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4 January, 2022
Opportunities increasingly open up for women in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, yet obstacles still exist - Tregub

Opportunities increasingly open up for women in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, yet this process is slow and obstacles still exist. Today, 32 thousand women serve in the Ukrainian army, which is about 16% of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but often, in effect, they do not have access to the so-called "male" positions. The cases where a woman becomes a military diver or goes through a special operations force contest are quite rare.

Said Olena Trehub, NAKO Executive Director, during a live show at Apostrophe TV. "A few years ago, archaic legislative norms were abolished because of the pressure of women themselves. Thus, since 2018, women in the Ukrainian army have been able to hold the same positions and receive the same military ranks as men. But unfortunately, there are still actual restrictions in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. For example, there are commanding officers who prejudice women in the military," she said.

Ms Tregub attributes the slow pace of changes to the fact that it started only a few years ago. "But if we look at the experience of our partners (USA, Canada, Norway), they didn't cope with it all that fast either. The process began in the 1980s, but only in the 2000s, did countries reach a new level and women in the army began to hold positions that were considered purely male. For example, in the United States, women were admitted to elite "Navy SEALs" only in 2015," she said.

Equality in the armed forces is a world trend and NATO standards, which the Ukrainian army follows, says Ms Tregub. If a person wants to serve, he/she should have such an opportunity, regardless of gender. Women can cope with the same standards as men, withstand the same load, we can now see this in practice.

The program is available at the link

Photo from the website Censor.Net