Ukraine’s “Invisible Battalion”
Perceptions and Treatment of Gender in the Donbas War
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22158120 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anastassiya Andrianova (0000-0003-0386-3568, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 50-62 |
| Publication date | 2025-03-10 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Veterans Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2470-4768 • E-ISSN: 2470-4768 |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech Libraries (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.21061/jvs.v11i1.633 |
| OpenAlex | W4408278845 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 18 |
This conceptual essay addresses a gap in the literature regarding first-person perspectives of women veterans. It applies a feminist lens to a thematic analysis of first-person narratives by women who participated in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) during the Donbas war in eastern Ukraine (2014–2022) by drawing on qualitative data contained in 25 published textual accounts (in Girls Cutting Their Locks (Podobna, 2018)) and six accounts documented on film (in Invisible Battalion (Tsilyk et al., 2017)). In these testimonies, women soldiers share their perceptions of gender discrimination along with their experiences at war, thus providing a powerful feminist historiographical alternative to dominant, and almost exclusively male, war narratives. To study the impact of gender in Ukraine’s official military and volunteer battalions, three themes are analyzed: gender-based stereotypes and discrimination; women’s responses to gender-based differences; and the emotional and psychosocial impacts of war on women. By analyzing the unique socio-historical experiences of Ukrainian women in wartime, this project contributes to the fields of military and veterans studies a better understanding of the lived experiences of women serving in the military across the world, and in turn, by advocating for practical social, legal, and attitudinal changes based on these experiences and perceptions
Perception · Political science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Global Security and Public Health · Migration, Health and Trauma · Psychology
Exploring Barriers to Mental Health Treatment in the Female Veteran Population
Embracing Diverse Women Veteran Narratives
“We’re Not Invisible…We’re In Second Place.” Disrupting (Thus Connecting) Transnational Gender Narratives Within Veterans Studies
Fighting for a Seat at the Table
Unclaimed Experience
Sex differences in trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder
We swear to fight for the inviolability of the borders of our motherland’
The Combat Exclusion and the Role of Women in the Military
Using thematic analysis in psychology
Deeply odd
Objectivity and reliability in qualitative analysis
Women's Military Roles Cross-Nationally
Add Female Veterans and Stir? A Feminist Perspective on Gendering Veterans Research
The Intersections of Gender and Power in Women Veterans' Experiences of Substance Use and Va Care
Feminist Disability Studies
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |