global I SHORT TAKES
UKRAINE In the wake of Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine, thousands of Ukrainian women have taken up arms against the invading military— making up at least 15 percent of the country’s defense forces. Media reports show that many women who are not on the front lines are acting as volunteers, assisting with humanitarian relief and medical care and helping to protect vulnerable individuals who may have trouble evacuating. Historians note that Ukrainian women have main- tained more independence and autonomy than groups of women in other parts of the globe— according to experts, women’s independence doesn’t have as much historical stigma in Ukraine as in other countries, and in fact independent women play significant roles in traditional folklore. This legacy is clearly evident in the photos circulating on social media of women toting rifles in public and stitching flak jackets on their home sewing machines.
RUSSIA Women are active on the other side of the border as well, with Russian women taking to the streets in droves across the country to protest the invasion. “They say antiwar protests, they have a woman’s face in Russia,” said Russian antiwar and women’s rights activist Asya Maruket on a recent call with other organizers, before pointing out that women also led protests in 2014, when Russia invaded and subsequently annexed Crimea in southeastern Ukraine. Unfortunately, these women also face great risks in expressing their discontent with Vladimir Putin’s regime. In recent weeks, multiple feminist activists received threats, some by having identifying information shared in hostile forums online, others by being detained by security forces.
GERMANY Despite the recent retirement of Angela Merkel, former chancellor of Germany, powerful women are still contin- uing to fundamentally shape foreign policy in the European country. “Security lies in the hands of strong women in this government,” said Merkel’s successor, Olaf Scholz, last year, when he announced that the country would see its first ever fully gender-equal Cabinet. The Cabinet includes Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht and Federal Minister of the Interior and Community Nancy Faeser, who are taking charge of essential matters of national security relating to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and coordinating crucial relief efforts to support the Ukrainian people. “It should be normal in the year
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Thousands of Ukrainian women have taken up arms against the Russian military’s invading forces.
2022 that women are heading security agencies,” said Faeser in an interview with The New York Times. “It’s an important and good signal for Germany.”
COLOMBIA A February ruling from a Colombian court officially decriminalized abortion in the first 24 weeks of pregnan- cy, paving the way for more accessible reproductive healthcare. Advocates celebrated the ruling, pointing out that it represents a watershed moment for the historically conservative and predominantly Catholic country. The decision is largely the result of years of organizing from women’s groups across Colombia, particularly the efforts of a younger, more secular generation of grassroots femi- nist organizers. The ruling follows similar decisions from Mexico’s Supreme Court last September, as well as Argentina’s Congress in 2020.
NEW ZEALAND The numbers of women participating on rugby teams in New Zealand are growing—with as many as one in five players being women, according to recent reporting from The New York Times. The sport (deeply associated with masculinity in the island nation’s culture over the past sev- eral decades) has been seeing a kind of “gender revolu- tion” recently, thanks to the influx of women players. Yet long-standing gender stereotypes and a legacy of institu- tionalized sexism are hard to fight. New Zealand Rugby has yet to implement the required quota of at least 40 per- cent women on its governing board—with just two women currently sitting on the nine-member committee. —OLIVER HAUG
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ERGEI SUPINSKY/GETTY IMAGES
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