Natalie Kopytko says Pockets not Darts, Equal Rights not Judgments, Do Better not Feel Better
Ukrainians fight three battles concurrently. They battle for sovereignty and defend against Russian genocidal attacks, while fighting for continual democratic progress against corruption, and for human rights (minorities, LGBTQ+ and women) through Ukraine’s reconstruction. As well, every day, individuals take on another challenge. The struggle that gets the least attention is personal resistance through self-care. Too often, we forget that the other two fights depend on individual well-being in the long term, and when under constant attack, that becomes a formidable challenge.
Dr Nataliia Zalietok’s research highlights how these three battles all meet with women’s portrayal in Ukraine’s military. I was fortunate to hear her speak at a conference in London about her paper, “Beauty is your duty?”: the issue of appearance in Ukrainian media discourse about servicewomen and her research on women’s military uniforms.
This story of women in the military is not Ukraine’s alone. Nataliia demonstrated that both British and French media focused on the beauty of Kurdish women fighters in Syria. While militaries in democratic countries have made progress, gender equality has not been achieved in the US, Germany and the UK either.
Currently, 60,000 women work in Ukraine’s armed forces, including civilian positions; more than 42,000 women fulfil military roles, with 5,000 in direct combat. The percentage of women in the military has steadily increased since the initial Russian invasion in 2014.
While Ukrainian women were ready to fight, they joined a military that was not ready for them and did not prioritise their needs. Zalietok argues that the state largely perceived women as decorations instead of competent soldiers. She points to the fact that from 2014 to 2022, the state focused on improving the appearance of women’s everyday and ceremonial uniforms instead of creating functional uniforms for women in combat.
Zalietok highlights a 2019 article in Armyinform as one bit of evidence of this misguided priority. The article discussed the difficulties of creating satisfactory uniforms, but mostly attributes those difficulties to women being choosy about clothing and holding so many opinions that it would be impossible to please all. Thus, reinforces harmful stereotypes against women instead of addressing the real issues. Women voiced preferences for different heights of heels, but they were also not given the choice of shoes without heels or lace-up boots. In designing the trousers an addition of darts accentuated women’s figures, but meant the trousers no longer had pockets. The article gave little attention to the lack of pockets but noted that some felt a need for pockets since they have a ‘habit’ of putting something in them. Zalietok found that the media parroted the same narrative of “beauties in uniform” and “you can’t please everyone”, but any criticism of the lack of pockets (functionality) was absent in the media.
Since the full-scale invasion, a shift has happened in media discourse toward women as empowered agents, but still, the demands to keep beauty practices continue. Some women soldiers have spoken out against the idea of wearing makeup as a prescribed beauty norm on the frontlines. One soldier argued that prescribed beauty norms are “to make people feel better” about the war, but civilians need to face reality about the ugliness of war as experienced at the frontline and “do better” instead. Unfortunately, instead of reflecting on society’s role in placing demands on women to maintain beauty norms, the discourse turned to mocking women soldiers for wearing makeup and having manicures.
Women everywhere should be able to relate to this discourse. It seems the patriarchy cannot make up its mind if it wants make-up or no make-up. All women, but especially women serving in the military need to have the freedom for self-care as they choose it without outside judgment. For one woman, self-care can mean extra sleep instead of make-up, but others might find a self-manicure to be a mindful grounding activity. Women of course deserve pockets and uniforms that function too. Hopefully, feminists countering these narratives will change the discourse that demands soldiers meet such beauty norms.
Zalietok also warns that historically, countries that recruited women to defend against invasions reverted to old gender norms in times of peace. These states excluded women from opportunities to continue in the military and from receiving honours for service. The Ukrainian government and the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s post-war policy towards women will be something to watch. Lessons from history suggest that feminists will need to continue that second fight into peacetime to keep progress made for women’s rights in Ukraine’s military as part of reconstruction efforts.
We all want pockets, but as feminists in the West, we also need to remember that Ukrainian women are carrying a lot more.
We need to keep informed and platform the voices of Ukrainian feminists. Provaha, Veteranka and Bilkis are just some of the groups to follow for updates on feminism in Ukraine. Provaha provides a great media source for feminist opinions from Ukraine. Veteranka work to ensure women’s leadership and influence in the security and defence force and their participation in decision-making at all levels of society. Bilkis is an intersectional feminist group fighting for LGBTQ+ rights.