Will women give life? Or will they kill?

It will soon be 2 years since Russia attacked Ukraine. Despite 2 years having passed, there is no clear situation or a winner yet. There are only territorial losses and, worse still, a horrific death toll. The number of those who have died is uncertain as both sides report different figures. During wartime, manipulating and distorting figures is easily done.

According to data from the UK Ministry of Defence, nearly 290 thousand Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in this war. According to data from American officials, 70 thousand Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 120 thousand wounded. A large number of people have lost their lives in this war, and this is an alarm signal, especially for Ukraine. Russia's population is slightly more than 3 times that of Ukraine, which is perhaps why the issue of conscripting women in Ukraine has been discussed more and more recently.

No law regarding this issue has been passed in Russia yet. In Ukraine, however, Ukrainian women with medical training have been required to report to military registration offices since October 1. A decree to this effect was issued by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence. According to the decree, women between the ages of 18-60 who are doctors, dentists, nurses, or pharmacists must register. At the same time, this means that these women, like men, do not have the right to leave the country. This decree caused a wave of discontent among the public. A large number of pharmacists resigned, and experts claim that this segment of the population will emigrate. We must state that women are currently fighting as volunteers in the Ukrainian army. 

Laws and decrees regarding the participation of women in the war have been adopted in Ukraine. In Russia, for now, they are only being "invited" to enlist. Recruitment advertisements are published on the Russian social network VKontakte. Opposition media in Russia claim that women are being trained in a special team consisting of drone operators as well as snipers within the Russian Ministry of Defence. Women are trained for such tasks because they are more patient and pay more attention to detail. These are important qualities for snipers or drone operators. There are also women in the Russian army, but so far they have only served in hospitals and kitchens. At the same time, many Russian women in custody are requesting to be conscripted to serve their sentences. Many of them take as their role model Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, a Russian Soviet partisan, the first female war hero of World War II, famous for her courage, about whom songs, poems, and even a film have been written.

Nazım Hikmet's poem "Tanya" was actually written for Zoya. Although there is currently no law in Russia that would force women to join the army, the prolongation of the war and the continued loss of life could lead Russian authorities to issue a decree requiring women to defend their homeland. Then, it would also need to be explained to Russian women why they must fight shoulder to shoulder with Russian men against the Ukrainians. However, since presidential elections in Russia are expected to be held in the spring of 2024, authorities may postpone such a decision and settle for volunteer recruitment only. The possibility of women being drafted into the ranks of the army would contradict the masculinized image of the Russian army consisting of men. 

The fact that Ukraine legally requires women to fight alongside men allows us to understand that the Kyiv government wants to adopt one of the European (Western) ideas and values, such as gender equality. It is not for nothing that the National Defenders Day holiday in 2021 was renamed the Day of Defenders of Ukraine for Men and Women. In Russia, the idea of gender equality is not that important, because Russia is a country that defends traditional values.

While writing these lines above, I remembered the book "The Unwomanly Face of War" by Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich and a quote I underlined with a black pen while reading: she says, "Woman gives life, woman defends life, woman and life are synonymous." In that case, if women participate in the war, they will not be giving life, but will have to die or kill.