‘Fighting two enemies’: Ukraine’s female soldiers decry harassment – Women in armed forces express anger at stigma and treatment by male colleagues and say complaints are being ignored

by housecatspeaks

9 comments

  1. I don’t wish to minimize the suffering in any way, or pretend like this isn’t an issue.. but, put a bunch of men in high stress situations and unfortunately those things will happen. It’s up to command to make sure the men are disciplined and the women are supported properly!

    That said, I bet it is a million times worse in the Russian army. Considering they rape their own men, I don’t wanna know how they treat their women.

  3. Speaking from personal experience, we have to embrace women in the military, but acknowledge our strengths and weaknesses.

    Women make excellent soldiers if you let them. That’s one of the biggest problems. We have to get over ourselves and encourage them to be able to do everything we can.

    However, we also must acknowledge that males, genetically and physically speaking, are built differently and have many advantages over females. Females tend to have advantages in social and organizing areas.

    When faced with challenges or problems, having a wide set of perspectives and viewpoints increases the chance of finding more solutions and possibly better ones. That’s what diversity in gender and culture can bring. However, if we encounter differences and compound them through infighting and competition – it can wreak havoc in a team. That’s why not only competent, skilled leaders are required, but an overall culture of accepting and exploiting our differences works wonders.

    I’ve been on field exercises where a female on the platoon was physically exhausted, and her team had to transfer weight from her kit to the rest of the team members. A lot of grumbling and bad mood spread, including stereotyping. But in fact, the mission later required some people-skills and conflict management, which she aced because she was much quicker to understand the social constructs and think outside the box than the guys could.

    Not every female or male are equal, though, so at the end of the day, having an inclusive attitude, and a focus on exploiting each individual’s strengths, and finding ways to accommodate their weaknesses are hallmarks of a competent leader.

    Hopefully Ukrainians will start sorting this out, because every female citizen is just as entitled to serve the country as the men she fights alongside.

  4. Testosterone, guns, death and war can be a deadly combination for sanity and restraint. Not making excuses for anyone mind, these women are out there fighting for their country the same, they should be afforded the same level of respect as a minimum.

    Saying that I wouldn’t fuck with these Ukrainian female soldiers, they have bigger balls than me.

  5. I am so glad this is getting more attention. They deserve so much better.

    People in power frequently abuse that power to accommodate their skewd values. Same BS, different country.

    Hope this gets enough attention to cause a shift.

    Heroiam Slava

  6. I bet they don’t care when female hands are dragging them out of a crater to safety.

  7. If a woman has the metaphorical balls to fight for her country, she deserves utmost respect, and any sexist bullshit is deranged. Yes, in physical strength women are weaker than men, and they have different hygiene requirements that are very important to address, but like I other areas of life, they can contribute a great deal, often things that men cannot.

  8. A lot of these comments are disappointing and excusing this behavior. There is no excuse for harassment and not every soldier behaves this way. Most don’t.

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