The Essential Role of Women in European Security

ForumWomen are central to Ukrainian recovery and, therefore, to European security.This seemingly obvious point is, regrettably, better understood by conservative and rightwing politicians who wish to reverse gender-equity policies of the last decades (Graff & Korolczuk, 2022) than by progressive forces committed to building sustainable peace and security in a united Europe.True -putting women "back in their place" is easily achieved even by doing nothing, whereas advancing women's positions, especially in Europe's embattled periphery, would require a significant reorientation of economic and military investments.Yet the long-term costs of doing nothing, or even of treating the war in Ukraine like yet another opportunity for nominal liberal peace with women's rights as political ornaments, are much too high at this juncture.If the European project is to thrive, not merely survive, then the livelihood of women, particularly in its frontier zones, must be secured first. War transforms and reaffirms gender rolesWomen are critically important to Ukraine for three reasons.First, the war in Ukraine has been deeply gendered.As Kratochvl and O'Sullivan (2023, p. 347) have argued, the war is explicitly fought over "the so-called traditional values, against gender and sexual equalities," since Russia views the latter as pillars of Western decadence.What is at stake in Ukraine, therefore, is gender rights themselves: not upholding them means ceding ground to Russia on both physical and ideological battlefields.In addition, the war is -as wars always do -transforming and reaffirming gender roles in Ukrainian society and beyond (Hozi & Restrepo-Sanin, 2022).While all Ukrainian citizens, men and women, children and elderly, have been affected by the brutality of this war, they face different challenges.Men between 18 and 60 years of age have been restricted in their movements whereas women and children could leave Ukraine.Men have been disproportionally killed and maimed on the front, but women have also joined the military in unprecedented numbers Aida A.