“Female Army” in Russia and Ukraine war
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the number of women in the Russian army is currently approximately 45,000, including 4,000 female officers, and it is a diverse presence distributed over various military missions from combat and war to logistical, technical, engineering and others.
The history of women’s participation in the ranks of the Russian armed forces and in wars dates back to the First World War, where they participated, albeit in small and symbolic numbers, but the presence of Russian female soldiers in the army and various military institutions increased strongly during World War II, a presence that was not limited only to the back fronts and to nursing tasks assistance and food preparation or administrative tasks, but was a combat presence and in the direct front lines,
The number of women participating in the Second World War at the time is estimated at more than 800,000, who participated as pilots, snipers, fighters and other military and support missions, and most of them were doctors and nurses, noting that these numbers, although in the majority of Russian women, but also include women from different Nationalities and republics of the former Soviet Union.
With the end of the war, women’s participation in the armed forces gradually decreased, during the stages of the Cold War and after the fall of the Soviet Union, and according to statistics at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the proportion of women in the Russian forces was about 10 percent, by about 100,000 women out of nearly one million soldiers. active.
In Ukraine, after Russia took control of the Crimea in 2014, the demand for women to volunteer and join the Ukrainian army increased.
Although the female presence in the Ukrainian army dates back to 1993, shortly after the country’s independence from the former Soviet Union, including in combat roles, it doubled during the last two years especially, compared to the number of military women in 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimea, which was within Ukraine.
The number of women in the Ukrainian army was estimated at 31 thousand in the year 2020, which represented 15.6 percent of the total military force, and the numbers and their representation increased to 22.5 percent by the spring of 2021, while Western media reports confirmed in 2021 that the number of female soldiers reached about 57 thousand, which is A large number, given that the estimates of the number of the Ukrainian army as a whole reach a quarter of a million soldiers.
Modern Ukrainian laws state that women between the ages of 20 and 40 can be mobilized as regular soldiers, and those between the ages of 20 and 50 can become officers, with exceptions for women mothers and full-time students.
Among them, there are more than 900 female officers in leadership positions, including 109 as platoon commanders and 12 company commanders, according to the Ukrainian army, while 13,000 female combatants were serving on the front lines.
On the role of female soldiers in this crisis, which is almost turning into a global war, and its historical and social backgrounds and preludes, the academic and political analyst, Khalil Azima, from the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, said in an interview with Sky News Arabia: “The legislators approved equality in the armed forces of Ukraine between women. And men. In 2018, women were voluntarily conscripted into the army (under a contract) and called up for military service in the military reserve, and they also became obligated to perform military service in the depot and follow the rules of military accountability as men.
Thus, the number of women in the Ukrainian armed forces doubled in a few years, Azima explains, adding: “In particular, in 2013, 16,557 women served in the army, and in 2020 their number was 31,757. Of these, in 2013, they were 1633 officers, and in 2020, the number increased to 4810.
According to the data, Ukrainian female soldiers have participated in international peacekeeping and security operations for 7 years, says the academic and political analyst, who continues: “In addition, during the period 2014-2022, more than 13.5 thousand women obtained the status of a participant in hostilities to participate in Conflict zones, in particular, 101 women participated in conflict zones in 2014, and in 2020 – 1,643 women. Another 925 female officers are in command. The total number of women in the Ukrainian Armed Forces is currently 56,726.
But how do men treat their female colleagues, resolves: “Culturally, men are subconsciously ready to protect and take care of women, and men in the Ukrainian army look at women as is the norm in Ukrainian society. If one of them needs to bring ammunition boxes, for example, they will certainly help her, and so on.”
Regarding gender equality in the military, Azima says: “There is certainly equality, where many positions can now be contracted by women, and they can occupy a leadership position in a combat unit, and they can be scouts, snipers, bombers, commanders of combat vehicles, and women fighters. Right at zero point on the line of contact with an enemy.”
