Ukraine needs to abandon the "old-fashioned mentality" toward women and introduce a policy of preparing women for military service based on the Israeli model, said Oksana Grigorieva, gender adviser to the commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in an interview with The Times, UNN reports .
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There are reportedly 65,000 women currently serving in Ukraine's armed forces, an increase of about 40% since 2021, the year before Russia's full-scale invasion. Almost all of them are volunteers, as there is no mandatory military conscription for women, although women in certain professions are required to register for military service.
However, Oksana Hryhorieva says that Ukraine should prepare for the fact that in the coming years it will have to mobilize women as well.
"Our constitution says that it is the duty of every Ukrainian to defend their homeland, so it is only right that women serve as well. Our northern neighbor will not just disappear. For hundreds of years, they have repeatedly attacked us. Like Israel, we must be prepared for this, and this means that we need to train men and women to be ready for war." - said Grigorieva.
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According to The Times, in Israel, where women's conscription is mandatory, women make up about 40 percent of the armed forces.
According to Hryhorieva, there is a tendency in Ukrainian society to view women as "keepers" who protect the home while men go to war.
It is noted that the share of women in the armed forces of Ukraine is lower than in most NATO countries, at 7.3 percent. In recent years, the proportion of women in the regular armed forces of America has consistently exceeded 17 percent, and in Britain - more than 11 percent. Of all the women serving in Ukraine's armed forces, less than a tenth are in active combat roles, while the rest work as medics, intelligence officers, and administrators.
"We've come a long way in terms of legislation, but in practice, the old-school mentality still exists. In this country, from school age, there is a division between girls and boys: boys are taught physical education, and girls have to do embroidery or housekeeping. This needs to be changed. Both physically and psychologically, we need to prepare girls to defend the country from an early age," Grigorieva said.