Ukraine's army has 43,500 servicewomen, stereotype that women "cannot command" must be removed - Defense Ministry

This was reported by the official Telegram channel of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

"We have already overcome the stereotype that women cannot fight. Now we need to overcome the stereotype that a woman cannot command," Liudmyla Darahan said at the Ukrainian Women's Congress.

According to the State Secretary of the Ministry of Defense, Ukraine has quite progressive legislation, but very often it only establishes a general framework. To increase the number of women in the army, it is necessary to focus on overcoming gender stereotypes and expanding opportunities for women.

This primarily concerns increasing the number of women as unit commanders and eliminating artificial problems related to their promotion in combat units.

"The gender policy on the ground, in a specific unit, needs to be filled with content. For this purpose, trainings for commanders and active explanatory work are very important. We are working in this area and will implement the relevant policy," said Liudmyla Darahan.

As of October 2023, there were more than 62,000 women in the Ukrainian armed forces, which is 7% of the total number of the Armed Forces. Of these, 43,500 are servicewomen, and 18,600 are civilian personnel. At the same time, approximately 5,000 women from the Armed Forces are in the combat zone.

"We must not forget that since 2014, the number of women in the army has increased by 21,000. Women are actively joining the Armed Forces and serving in combat positions. In the Ministry of Defense, we are now taking very active steps to implement a gender equality policy. Just look at the leadership of the Ministry of Defense - we have two female deputy ministers, and the State Secretary is also a woman. That is, we start from the top and implement it downwards. But we have a long way to go," Darahan said.