In the early stages of the Maidan protests in 2013, 42.8% of the protesters were female. With the escalation of violence in early 2014, women were actively discouraged from staying on the Maidan. By the time the Maidan turned into a space resembling a medieval Cossack fortification town, the overwhelming majority of the protesters (88%) were male. The roles widely available for the women who joined the Maidan protests were limited to those traditionally regarded as feminine: i.e. cleaning, cooking and nursing. When female protesters chose to participate in violent clashes on the streets, they were often physically restricted by the patriarchal self-defence structure of the Maidan. The majority of women accepted the limited choices available to them, but there were also those who chose to fight not only against the authoritarian regime as citizens, but also against the patriarchy inside the Maidan as women. 

Many women who were active on the Maidan chose to take an active stance in the conflict in the Donbas region which started shortly after the end of the Maidan protests. As on the Maidan, while the contribution of women to the conflict in the Donbas was encouraged and welcomed by the state, it was restricted to certain roles. Unlike on the Maidan, the limit of women’s involvement in the military conflict was based not only on the patriarchal perception of gender roles, but also on the legal restrictions of positions open to women in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The talk will focus on questions relevant to both cases, and discuss why women chose to participate in the protests and the military conflict, what roles they chose (from the limited range available), and whether they resisted individual and structural discrimination.