Invisible Battalion: Women's Participation in ATO Military Operations in Ukraine

Invisible Battalion: Women’s Participation in ATO Military Operations in Ukraine presents findings of a sociological research on women’s participation in military operations conducted in the anti-terroristic organizations (ATO) zone in the East of Ukraine (Donbass area).

Funded by the Ukrainian women’s group ICF Ukrainian Women’s Fund, with support from UN Women, the study details the achievements and challenges arising from women’s integration in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The research analyses structural barriers to women's participation in the military at the legal and policy levels, reviews socio-cultural perception of women in the military and documents some of their voices.

The book present research into the facts and details of women’s participation in Ukraine’s military operations in the ATO zone. It examines women’s achievements and their integration challenges in the military.

The publication examines:

• Gender equality in Ukrainian society, data analysis of women’s involvement in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and their integration in military structures, and a review of relevant legislation;
• Women in the Armed Forces: a review of gender issues in the military, details of women’s achievements and challenges while serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and participating in combat operations;
• Ethnographic research in the ATO zone (observation, interviews with women and men involved in combat actions) to clarify legal aspects of women’s participation in the ATO, the gender division of labour, living conditions and medical problems faced by women;

• Analysis of how mass media portrayed the ATO women.