whom are women and children.
The invasion has already led to over 16,000 civilian deaths and forced the displacement of millions of Ukrainians, of which 90 percent are estimated to be women and children. Russian targeting of civilian infrastructure has caused many to lose access to power and water, disproportionately impacting women who are expected to take care of the home. Health challenges, such as air pollution, have also affected the roughly 265,000 Ukrainian women who were pregnant when the war broke out. Many of whom had difficulty accessing consistent health care and necessary resources. Breakdowns of social services, including medical care, exacerbate the harm to women as they are already increasingly exposed to poverty and more likely to face health issues and threats to their safety, yet are still expected to provide and care for their families. Difficulty accessing proper resources has specifically affected rural women. They are unable to complete agricultural work yet are still trying their best to feed internally displaced people, underscoring their compassion and dedication to caring for and accommodating others.
Unfortunately, the war has also significantly increased violence, particularly sexual violence, against women. Historically, war directly correlates to increased rates of gender-based violence and the exploitation of women. This violence can take the form of forced marriage due to extreme poverty and poor living conditions from the conflict, transactional sex for food and other means to survive, trafficking, rape, and arbitrary killings. A study conducted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in 2019 found that 75 percent of Ukrainian women reported being the victim of violence since the age of 15, and one in three experienced physical sexual violence. Of cases of gender-based violence in Ukraine, 90 percent are cases targeting women.
These rates of violence have only increased with the Russian invasion and continue to put women in vulnerable positions. For example, Russian soldiers deliberately use rape as a tactic to shatter Ukrainian families and destroy morale. They will rape women after the executions of their husbands and in front of their family members. These cases of sexual violence are often gang rapes committed by groups of soldiers or have one perpetrator with others watching and encouraging him. This use of rape as an act of war is terrorizing Ukrainian women. Those who have been victims are haunted by nightmares from the trauma and those who have not are terrified for their safety.
To make matters worse, survivors do not have access to services or protection. In a state of war, reporting rape and seeking legal recourse is difficult. In some parts of Ukraine, police are not recording cases of domestic violence, and some are even ignoring calls entirely. Since parts of Ukraine are militarily occupied, it is also likely that survivors are forced to continue living in the same spaces as their assailants for long periods of time, where they are at a higher risk of being revictimized.
War in Ukraine has led to an overall increase in violence. La Strada Ukraine is a feminist organization working to provide assistance and support to victims of aggression including both domestic and sexual violence. The group works with survivors as young as twelve and as old as fifty through a national hotline for domestic violence, trafficking, and discrimination. Yuliia Anosova, an attorney for the organization, explained how reports have changed from being mostly domestic abuse cases of men attacking their partners to parents pleading for help to stop committing violence against their children. According to reports, the parents did not exhibit this behavior before the war. A wider availability of weapons due to the ongoing conflict also serves to further increase the likelihood of escalations to violence. This trend illustrates how the stresses of war can translate to abuse and normalize violence toward vulnerable populations such as women and children. The war’s impact does not equally affect everyone, and feminist organizations in Ukraine are pleading for international support to adequately address these disparities.