14. Februar 2023

Ukrainian women in Poland an insecure sanctuary

Obidina had been with her four-year-old daughter when Mariupol fell but the two then became separated. Yermak described the trade as a “nervous exchange” while a series of images showed dozens of women disembarking from white buses and emotionally embracing family and friends in Zaporizhzhia, south eastern Ukraine. A total of 218 detainees, including 108 Ukrainian women and 110 Russians, were involved in the exchange, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his latest national address. A prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine saw more than 100 Ukrainian women walk free on Monday, including dozens who were captured during the Azovstal steelworks siege in Mariupol in May. In late July, the United Nations brokered a deal with Turkey for grain shipments to leave Ukraine, but progress has been very slow. By late August, only 33 boats had departed from Ukraine’s waters under the new agreement (by comparison, Ukraine’s Odesa port, the country’s largest, handles 3 vessels a day on average during peacetime, according to commercial shipping statistics).

The founders of Mamo pracuj launched a check here on https://www.thegirlcanwrite.net/ programme specifically for Ukrainian women seeking jobs in Poland shortly after the outbreak of the war in February. I saw women with children arriving at the railway station and we wanted to do for them what we already do best for Polish women, which is to help them find their competencies ’ recalled Marcelina Palka, a project co-ordinator.

  • KHARKIV, Ukraine — Ukraine is a traditional and sexist society caught in a grueling artillery war with Russia, so the last person you’d expect to see in an army uniform is a grandma.
  • This legal discrimination, Kvit said, deprived most women who served in the war in the Donbas of access to social or military benefits, military awards, and career opportunities in the armed forces.
  • “When people came out of the bus, there was a smell of fear, despair,” Colonel Volodymyr Petukhov told Al Jazeera.

Thousands of Poles opened their homes to Ukrainians seeking refuge, but activists are sounding the alarm over the possible exploitation of Ukrainians working in the domestic care sector. ‘There is no regulation concerning time of work or tasks to be carried out. Many women are hired to care for the elderly, but they are also required to clean, cook, give medicines or even injections. Our right to rest or time off is not respected,’ said Ruslana Poberezhnyk from the Domestic Workers‘ Committee. ‘I would like to have an employment contract but then I would earn less than what I earn now.

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Society

Some analysts warn against assuming that the photographs and videos in the news and on social media showing women on the front lines means that they enjoy equality with the men they serve beside. Ukraine is a country with strong patriarchal traditions, especially in the defence sector.

Ukraine’s domestic politics amid the war

Shortly after the first Russian missiles hit Mariupol, she was ordered to join forces defending the city’s smaller steel plant, known as Azovmash, and then moved on to the besieged Azovstal steelworks. As the Russian troops were leveling the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance, she was supporting Ukrainian fighters, cooking for them, and caring for the wounded along with other women. With about 50,000 servicewomen — including some 5,000 on the front lines, according to Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Malyar — the Ukrainian military is one of the most feminized armed forces in Europe. The empty bags were ready to be shipped to Bakhmut, a city in the Donetsk region where deadly fighting has raged for months, said Olena Kharchenko, an employee in charge of the dispatch. The Ukrainian military is one of the most feminized 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 https://olurluyuz.com/women-in-ukraine-start-training-to-be-drone-pilots-in-the-war-against-russia-npr/ 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. For example, in 2022 Ukraine adopted the national strategy on equality of women and men, covering the period up to 2030. Social attitudes towards women soldiers have also improved a great deal over the past few years. For example, the percentage of Ukrainians who agreed that women in the military should be granted equal opportunities with men increased dramatically from 53% in 2018 to 80% in 2022.

One indication of possible progress is that almost half of all new small businesses since the invasion were started by women. 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.

At a time when men between 18 and 60 were banned from leaving the country, these women delivered President https://www.senadalic.nl/?p=2594 Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s request for military hardware and humanitarian assistance. UNFPA urgently needs flexible financing to scale up its operations in Ukraine and neighbouring countries. Most urgently UNFPA needs financing to provide essential medical supplies and deploy further trained personnel to deliver life-saving services.