Women at War

The feminist paradigm today focuses on women’s rights in Ukraine, sexual violence during war, and protecting human rights. At the same time, volunteers, servicewomen, writers, directors, leaders, artists, doctors, musicians, scientists, etc. have taken on the mission of spreading abroad the truth about the war against the Ukrainian people.

With

Kateryna Pryimak Paramedic, activist and Head of the Ukrainian Women Veteran Movement
Yuliia Paievska (Taira) Military servicewoman, paramedic and commander of the volunteer unit “Angels of Taira”
Gesine Dornblueth Writer and freelance radio journalist

Host Heike Winkel Cultural scholar, project manager, member of the project group Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe at the Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb

Women are a visible part of the war in Ukraine, not only as refugees or survivors. In the last decades the number of Ukrainian women in the army, politics, human rights organisations, volunteer leadership, civil society and in the economy has increased rapidly. Currently, a quarter of the Ukrainian army are women. At the same time, the gender paradigm is undergoing a change, and members of the LGBTQ+ community, along with other citizens, are defending Ukraine both in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and in territorial defence. They also participate in volunteer initiatives and paramedic groups. Although Ukrainians remain a largely homophobic society, the visibility of women in social movements and in the army is increasing the possibility for social change.
The nine-year-long Russian-Ukrainian war of liberation has both a female face and a male face at the same time. Or rather, many female and male faces. Moreover, it also has a multinational, a multireligious, and a multigender face.