Охоплення: Local

Visibility of Women’s Heroism During Wartime Through Local Stories

Context

Russia’s full-scale invasion hit Ukraine’s border regions particularly hard, including Chernihiv Oblast, which endured siege, heavy shelling, and a humanitarian crisis. In these conditions, women often assumed critically important roles — saving lives, supporting communities, caring for children and vulnerable people, and making decisions in situations of extreme danger.

At the same time, local women’s wartime stories risk remaining invisible beyond the region or being reduced to generalized images of “victims.” The Strong Woman project was an attempt to document the real female experience of war through concrete, lived stories.

What has been done

In 2024–2025, the regional media outlet Vist implemented the Strong Woman project, which consisted of 50 journalistic stories about Ukrainian women in the context of the full-scale invasion.

The project focused on women’s heroism, motherhood, professional responsibility, and survival during the war and received significant public attention.

Among the most notable stories were:

  • “Childbirth in a Bomb Shelter: Midwife Vira Tselik and Her 42 Days Under Siege in Chernihiv” — a story about babies being born by generator light under shelling.
  • “A Suitcase, Two Bags, and a Basin: Modular Towns Are Filling Up with Residents of Semenivka” — testimonies of women forced to leave their homes to save their children.

How it was implemented

Journalists worked with firsthand testimonies and personal stories to convey the complexity, tension, and resilience of women’s wartime experiences.

The storytelling approach:

  • portrayed women as active participants rather than passive victims;
  • emphasized resilience, responsibility, and decision-making in critical circumstances;
  • combined emotional depth with the documentation of local wartime history.

Impact

The project gained national visibility: the stories were widely republished, shared on social media, and discussed publicly. They drew attention to women’s role in the war and their contribution to the survival and support of communities in a frontline border region.

The project also demonstrated how a local newsroom can influence the broader national narrative about war.

Olha Makukha, editor-in-chief of Vist, notes that local media document women’s wartime experiences — occupation, loss, injury, childbirth in bomb shelters, motherhood under shelling, volunteering, and everyday survival — as a living and concrete part of Chernihiv Oblast’s history. According to her, the recognizability of names, streets, and places helps women realize the value of their own experience and its importance for history. This contributes to the formation of a collective regional memory in which women’s voices are heard alongside men’s.

“In this way, local media contribute to gender equality by recognizing women’s wartime experience as an important part of the shared social experience. At the same time, media help people speak about trauma, feel support and solidarity, and strengthen community cohesion,” she adds.

What other media can learn

  • Work systematically with women’s stories in the context of war, social crises, and emergencies.
  • Use personal experience as a tool for empathy, mutual support, and social solidarity.
  • Document the local history of war and preserve women’s voices as an essential part of collective memory.

Gender Sensitivity and Respect for Diversity as the Foundation of Editorial Culture

The editorial team developed and published a Gender Sensitivity Policy on its website. View the policy Work on the document took place during the team’s participation in a mentoring program on gender-sensitive journalism that lasted from May to October 2025. According to the outlet, adopting the policy became an important step toward clearly defining the editorial direction, improving internal communication, maintaining gender balance in reporting, and systematically upholding gender-sensitive standards.

Although mutual understanding and respect for diversity had already been present within the team, the written policy helped formalize these principles and establish a shared reference point for all staff members. The newsroom now consciously produces content using gender-sensitive approaches.

The team includes a representative of the LGBT community, and colleagues respect and accept his identity, support him, and share the declared editorial values. According to the newsroom, daily interaction within a common working environment has contributed to greater tolerance and acceptance of LGBT people among staff members.

The editorial team has also systematically used feminine professional titles (feminitives) in its content since the outlet was founded in 2017. This practice is considered part of the media outlet’s educational mission and reflects its core message: “observe, analyze, act.” The newsroom emphasizes that the use of feminitives is an element of its public awareness and educational work with audiences.

At the same time, the outlet notes that some initiatives have not yet been implemented due to limited financial resources. In particular, this concerns the introduction of systematic support for parenthood and caregiving within the team, which currently remains difficult to implement for financial reasons.

Photo Essay as a Tool for Rethinking Women’s Visibility in Cultural Memory

Context

Cultural and historical memory often reproduces inequalities embedded in society: women’s achievements remain less visible or secondary even within memorial spaces. In narratives about culture, art, sports, and public life, women are frequently portrayed as an “addition” to famous men—wives, muses, or companions—regardless of their own contributions.

Media rarely address this issue outside academic or activist contexts, especially at the local level. Yet local outlets have the potential to discuss cultural memory in accessible language and engage broad audiences in rethinking established assumptions.

What Was Done

The editorial team of Visti Zmiivshchyny created a photo essay reflecting on gender equality, using the space of Lychakiv Cemetery as a symbolic location.

The material:

  • focused attention on women who made significant contributions to culture, art, and public life but remain barely visible in historical narratives;
  • showed how women’s names often remain “behind the backs” of famous men even after death;
  • raised the question of how cultural traditions and social context shape unequal visibility in collective memory.

Rather than offering ready-made conclusions, the piece invited readers to reflect and draw their own interpretations.

How It Was Implemented

The editorial team chose the photo essay as the main format, combining:

  • visual images of the memorial space;
  • analytical and essayistic reflections on gender inequality.

The alleys of Lychakiv Cemetery were used not merely as a backdrop but as a meaningful element that reinforced the theme of women’s invisibility in cultural memory.

The combination of photography and text made it possible to discuss a complex humanities topic without academic language, appealing instead to readers’ emotional and visual perception.

Impact

The photo essay sparked discussion among readers and encouraged part of the audience to look at gender equality in a cultural context from a new perspective.

The publication also:

  • brought attention to the invisibility of women’s stories in collective memory;
  • demonstrated that even a local media outlet can initiate a complex social conversation;
  • expanded understanding of how gender inequality is reproduced not only in the present but also in the ways society remembers the past.

What Other Media Can Learn From This

  • Use cultural and memorial spaces as an opportunity to discuss contemporary values and inequality, not merely as objects of description.
  • Combine visual formats with analytical text to make complex gender issues accessible to wider audiences.
  • Search for “invisible” women’s stories within cultural, historical, and local contexts, going beyond canonical narratives.
  • Encourage reflection rather than impose conclusions, creating space for dialogue with audiences.
  • Show that gender equality is not only about the present, but also about how we remember, name, and interpret the past.

Gender Equality in Urban Space: Women’s Visibility in Toponymy

Context

Urban toponymy is an important element of cultural memory and symbolic space that reflects social values and hierarchies. Historically, Ukrainian cities have demonstrated a significant gender imbalance in the names of streets, squares, and public objects, with women’s names being minimally represented or absent altogether.

During the period of decolonization and rethinking of the Soviet legacy, gender equality in urban space has become especially relevant. Local media play a key role in explaining the meaning of these changes and showing how civic initiatives can influence the symbolic visibility of women in public space.

What Was Done

The online publication 0564.ua produced a series of articles dedicated to the initiative “Rivni u Kryvomu” (Equal in Kryvyi Rih) and the implementation of the “Feminist Quarter” project in Kryvyi Rih.

The materials:

  • showed that during 2023–2024 the city received more than 60 toponyms named after women;
  • highlighted the importance of women’s visibility in urban space;
  • addressed gender imbalance, historical injustice, and ways to overcome it;
  • centered on an interview with Olha Kostina, founder of the Rivni u Kryvomu initiative and creator of the Feminist Quarter project.

How It Was Implemented

The editorial team used a comprehensive approach that combined an in-depth interview with the project initiator and a series of news and analytical articles about events and lectures held within the Feminist Quarter project.

Among the published materials were:

  • “Why Rights Are Not Given but Taken: The Third ‘FemQuarter’ in Kryvyi Rih Opened with a Lecture on Emancipatory Movements”;
  • “How to Use Feminine Job Titles Correctly: A Lecture on Feminine Forms at ‘FemQuarter 3.0’”;
  • “‘Stop Cheburashka’: How Women in a Feminist Collage Workshop in Kryvyi Rih Reclaimed the Meaning of March 8.”

This format made it possible to present gender equality not as an abstract idea but as a process of real changes in urban space driven by civic activism.

Impact

The series increased the visibility of women in the symbolic space of the city and helped explain the significance of toponymic changes to a broader audience.

The materials:

  • demonstrated that gender equality can have concrete and measurable outcomes;
  • showed the role of civic initiatives in transforming urban space;
  • contributed to understanding local changes as part of broader social processes.

What Other Media Can Learn From This

  • Use local cases to demonstrate how gender equality is implemented in practice, not only at the level of declarations.
  • Explain the symbolic significance of changes in urban space—street names, memorial objects, and other elements of cultural memory.
  • Combine interviews with experts and activists with a series of thematic materials to provide deep and consistent coverage.
  • Show the connection between civic activism and tangible results, inspiring other communities to launch similar initiatives.
  • Speak about gender equality through the language of urban life, demonstrating how it affects the everyday experiences of residents.

Caring Community Infrastructure: How Media Can Help Create Children’s Corners

Context

The availability of children’s corners in public spaces—medical institutions, administrative buildings, and service centers—is an important condition for ensuring comfortable access to services for parents with young children. At the same time, in many communities such spaces are either absent or are not perceived as a necessary element of public infrastructure.

This issue is directly connected to care work, gender equality, and inclusion, because parents of small children—most often women—are the ones who encounter barriers in their everyday use of public services. Local media can play a key role in identifying such barriers and encouraging practical changes.

What Was Done

The editorial team of the multimedia platform Nove Zhyttia published a series of long-form articles devoted to the shortage of children’s corners in institutions across the Liubeshiv community.

The articles:

  • documented the real conditions experienced by parents with children when visiting various institutions;
  • demonstrated the community’s need for safe and comfortable spaces for young children;
  • noted that at the beginning of the journalistic investigation the number of children’s corners in the community was extremely limited;
  • presented the issue as a systemic problem rather than a collection of isolated cases.

How It Was Implemented

The journalists used an analytical and investigative approach, combining:

  • a description of the problem with concrete examples from community life;
  • interviews with parents and experts;
  • visual documentation of the actual conditions in local institutions.

The publications were actively distributed through the website and social media, which encouraged broad public discussion, involved community residents, and increased attention from institutions and local authorities.

Impact

The journalistic series produced a tangible and measurable result:

  • within a year after publication, the number of children’s corners in community institutions increased from only a few to more than twenty;
  • the creation of children’s corners became a local standard, with newly opened institutions planning them from the outset;
  • the materials generated strong audience engagement and contributed to real changes in approaches to designing public spaces.

As Nataliia Mukha, Director of the Private Enterprise “Editorial Office ‘Nove Zhyttia’,” explained:

“At the beginning of our research there were only a handful of such corners. But within a year we had more than twenty! We not only received active discussion from our audience, but most importantly, creating a children’s corner became a kind of trend in Liubeshiv. Now, when a new institution opens, this element is considered essential. We believe we contributed to this change because we were the first to draw attention to such an important issue.”

This case demonstrates that consistent local journalism can directly influence decision-making at the community level.

What Other Media Can Learn From This

  • Raise local, everyday issues that directly affect residents’ quality of life, even if they do not appear “high-profile.”
  • Work in a series format, returning to the topic and documenting changes over time rather than limiting coverage to a single publication.
  • Combine analysis with lived examples, showing specific spaces, conditions, and people’s experiences.
  • Engage the community in discussion, using media as a platform for feedback and civic pressure.
  • Document the results of journalistic work, demonstrating that media can be a tool for real and measurable change.

Challenging Age and Gender Stereotypes Through a Personal Story

Context

Age-related and gender stereotypes that limit women’s opportunities, particularly in later life, remain widespread in society. The belief that driving is “not a woman’s thing” and that learning new skills after the age of 60–65 is impossible or unnecessary creates invisible barriers to active living and self-realization.

Local media play an important role in challenging these assumptions, because stories of real people from the community can make social change visible and convincing.

What Was Done

The editorial team of the platform Nove Zhyttia published a story about a woman from Liubeshiv who obtained a driver’s license at the age of 68.

The article:

  • presented the personal story of a woman who decided to learn a new skill later in life;
  • demonstrated how she overcame common assumptions about “age limits” and gender roles;
  • emphasized not her exceptionalism, but the possibility of change when motivation and support are present.

How It Was Implemented

The material was written in the format of a human-interest story, which made the topic relatable and understandable for a broad audience.

The editorial team:

  • described the protagonist’s journey in detail, from deciding to study to receiving her license;
  • supplemented the story with comments from driving school instructors, who confirmed that after the publication other older women contacted them to enroll in courses;
  • subtly highlighted the story’s social impact—the possibility for other women to believe in their own abilities.

Impact

The publication generated significant attention both within the community and across the region. As Nataliia Mukha, Director of the Private Enterprise “Editorial Office of Nove Zhyttia,” explained:

“This article caused a real sensation not only among local residents but across the entire region. Our protagonist overcame stereotypes that driving is not really for women and proved that there are no age restrictions if there is a desire to learn. According to the instructors, after the article was published several other older women enrolled in driving courses.”

The story:

  • contributed to changing attitudes toward age and gender roles among audiences;
  • directly encouraged more older women to enroll in driving courses;
  • demonstrated that local journalism can have not only an informational but also a motivational impact.

What Other Media Can Learn From This

  • Tell stories of real people from the community who overcome established stereotypes instead of discussing the issue in abstract terms.
  • Show the process, not only the result, so that change appears achievable and realistic.
  • Combine personal stories with expert commentary, reinforcing the motivational effect with facts and professional assessments.
  • Avoid the language of exceptionalism, presenting women not as “unusual” but as people exercising their right to development at any age.
  • Use local context, showing that opportunities for change exist nearby, within one’s own community.

Restoring Women’s Presence in Literary History: A Series of Articles

Case

Series of interviews and articles “Women’s Faces of the Stanislaviv Phenomenon”:

Context

For a long time, the Stanislaviv phenomenon was represented within the Ukrainian cultural canon primarily through male names, while women—writers, editors, artists, and curators—remained on the margins of the public narrative or disappeared from it altogether.

The absence of women’s voices in the recorded history of literary and artistic processes distorts the understanding of the phenomenon itself as a collective cultural movement. In this context, local cultural media play a key role in restoring memory and shaping herstory.

What Was Done

The online publication post impreza prepared a series of interviews and articles dedicated to women who were active participants in the Stanislaviv phenomenon but remained almost invisible in the public sphere.

Within the series, the editors:

  • documented personal memories of women who participated in the phenomenon;
  • collected and published recollections of relatives when direct interviews were impossible;
  • demonstrated the diversity of women’s roles—from authors and editors to designers and art directors.

The materials return women to the center of the story about the cultural process rather than leaving them on its periphery.

How It Was Implemented

The series was built around the interview as a tool for restoring voice. The editorial team:

  • gave women the opportunity to speak in the first person about their own experiences, participation in the creative process, and the cultural environment;
  • intentionally revisited the established canon of the Stanislaviv phenomenon;
  • documented unique testimonies, including: the first recorded recollections about Olena Rubanovska, a designer, publisher, and art director of the journal Chetver; the last lifetime interview with Maria Mykytsei, which gives the material particular historical and emotional significance.
  • combined journalism, oral history, and cultural documentation within a single project.

Impact

The series became an important contribution to restoring historical justice and shaping women’s history (herstory) within the Ukrainian literary context.

The materials:

  • gained significance not only for the cultural community but also for the families of the protagonists—excerpts from Maria Mykytsei’s interview were quoted during a memorial evening dedicated to her;
  • expanded the understanding of the Stanislaviv phenomenon as a collective process in which women played a full and substantial role rather than a secondary one;
  • contributed to rethinking cultural canons and collective memory at both local and national levels.

What Other Media Can Learn From This

  • Revisit cultural canons from a gender perspective and question established “male” narratives.
  • Treat oral history and personal testimonies as full-fledged sources of cultural memory rather than auxiliary material.
  • Use interviews not only as an informational genre but also as a form of restoring visibility.
  • Document stories “here and now,” recognizing that the loss of witnesses means the loss of part of cultural heritage.
  • Make women’s contributions to literary and artistic processes visible, especially in fields traditionally presented as predominantly male.

Gender Inequality in Public Space: Bodily Autonomy, Ethics, and Double Standards

Context

In everyday public space, unwritten gender rules continue to define how women and men are “allowed” or “not allowed” to look. Nudity, clothing, and ideas of “decency” are often treated as matters of personal taste or morality, yet they reflect deeper mechanisms of social control and inequality.

Women’s bodies are far more frequently subjected to judgment, sexualization, and stigmatization in public space, while similar behavior by men is often considered socially acceptable or neutral. Such double standards rarely become the subject of systematic media analysis, especially at the local level.

What Was Done

The online publication Shpalta produced an interview-based analytical article examining gender inequality in attitudes toward bodily autonomy and nudity in public space.

The article:

  • explored why men are socially permitted to appear shirtless or in informal clothing in public places, while women are stigmatized for similar behavior;
  • analyzed the mechanisms of sexualization of women’s bodies;
  • demonstrated how labels such as “prostitute” or “temptress” function as tools of social pressure and control;
  • moved beyond individual incidents to offer a broader examination of cultural and social norms that sustain inequality.

How It Was Implemented

The material was presented as an analytical interview that went beyond discussing appearance itself.

The editorial team:

  • shifted the focus from moral judgments to ethical, cultural, and power-related mechanisms;
  • used accessible, non-academic language;
  • relied on everyday experiences familiar to readers, allowing them to recognize situations from their own lives.

This approach made a complex gender issue understandable to a broad audience and opened space for reflection.

Olha Maksymiuk, Editor-in-Chief of Shpalta:

“This article is about why and where men have ‘granted themselves’ the right to walk around shirtless, with an unbuttoned shirt, or even in home shorts in public places. And at the same time, why women—even in hot weather, when a bra causes discomfort, or simply because they want their bodies to breathe—cannot be topless without immediately risking labels such as ‘prostitute’ or ‘temptress.’ The author sought to understand whether this is only about nudity or about deeper mechanisms of control over women’s bodies. We received many reactions, comments, and responses from readers who said the topic is important, relevant, and rarely discussed openly in Ukrainian media.”

Impact

The publication generated strong audience engagement through numerous comments, discussions, and responses. Readers:

  • emphasized the relevance of the topic;
  • noted that issues of bodily autonomy and double standards are rarely addressed in depth by Ukrainian media;
  • shared their own experiences of stigmatization and social pressure.

The article encouraged audiences to rethink what is considered “normal” in public space and challenged established gender norms.

What Other Media Can Learn From This

  • Address everyday forms of gender inequality that may seem “minor” but have significant social consequences.
  • Analyze bodily autonomy, ethics, and notions of decency through the lens of rights and equality, rather than morality or subjective judgment.
  • Use interviews as analytical tools, providing context and explanation rather than merely transmitting opinions.
  • Speak the language of everyday experience, making complex gender issues relatable and understandable.
  • Create safe spaces for discussion, where readers can reflect on familiar situations and share their own observations.

Veteran Voice and Media Literacy as a Component of Community Resilience

What has been done

The Hromada. Group local media network practices creating separate editorial spaces for authors who are also veterans. For instance, the newsroom started a special blog for a veteran of the Russia-Ukraine war, writer Mykhailo Filonenko, who was seriously injured in combat in the Kharkiv oblast and lost his hands and partly his eyesight. The author thus obtained his own information platform, where he fulfills his creative ideas, publishing materials about Ukrainian folklore, memory, and the connection between generations through traditional images.

In addition, Hromada. Group carries out systematic work with future journalists and young university students. The media network serves as a platform for media students to acquire practical experience, including those from S. Kuznets Kharkiv National Economic University and the Kharkiv Culture Academy.

The newsroom points out they are interested in engaging young journalists more, but they were forced to let go of some young professionals due to the loss of funding from USAID. At the same time, the team has plans to expand the network and create new offices in communities if funding resumes or new funding opportunities arise.

The newsroom also engages in combating disinformation and attempts of the Russian special services to recruit young people. This is done both through analytical journalistic materials and through editors’ participation in thematic trainings. In July and August 2025, Hromada. Group representatives participated as speakers in joint Ukrainian-Lithuanian workshops dedicated to combating the recruitment of young people by Russian special services. These events were aimed at young Lithuanians and Ukrainians and were attended by journalists, civil society organizations, and educators from the Krasnokutska community of the Kharkiv region. Like Ukraine, Lithuania sees attempts to recruit young people, both locals and Ukrainian immigrants, for subversive activities.