Women and War

In most cases war has an image of a man with a machine gun and woman as a victim. But conflict in Ukraine, which started in February 2022, shows various females images referring to many female archetypes.

Brave and independent female soldiers fighting arm in arm with men. Caring mothers protecting lives and mental welfare of their children, when their husbands are at the frontline. Women taking care of elders and sick ones. Predictive females defending national values and heritage, knowing how huge role they will play in the times of recovery. Those ones, who are trying to live their lives no matter of bomb noise nearby and who are in love for the first time, forced by war to part with their boyfriends. But also those ones, who suffer. They are everyday heroes responsible for things, which are not visible for the first sight.

I went to Ukraine for the first time at the begining of March 2022. I came to Lviv from Medyka, where I worked as a volunteer at the Polish-Ukrainian border during the first three weeks of the war. From the very beginning, I went to a self-defense school. Half of the people in firearms and first aid classes were young women. After a few conversations, I decided to take a better look at them and try to find an answer for the question why so many women want to learn to use weapon and what emotions guide them every day at the beginning of the war.

After living in Ukraine for half a year, I would venture to say that Ukrainian women are exceptional when it comes to resisting the everyday problems posed by the full-scale war that is taking place in their country.