Women Soldiers’ Visibility in the Culture of Memory

Context

Despite women’s active participation in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other components of the security and defense sector, their military experiences remain insufficiently represented in the culture of memory. Traditional practices of war memorialization often reproduce masculine images of heroism shaped by the Soviet legacy, which leads to the symbolic exclusion of women soldiers from public commemorative space.

In the context of the full-scale war, the question of whom and how we remember becomes not only cultural but also political and value-based. The visibility of women defenders in memorial practices is an important condition for building an inclusive, fair, and contemporary culture of memory.

What Was Done

The media platform Nakypilo produced an episode of the podcast Memorialization of War dedicated to the presence of women soldiers in the culture of memory.

In conversation with Oksana Dovhopolova—co-founder and curator of the memory culture platform Past / Future / Art, Doctor of Philosophy, and professor at the Kyiv School of Economics—the episode:

• analyzed why women’s military experiences remain insufficiently visible in public space;
• examined the influence of Soviet militaristic traditions on contemporary commemorative practices;
• raised the question of rethinking approaches to memorialization through a gender lens.

How It Was Implemented

The podcast was designed as an expert analytical conversation focused on cultural and philosophical analysis.

The episode discussed:

• contemporary tools of war memorialization, including artistic projects, memory festivals, public campaigns, and local memorials;
• the ways cultural practices can both reproduce inequality and become instruments of change;
• the topic in cooperation with Divoche.Media, which expanded the audience and engaged listeners interested in gender issues and cultural processes.

The podcast format made it possible to explore the issue not through isolated cases but as a long-term social process requiring reflection and systemic solutions.

Impact

The episode contributed to a new understanding of commemorating women soldiers as full participants in the war rather than exceptions within a “male” narrative.

The material:

• strengthened public discussion about the need for change in the culture of memory;
• drew attention to symbolic inequality in memorial practices;
• generated active audience engagement on social media through comments, shares, and discussions.

What Other Media Can Learn From This

• Integrate a gender perspective into coverage of war, memory, and commemoration, rather than limiting attention to news reports about women’s participation in combat.
• Ask questions about visibility and exclusion, analyzing whose experiences are represented in memorial practices and whose are systematically ignored.
• Work with experts from humanities, cultural studies, and philosophy to provide deeper analysis of complex issues that extend beyond daily news logic.
• Use podcasts and long-form formats to discuss long-term social processes where context and reflection are more important than speed.
• Critically rethink the Soviet legacy in language, symbols, and memorial forms, proposing alternative and inclusive approaches.
• Collaborate with other media outlets and cultural platforms to broaden audiences and bring multiple perspectives into conversations about memory and war.