Women and War: Can Girl Power end the Invasion of Ukraine?
War is never restricted to just the frontline. As history and lived experience show us, its blood-soaked hands grasp onto every aspect of life in the afflicted countries. Such is most certainly the case in Russia and Ukraine, with casualties mounting and a lasting peace barely in sight. Cries to defend each nation find their way into living rooms across the world, with Russia desiring legitimation and vindication of its actions, and Ukraine petitioning for more support from Western superpowers.
Politicians, commentators, and academics have been grappling with the reasoning behind this invasion, like obsessive detectives pinning string between motives and their potential security threats. We've seen the mad, the bad, and the ugly in these debates, with figures like Mearsheimer - now a raving sycophant in Trump's inner circle - delivering some of the most Putin-apologetic rhetoric we have seen in recent years. But with so much focus on the reasons why the war started, is there a feasible resolution to this on the horizon? Whisperings of a deal or treaty seem few and far between. If international powers cannot forge peace between the two sides, is internal pressure the only way forward? At the war's inception, there was public outcry asking why the Russian people did not oppose the war en-masse (I think this is obvious), but now with military stagnation making this war a battle of inches, Russian women are calling into question the legitimacy of having their husbands conscripted in a war that isn't going anywhere.
Women are the backbone of the "nation". In times of war, the nation relies on women for its preservation and pride, with women 'keeping the hearth warm' for when their boys come marching gloriously home. But what happens when they don't come home gloriously? Or don't come home at all? These are the questions Russian women are asking themselves now.
Put' domoi (Путь Домой), a grassroots organisation headed by Russian women, is picketing for their men to be brought home from the front. A group of around 35,000 women have joined this movement; those sharing their scepticism and dissatisfaction are the wives, mothers, girlfriends, sisters of the 300,000 conscripted men fighting Putin's war in Ukraine. Their movement is peaceful, calling for the demobilisation of the army and for the conscripted men to be sent home. They cannot protest loudly or openly, as 'discrediting the military' or questioning its current supposed security status can carry heavy fines. Instead, they opt for symbolism, heart-wrenching and poignant shows of symbolism. Clad in the white headscarves of peace and desperation, they lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier every Saturday as a form of silent protest. They hark back to the days of the Great Patriotic War and ask, is this war necessary? How many more men must be lost before the authorities take our pleas seriously? How many more women and families must lose their sole providers and be plunged into uncertainty and fear? The Kremlin's inability to face these women reeks of cowardice and arrogance.
Has the Russian woman had enough? The lasting vestiges of the Russian female archetype as patient, subservient, and steadfast may be slipping away with the growling undercurrent of dissatisfaction in Putin's Russia. Their deal has not been desirable; women resign themselves to subservience to the state, their fathers, their husbands, and then their sons only to be repaid with apathy and indifference from the powers that supposedly protect and care from them. It also isn’t women from the ‘liberal woke left’ protesting against this, many of the women in Put’ Domoi are Putin’s core voting demographic. Women from the Putin heartlands are finally standing up and saying that they have had enough of being downtrodden and used as a crutch to prop up a despotic regime.
But why now? Russia has not exactly had a spotless track record in championing women's rights or as a broker of peace. Domestic abuse was decriminalised as long as the victim is not hospitalised, and Chechnya has certainly felt the full force of Russian military might. Why is now different? In a country where your male counterparts are your guarantees of social and financial safety, when they are lost, all is lost. What is then there to lose? What risk do these women face by taking a stand against this? Chechen women asked themselves these questions in the late 1990s and 2000s; their resistance was instrumental in drawing hostilities to a close.
Two years on from the war, is this the only viable option for peace? Elections in Russia are looming, and if Putin’s popularity wanes with his traditional voters, scenes similar to those in Belarus in 2020 could be replicated in the streets of Moscow. A second wave of mobilisation is currently not on the cards, but if Putin chooses to ask for more soldiers, it could be political suicide for him. With a man as mercurial as President Putin, it’s a guessing game to know what his next move is.
Reference list
Anon (n.d.) The Decembrist Wife [online]. Available from: https://www.natlaurel.com/uncategorized/the-decembrist-wife/ (Accessed 14 February 2024).
Anon (2023) В Москве жены мобилизованных впервые провели пикет с требованием вернуть мужей домой [online]. Available from: https://www.currenttime.tv/a/zheny-mobilizovannyh-pervyi-piket/32674896.html (Accessed 14 February 2024).
Current Time (2023) Dozens Of Women In Moscow Make Rare Public Call For Their Husbands’ Return From Ukraine War. RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. 7 November. [online]. Available from: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-women-protest-husbands-ukraine-war-return/32675045.html (Accessed 14 February 2024).