The share of women in officer positions in the Armed Forces of Ukraine has increased from 4% to 21% in two years: Advisor to the General Staff
The number of women in officer positions in the Armed Forces of Ukraine has increased significantly in recent years. This was reported by Oksana Hryhorieva, the gender advisor to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in the first episode of the second season of the podcast “1325”.
According to her, positive changes began to take shape in 2019, when the first graduates of young female officers appeared in the army. Some of them began their service with primary ranks, and later continued their careers in their chosen specialty. As of now, such servicewomen already hold the ranks of captains and majors, forming a separate generation of female officers.
At the same time, the adviser to the General Staff noted that the issue of career growth remained problematic. In particular, there is no woman with the rank of combat general in the Armed Forces. Four female generals serve in the medical field, but there are no combat generals yet due to the lack of a full cycle of tactical, operational and strategic military education, as well as experience in commanding brigades.
Oksana Grigorieva emphasized that the most noticeable growth occurred after the start of the full-scale invasion. Women appeared in the army in the positions of platoon and company commanders, as well as leaders of individual military units. In particular, in the Air Force, one of the women heads the psychological support unit, and in the Territorial Defense there is a battalion commander. According to her, this indicates a gradual change in the attitude towards women in command, as previous stereotypes are gradually losing their influence.
The councilor also cited statistical data, which, in her opinion, demonstrate significant progress. If two years ago, female officers made up about 4% of the total number of female servicemen, now this figure has increased to 21%.
She emphasized that further development requires systematic training of female officers so that they can grow in combat units to the level of battalion commanders and above. According to her, such human resources potential has already been formed, and its development is a matter of time.
