Date of Award
12-1-2025
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Sociology
First Advisor
Sherkat, Darren
Abstract
This dissertation explores how the Russo-Ukrainian war has transformed the lives, identities, and resistance strategies of Ukrainian women. Drawing on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with forty-five Ukrainian women conducted between March 2022 and February 2023, it analyzes how everyday survival, political thought, and civic activism have changed during the war. Using a modified grounded theory approach and a feminist lens, this study examines women’s psychosocial experiences, their evolving political consciousness, and their active roles in humanitarian, cultural, and cyber resistance.Findings reveal that the war simultaneously reinforced and disrupted traditional gender expectations. While Ukrainian women dealt with increased domestic and caregiving burdens while experiencing trauma, they also emerged as organizers, strategists, and digital activists. Their testimonies showed how grief, endurance, and emotional labor intersected with nationalism and presented new forms of wartime womanhood. This dissertation contributes to feminist theory by highlighting the coexistence of trauma and agency, the weaponization of domestic labor, and the centrality of women’s voices in shaping national belonging. Implications extend to feminist peacebuilding, policy, and memory studies, underscoring the necessity of centering women in postwar recovery and reconstruction. Ultimately, the dissertation argues that Ukrainian women’s lived experiences are not peripheral but fundamental to understanding the human, political, and national dimensions of war.
Access
This dissertation is Open Access and may be downloaded by anyone.