The Antagonization of Non-masculinity and the Struggles of Women Amidst the Russia-Ukraine War
It has been approximately 460 days since the Russia-Ukraine war erupted. News about hard-power military ambushes in Ukraine territory, occupation of new lands in war zones, Western donations of arms to Ukraine, and even soft-power condemnation of the Pope towards Russia's aggression dominantly define the political developments taking place in the geopolitical tension. From all of these overwhelming news, a quiet yet ominous, underlying reality occurs in both Ukraine and Russia — the shadowing of the plight of women and the antagonization of non-masculinity amidst the war.
A month after the spark of the conflict, President Vladimir Putin aired his speech condemning Russia's internal destabilizers. He called those alleged destabilizers names such as gnats, scums, and traitors. Interestingly, Putin did not stop denigrating those people by just calling them names. His anger is rooted in those alleged destabilizers' gender ideology and aims for gender equality. Putin states that the gender ideological motivations and goals of these people are detrimental to their society. Furthermore, he even said that those types of people are like those who sell their mothers — insinuating that they are people who neglected their masculine role of protecting their families. From this speech, Putin utilized gendered rhetoric by framing non-masculine ideals as the destabilizing factor of their national goal and priming masculinity as the superior trait in times of conflict and war. It is important to note that Putin's rise to power also attributes to his macho politics and hypermasculinity. His speech's gendered rhetoric is a concrete example of the relegation of non-masculine traits as dispensable in times of conflict and the further antagonization of gender during wars. He believes that military masculinities supersede any issue or concern regarding gender.
Opposite the Russian frontiers and behind the exchanges of bullets, Ukrainian women are fighting a much different battle. With their partners and relatives leaving to fight the war, they are now the sole caretakers and protectors of children, older adults, and the differently-abled. In other words, the war forced Ukrainian women to take on a uniparental role. While Ukrainian men shed blood and sweat in the war zones, women now bear the immense weight of domestic, economic, and security-related responsibilities to sustain their families. As the world focuses on significant war-related happenings like the reclaimed states and the clashing heads of state — women are disproportionately neglected from the discourse. Additionally, while the Western States donate new weapons to Ukraine, Ukrainian women struggle to fulfill their daily reproductive health needs. This reality of Ukrainian women shows the relegation, invisibility, and neglected predicaments during wars. This outright neglect of women's struggles during the Russia-Ukraine war further reifies the masculine bias and feminine aversion during major interstate wars and conflicts.
Illustrated by Neil
The stories of Ukrainian women and the gender-antagonizing speech of Putin are concrete examples of why gender matters in the field of international relations. International cooperation, global solidarity, state survival, state security, and state image appear to be the only recurring themes when mainstream international relations analyzes the Russia-Ukraine war (Mingst et al., 2019). Indeed, gender is not the primary case of mainstream international relations until it becomes congruent with traditional international actors and causes (Shepherd & Hamilton, 2022). However, along with this intellectual truth is the denied and unnoticed reality of the repercussions of war to those outside the masculine realm. There is a visible and undeniable gap between the recognition of war victories and the proactive response to the domestic and reproductive health needs of women during wars. On top of this, there is also a dismal reality of the vilification of non-masculinities and gender-equal ideologies — othering women and the members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer plus (LGBTQ+) community.
When war rhetoric revolves around protecting women, children, and the disadvantaged, we should re-examine this rhetoric. Putin's macho speech and the experiences of Ukrainian women tell us that the plethora of international conflicts is far from representing nationalistic honor and martial gallantry the instigators/perpetrators illusion it to be. The Russia-Ukraine war and many other interstate wars might be testaments of nationalism and patriotism as they can even prime themselves as wars fought for women and the needy. However, wars appear to be anything but saving women. Rather, they are concrete examples of situations wherein women are still at the short end of the stick.
Additional References
Mingst, K. A., Heather Elko Mckibben, & Arreguín-Toft, I. (2019). Essentials of international relations (8th ed.). New York ; London W.W. Norton Et Company.
Shepherd, L. J., & Hamilton, C. (2022). Gender Matters in Global Politics. Taylor & Francis.
Comments