Adapting and Resocializing After Fighting for Ukraine’s Independence

The number of Ukrainian veterans is estimated to reach four million by the end of the full-scale invasion. Up to 20 percent of them will be women. However, Ukraine’s veteran care system is ill-equipped to handle the specific needs of women veterans. This has detrimental effects not only on these veterans’ lives but also on Ukrainian society as a whole. 

To counteract these effects, this policy brief outlines opportunities for international actors to support women veterans in Ukraine by: training mental health professionals to address gender-specific psychological needs; campaigning to raise awareness of women soldiers’ contribution to defending Ukraine; counteracting spatial biases in financial support to NGOs, which predominantly goes to urban areas; and using international leverage to support advocacy for women veterans.

The full brief is available for download (in English).

This is the fouth policy brief in our series​“Feminist Perspectives for Supporting Ukraine.” The corresponding project is supported by the Stabilisation Platform, which is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. It also builds on GPPi’s previous research on the conflict in Ukraine and feminist foreign policy.

About the author: Dr. Yuliia Siedaia is a professor, activist, manager of socio-political projects, and an expert on gender parity in politics. Her academic areas of interest include sociology, specifically the sociology of war, social psychology, gender studies, and political science. She has authored more than 150 scientific publications and lives and works in Kharkiv, Ukraine. From July to December 2022, she was a fellow of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) in Berlin.