Living in War: Why Ukrainian Women are Willing to Live in a Country With a Risk to their Lives

By Natalia Zaitseva-Chipak

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, European countries have become home to millions of Ukrainians who have been forced to migrate because of the war. Some countries, in particular Germany, have launched unprecedented support and social protection programmes for internally displaced persons, offering housing, social benefits, language courses.

 

Even a cursory comparison of living conditions in Ukraine and the EU shows that migration is a natural solution (at least for security reasons), but also in terms of economic and social security and the country’s development prospects. Today, apocalyptic forecasts are being made in Ukraine regarding depopulation, an ageing population, economic decline and a reduction in tax revenues to the budget due to a decrease in the proportion of the working population. The destruction of energy infrastructure and industrial facilities, mined areas (which will take years to clear), and a deeply traumatised society do not add to the optimism in the forecasts for the future.

 

And yet, a significant number of Ukrainian women choose to live in Ukraine. Some of them become internally displaced, while others live (and even return from abroad) in the frontline regions, which are constantly hit by missiles and drones. It seems that these people are choosing risk and vague prospects over protection and social guarantees, albeit small ones.

 

But why? Some answers lie on the surface. Not everyone is able to leave their home and start life from scratch. There is no doubt that it is difficult to adapt to the mentality and rules of living in another society, to overcome the language barrier. But, in fact, the list of motives for choosing to live in Ukraine is much longer. Therefore, the purpose of my research was to identify the reasons for voluntary immobility – the conscious choice of women to live in the country during the war, in a situation where they had every opportunity to leave for safe European countries.

 

My analysis is based on 18 in-depth interviews with women (aged 20-50) who are either internally displaced or residents of the frontline areas (almost a quarter of whom returned to Ukraine after temporarily living in Germany, Austria or Poland). Ten of these interviews were conducted in March 2023. At that time, Ukraine was preparing for a powerful counter-offensive, with hopes of liberating the south of the country and ending the war soon. The remaining eight interviews were conducted in June 2024, when it became clear that the war could last for years. Accordingly, I had the opportunity to examine the motivation for voluntary immobility from both optimistic and pessimistic perspectives on Ukraine’s prospects.

 

Given the small amount of material to analyse and the exclusively qualitative method of data collection, I do not claim to provide an exhaustive description of the decision-making model. However, I will try to compile a list of Ukrainian women’s motives and group them for a more convenient perception of the material.

According to my observations, the motives for voluntary refusal to migrate voiced during the interviews can best be grouped according to Max Weber’s theory of Social Action. According to Weber it is characterised by two features: the presence of subjective meaning and orientation towards others. And the classification of types of social action is based on different degrees of consciousness and rationality of the action.

According to Max Weber, social action is of the following types:

– Traditional action – based on habit;

– Affective action – based on the emotional state of the actor;

– Purposeful rational action – based on target orientated, rational considerations

– Value-rational – based on values

Of course, Max Weber distinguishes these types of social action as ideal types, while real action can be a mixture of two or more types. Nevertheless, the above typology reflects quite well the set of motives (subjective meanings) that the interviewees of this research use in their decision-making.

 

To live in Ukraine – Traditional action.

Traditional action, according to Max Weber as well as affective action, is not social action in the direct sense, since we are not dealing with a conscious and underlying content here (i.e. a rational motive). Nevertheless, it is interpreted as a ‘limiting case’ of social action.

In practice, this means that the interviewees tend to act according to the ‘usual scenario’. They are not ready for a radical change of life.

“I was born in Ukraine, I will live in Ukraine, why should I go somewhere else?”, female, 45, resident of frontline areas.

 

Affective action – A choice influenced by emotions

Emotional motives (emotions and feelings) as the basis for voluntary immobility are voiced by almost all interviewees. They are quite diverse, sometimes based on positive emotions such as attachment, love or harmony, sometimes on negative ones like fear, anxiety, rejection.

Among the motives with positive connotations, attachment and love for the Motherland, hometown/village, and home dominate. Most often, women referred to the connection with their ‘small homeland’ – the area where they grew up.

“I lived there for so many years! I really like this city! It’s beautiful to me!, …Kherson is my love!”, female, 28, Internally Displaced Person (IDP) in the frontline areas

Often, women are deterred from leaving by a sense of emotional comfort and security due to belonging to a community, that on the one hand includes a wide range of social relationships like friends, neighbours, work colleagues and on the other refers to community as a whole.

Because  common history, culture and traditions. creates a feeling of being in demand, acceptance, and an understanding of how to act to gain social approval. They are not ready to adapt to another society, a community with a different culture and mentality.

“I lived in Vienna and Poznan. I don’t feel comfortable there… I don’t feel them… the mentality of the people is very unusual. It takes me a long time to get used to something new. And it was a lot of stress for me every time.“, female, 21, resident of frontline areas

Instead, migration is associated with fear, loneliness, cultural and social isolation.

“Nobody needs you there, that’s the most important thing. You know, it’s like isolation. You are a stranger and you stay stranger forever”, female, 46, IDP in the rear areas

Fear of the unknown is a rather powerful deterrent. It is difficult for women to imagine what awaits them there, they do not understand whether they will be able to find housing, work, friends. They do not understand how to navigate in a new country. They are not sure that they will be able to settle down in another society. This fear is particularly pronounced among women who have never been abroad before.

Occasionally, the interviewees expressed fear of facing unfriendly attitudes from citizens of other countries.

It is a rational action. Rational motives for living in Ukraine.

Rational motives influenced the decisions of all the women we interviewed to some extent. However, in some cases they were decisive, in others they were secondary. It is also interesting that rational motives could be related to both weighing the material (calculation) and non-material benefits of living in Ukraine.

The most significant (and most frequently mentioned) rational motive for refusing to leave Ukraine is the unwillingness to break up the family. Some women are not ready to leave their elderly parents, who refuse or are unable to travel abroad for health reasons, without care. Some do not agree to live in separation from their husbands or partners who either categorically refuse to move or cannot cross the border due to restrictions on men of military age leaving the country.

“We didn’t consider [the option of leaving the country] because our dad is not allowed to leave the country. He is liable for military service, he will not be allowed to leave the country. We are together! I will leave with the child, and he will stay here? No! If we left as a family, maybe we would. Alone, no!“, female, 48, IDP in the rear regions

The motive to preserve the family has different forms: unwillingness to risk the marriage, the opportunity to raise children in a full family, and the absence of relatives who could care for sick parents. From a certain perspective, it can be interpreted as forced immobility, but in reality, thousands of Ukrainian women in this situation have made the opposite choice. Therefore, we are talking about a conscious and voluntary refusal to migrate.

Another large group of rational motives is related to professional fulfilment, career and status.

First of all, women are deterred by the high probability of losing their professional status. This argument is important for those who have fulfilled themselves in Ukraine as specialists (performing intellectual or creative work), built a career or own businesses. Abroad, such people are most likely to be forced to start their careers from scratch or switch to less skilled and creative work.

“…They lower you in status. People from Germany told me this. You can’t work in Germany or Switzerland by your specialty at all. Canada seems to accept you, but you are only a labourer. And a person with a university degree has to be what? Nobody! This is a very big problem“, female, 46, IDP from the occupied territories

Women who have fulfilled themselves and gained respect in their community are not ready to lose their social status. At home, they feel respected, valued and useful, and therefore have high self-esteem. In an other country, these achievements are levelled out, and the attitude of others changes to sympathy at best, and passive aggression or disdain at worst.

“I have a lot of business experience, I have a lot of experience in public activities. I have a certain status in the city. To get closer to the social status I have here, it would take 8 years to get there. I don’t have them. I’ll be over 50 by then“, female, 38, IDP, in the frontline areas

Often, women weigh up the amount of effort they need to make to adapt abroad and come to the conclusion that they are not ready to give up their established life or do not have the mental and physical resources to build a life from scratch.

 

In addition, there is a fear that despite their best efforts, they will not be able to ensure a decent standard of living abroad. Given the prospect of employment in mostly unskilled and low-paid jobs and the need to pay high rent for housing, most women believe that moving will doom them to a life of hard work and poverty.

“What do you have to do in Austria? You have to sell groceries in a supermarket for 1,200 euros, of which you pay about 700-800 for rent. It makes no sense, it’s not economically viable“, female, 38, IDP, in the frontline areas

Finally, the interviewees  are convinced that they will not be able to earn enough money to buy a house abroad, and therefore they are afraid of being left without their own housing in old age when they will no longer be able to earn enough to pay the rent.

Therefore, if life in Ukraine is bearable, a significant number of women choose certainty over the risks of resettlement and adaptation.

“Why should I go somewhere else if I’m happy here? You have to go somewhere if it’s really bad here, right? Everything works, everyone lives, and we will live“, female, 28, IDP in frontline areas

Ukrainian women are also strengthened in their intentions to stay in Ukraine by negative feedback or experiences of their relatives, friends and acquaintances who have gone abroad. Many of them call home (to Ukraine) in a moment of acute nostalgia. Naturally, at this moment they express their frustration and desire to return home. Such conversations remind the respondents of the difficulties they will face abroad. Some of the interviewees mentioned that people from their immediate environment returned to Ukraine after a certain period of living in Europe because they could not adapt to the new place.

“When my daughter went to the Netherlands, she said: ‘Mum, I’ll probably stay there, God willing, the war will end, my husband will come and we’ll live there.’ And then, as she said: ‘Mum, we want to go home. It’s very nice here, we like everything. But everyone wants to go home.’ And they arrived in worse conditions, because their house was destroyed. But they are happy to be home“, female, 60, resident of the frontline areas

For many interviewees, the language barrier is a problem; they are afraid of being in a situation of social isolation, being limited in communication, work, and meeting their needs.

Ultimately, every person builds their own circle of communication and social relations throughout their lives. This circle provides not only an emotionally comfortable environment, but also support in crisis situations. At first, it is difficult to rely on the support of others abroad because of the lack of friends and acquaintances. And establishing a new social circle seems difficult due to the language barrier, differences in mentality and life experience.

“For example, I had a big problem… I have a lot of acquaintances, friends, colleagues here. But over there, who do I turn to? I like to be surrounded by people who love me, appreciate me, love me, respect me, and there are no such people there. So I’d rather stay here“, female, 28, IDP in the frontline areas

The younger audience emphasises the importance of the comfort of life in Ukraine. This refers to the greater accessibility of various services and the high level of service and digitalisation.

“It’s very good here, better than in Europe. The banking system here is great, everything is done in 5 minutes. And Diya, all the documents can be issued very quickly. Shops are open around the clock. It’s better to live here than in Germany. There is a big problem with medicine there. Here, everything is fast and the specialists are great. Ukraine is an advanced country in general, if not for the war. We used to underestimate our country …“, female, 36, IDP in the frontline areas

Finally, some interviewees believe that Ukraine will become a very promising country after the war, with wide economic opportunities for its residents.

“I think that after the devastation… we need to seize the moment and work. There will be great opportunities, great reconstruction. There are a lot of interesting proposals from our partners. It will be much more fun here. Even they will come to us, work, and not we will go somewhere else“, female, 28, IDP in the frontline areas

Value-based rational action. Value-based motives for living in Ukraine.

Value-based motivations for voluntary immobility were mentioned by approximately two thirds of the  interviewees. They are based on such values as patriotism, care and responsibility, dignity and self-respect, and freedom.

In the context of patriotism, there are three intertwined accents. First, it is pride in one’s country, love for one’s homeland, and the desire to live on one’s own land.

“I love our Ukrainian language very much, I love our motherland, no matter how difficult and how dangerous it is. I remain within the borders of our state and its territory. And, as they say, I am proud of that“, female 33, IDP in the rear areas

Second, women perceive themselves as part of the national resistance. For many of them, living in the country means sharing its fate and increasing its resilience in the fight against the enemy. Every person who lives in Ukraine works for its economy, even if they just buy products and services, supports their loved ones morally or organisationally, and thus counteracts the enemy.

“We were firmly convinced that we should not leave, because if everyone leaves, who will protect [our country]?“, female 21, resident of the frontline areas
In the same vein, there is a desire to support their country in the period of post-war recovery and an awareness of their own responsibility for the future of the country.

“Before the war, I really wanted to leave here. My mother and I almost bought me a study programme in the Czech Republic. But then I decided that I wanted to stay in Ukraine.  I want to become the person who will work for the benefit of our country in the future, develop it, and be involved in Ukraine“ female, 21, resident of the frontline areas

Some Ukrainian women were guided by their responsibility to their country and their environment. In some cases, women refused to leave because of:

• professional obligations, in order not to disrupt the work of the enterprise/institution
• responsibility to their immediate environment like family, neighbours, and friends
• responsibility for animals

In the context of dignity, it is first and foremost important for women to feel equal and valuable, to be protected from humiliation. Often, one could hear the argument that refugees cannot become full-fledged citizens in another country, and only at home can you hold your head high and loudly ‚defend your rights‘.

“ Here you are, as they say, a human being, and there you are not… well… you are a human being, but not really. I’ve just been abroad, and it’s cool there, and you earn money there. But I like to be appreciated. And in Poland, for example, Ukrainians were mostly treated as… labourers. Well, as second-class people, so to speak.’, female, 28, IDP in frontline areas

Some interviewees  noted that it is important for them to support themselves on their own, and not to claim ‘charity’ from other people. In Ukraine, they fulfil this scenario, and abroad, at least temporarily, they may find themselves in a situation of dependency.

And finally, in the context of dignity and self-respect, it is important for many Ukrainian women to feel useful and to be of service.

“To come to a foreign country… What will I do there, what will I do? Receive benefits and go out to spend them? Well, no. To live on everything that belongs to someone else? No! It doesn’t suit me!“, female, 44, IDP in the frontline areas

Occasionally, interviewees explained their desire to live in Ukraine by a higher level of freedom. This refers to freedom in different contexts:

• freedom of communication, due to the absence of a language barrier
• freedom to express one’s opinion in a debate without fear, without the risk of being disrespected or seen as unethical in another culture
• freedom of action, to choose a job, to travel, to invite friends to visit. This is often not possible in another country, due to functional (e.g. lack of knowledge of the language or local context) and regulatory (e.g. requirements for diploma confirmation, prohibition to convert rented accommodation, or requirement to register movements) restrictions.

Ultimately, freedom is the ability to be yourself, the ability to live according to your own desires, the ability to influence the rules by which you live. In a democratic state, a citizen will always feel freer and more confident. As the classic Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko wrote: ‘In your own house is your own truth, and strength, and will.’[1]

“No matter how good it is abroad. No matter how much help they give you… people who care will give you everything. But at home, that is at home. On your own territory, in your own country… it’s different.’, female, 33, IDP in the rear areas

Instead of conclusions.

The analysis of the motives for voluntary refusal of mobility easily fits into Max Weber’s concept of social action.

Indeed, the decision to live in Ukraine is often part of a traditional action. When women are not ready to change their lives globally unless it is absolutely necessary. Moreover, they will stick to the traditional model of behaviour as long as they can.

To a large extent, this choice is an affective action. A sense of deep attachment to their land, community, and culture. Love for your family or friends. Or, on the contrary, fear of the unknown, loneliness, rejection or difficulties of adaptation.

Quite often, this is a rational action. When women weigh up the pros and cons. Opportunities for professional fulfilment, family preservation, maintaining the desired status or level of income.

And finally, value-based rationality. When the decision is based on such values as patriotism, care and responsibility, dignity, self-respect, and freedom.

At the same time, it is noticeable that only a few interviewees relied exclusively on one of the groups of motives. Mostly, those who would like to leave but are not ready to break up their families or are not sure that they will be able to earn enough in Europe are guided by rational motives. Others are guided by a complex set of motives that includes rational, emotional, and value components (with varying degrees of dominance of each).

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Footnotes

[1] https://www.dw.com/uk/ak-likaram-z-ukraini-znajti-robotu-v-nimeccini/a-68064521

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About the Author

Natalia Zaitseva-Chipak is a sociologist and a professor in the Department of Sociology at the Ukrainian Catholic University. Prior to this position, she was a professor in the Department of Sociology at the Lviv Ivan Franko National University. In 2002, she graduated from the Lviv Ivan Franko National University, and in 2007, she completed her Ph.D. at the Classic Private University. Since 2007, she has also worked as an analyst at the Socioinform Ukrainian Center for Public Opinion Research. She has either participated in or managed more than 20 sociological studies of Ukrainian society. Her scientific interests focus on problems of modern Ukrainian society and individual social groups, such as youths or internally displaced persons (IDPs). Natalia Zaitseva-Chipak has been a non-resident Prisma Ukraïna fellow and member of the War, Migration, Memory research group. She is a 2024-25 fellow of the Gerda Henkel Foundation at the Forum Transregionale Studien in Berlin.

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Other Recent Articles in the TRAFO Series Fragmented Lives

Lidia Kuzesmka, Fragmented Lives: 10 Pieces of the Ukrianian Displacement Puzzle, 22 October 2024.

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Citation: Natalia Zaitseva-Chipak, Living in War: Why Ukrainian Women are Willing to Live in a Country With a Risk to their Lives, in: TRAFO – Blog for Transregional Research, 12.11.2024, https://doi.org/10.58079/12nmz

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