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Women in the Russian and Soviet militaries have played many roles in their country's military history. Women played an important role in world wars in Russia and the Soviet Union, particularly during World War II.
Women served in the Russian armed forces in small numbers in the early stages of the war, but their numbers increased after heavy Russian losses such as at the Battle of Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes and a need for increased manpower. One such recruit was Maria Bochkareva who served with the 25th Reserve Battalion of the Russian Army. After the abdication of Nicholas II of Russia in March 1917, she convinced interim prime minister Alexander Kerensky to let her form a women's battalion. The Women's Battalion recruited women between the ages of 13 and 25 and appealed for support in a series of public meetings, enlisting approximately 2,000 soldiers. The Battalion fought during the June Offensive against German forces in 1917. Three months of fighting reduced their numbers to around two-hundred and fifty.[ citation needed ]
The Women's Battalion was disbanded after a failed 1917 military coup known as the Kornilov Affair. Its leader, General Lavr Kornilov, had been strongly supported by Bochkareva, and the Women's Battalion were identified as potential sympathizers. The majority of the battalion's members were reformed as the First Petrograd Women's Battalion. This group was at the Winter Palace on the night of the Bolshevik Revolution, along with an untrained cadet detachment and a bicycle regiment. They put up a fight but were eventually defeated, despite the fact that only 5 people were killed during the storming of the Winter Palace. The triumphant Bolsheviks officially disbanded the group.[ citation needed ]
Several women pilots are known from the First World War, one example being Sofya Alekseevna Dolgorukova. Princess Eugenie Shakovskaya was assigned duty as an artillery and reconnaissance pilot, having volunteered for the Imperial Russian Air Service in 1914 (one of the world’s first female military aviators) and flew missions with the 26th Corps Air Squadron in 1917 for nine months. Because of her connections to the Imperial family she was demobilized after the October Revolution. Lyubov A. Golanchikova was a test pilot who contributed her airplane to the Czarist armies; Helen P. Samsonova was assigned to the 5th Corps Air Squadron as a reconnaissance pilot. And in 1915, Nedeshda Degtereva had the distinction of being the first woman pilot to be wounded in combat while on a reconnaissance mission over the Austrian front in Galicia.[ citation needed ]
Women played a part in most of the armed forces of the Second World War. In most countries though, women tended to serve mostly in administrative, medical and in auxiliary roles. But in the Soviet Union women fought also in front line roles. Over 800,000 women served in the Soviet armed forces in World War II, mostly as medics and nurses, which is over 3 percent of total personnel; nearly 200,000 of them were decorated. 89 of them eventually received the Soviet Union’s highest award, the Hero of the Soviet Union, they served as pilots, snipers, machine gunners, tank crew members and partisans, as well as in auxiliary roles. [1] Few of these women, however, were promoted to officers.[ citation needed ]
For Soviet women aviators, instrumental to this change was Marina Raskova, a famous Russian aviator. Raskova became a famous aviator as both a pilot and a navigator in the 1930s. She was the first woman to become a navigator in the Soviet Air Force in 1933. Raskova is credited with using her personal connections with Joseph Stalin to convince the military to form three combat regiments for women. The Soviet Union was the first nation to allow women pilots to fly combat missions. These regiments with strength of almost hundred airwomen, flew a combined total of more than 30,000 combat sorties, produced over twenty Heroes of the Soviet Union, and included two fighter aces. This military unit was initially called Aviation Group 122 while the three regiments received training. After their training, the three regiments received their formal designations as the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, [2] the 587th Bomber Aviation Regiment, and the 588th Night Bomber Regiment. [3] Two of the units were honored with the Guards designation and renamed.[ citation needed ]
The Soviet Union also used women for sniping duties, and to good effect, including Nina Alexeyevna Lobkovskaya and Lyudmila Pavlichenko (who killed over 300 enemy soldiers). The Soviets found that sniper duties fit women well, since good snipers are patient, careful, deliberate, and should avoid tactical hand-to-hand combat. Women served also in non-combat roles as medics, nurses, communication personnel, political officers, as well - in small numbers - as machine gunners, tank drivers. Manshuk Mametova [4] was a machine gunner from Kazakhstan and was the first Asian woman to receive the title Hero of the Soviet Union after she refused to retreat with the rest of her regiment. [5]
Women constituted significant numbers of the Soviet partisans.[ citation needed ] One of the most famous was Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, who was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 16 February 1942.[ citation needed ]
The youngest woman to become a Hero of the Soviet Union was also a resistance fighter, Zinaida Portnova.[ citation needed ]
After the war, most women left the armed forces. Those that stayed to make a career in the post-war armed forces saw old attitudes return and promotion and opportunities more difficult. Also, some military academies closed their doors to women despite the supposed official policy of equality. In 1967, the Soviet Universal Military Duty Laws concluded that women offered the greater source of available soldiers during periods of large scale mobilization. Thus, several programs during the height of the Cold War were set up to encourage women to enlist. Participation in military orientated youth programs and forced participation in the reserves for ex-servicewomen up to the age of 40 are some examples. Universities contained reservist officer training which accompanied a place in the reserves themselves, especially for doctors. But some roles open to women during the war were later barred.[ citation needed ]
At the end of 1992, when conscription of noncommissioned officers and enlisted personnel was converted to volunteer or contract recruitment, women were given equal rights with men to join the Russian Armed Forces. [6] Between 1990 and 1999, the percentage of women in the armed forces grew from 3.5% to almost 10%. [6] Similar phenomena happened in other countries around the world in the late 20th century. [6]
Smirnov (2002) cited a September–November 1999 survey that he and colleagues conducted amongst a representative sample of 993 servicewomen, indicating that female soldiers generally had a much higher educational level than their male counterparts, their average age was about 30 and they had achieved considerable experience. [7] However, the socioeconomic conditions for women in Russia were worsening ('women who are pushed out of paid work into unpaid housework, irregular occupation, and unemployment constitute an urgent social problem in Russia' [8] ), and thus 'seriously complicate[d] their integration into the military community'. [7] According to the 1999 survey, 67.9% of military women were married, and they accounted for 57.1% of all servicewomen who had children (71.4%); all other female soldiers were much less likely to have children. [9] There was also a clear link between education and parenthood: the more educated people were, the fewer children they had. [9] Smirnov noted that divorce rates had gone up and marriage rates had gone down in the 1990s; he stated that divorced and widowed women were 'the least socially protected group', as they were often poorer and several of them even lacked housing. [9]
53.9% of the women in the survey believed that husbands should work to support the family and wives should take care of the house; these women only entered military service due to 'material hardship', as they didn't have a husband or partner (yet/anymore), or their husbands or partners were (presumably temporarily) unable to earn enough money for the whole family. [10] 29.2% of Russian servicewomen said 'that married women ought to work on an equal footing with their husbands.' Working enabled them to realise their own potential more fully, to acquire a certain amount of independence, earn respect from colleagues and achieve creative success that would not be possible at home, without ignoring (potential) family interests, the survey found. [10]
8.7% of women soldiers stated that their labour rights had been violated in some way, such as being 'passed over for promotion' (33.2%), 'appointed to positions affording less monetary support' (31.6%), and 'deprived of prospects for solving the housing problem' (41%), while 57.1% weren't sure whether they had been discriminated against or not. [11] Single mothers, married women, divorcees, and widows were far less likely to be promoted to higher positions 'because their superior officers [were] firmly convinced that family concerns would prevent them from carrying out their official duties.' [12] Smirnov's team observed that 'women watch[ed] resentfully as men with less education [were] preferred for promotion.' [12] Only 3,300 women (2.9%) were commissioned officers, mostly in junior positions, and usually tasked to carry out administrative duties 'that men ignore[d] for some reason', forcing servicewomen 'to be content with assignments that are not the most prestigious.' [13]
In 2002, 10% of the Russian armed forces (100,000 of a total active strength of 988,100) were women according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, [14] [ page needed ] whereas researcher Aleksandr I. Smirnov stated that about 114,600 women had military contracts that year. [6]
In 2013, it was reported that: [15] "Compared to 2007, the number of female officers and warrant-officers has dropped by nearly two thirds. There were over 30,000 women serving under a contract [with the armed forces] in 2007, and now there are only slightly more than 11,000 of them, including 4,300 officers of various rank." Lt. Col. Yelena Stepanova, the chief of the social processes monitoring department at the Russian armed forces' sociological research center, said. This trend [was] "not ..special" but correspond[ed] with the general .. reduction of the Russian armed forces."
A 2016 TASS article stated: 'At the end of the 2000s, over 90,000 women were serving in the Russian Armed Forces', but that number fell to 'about 45,000' in 2011. TASS explained this drop as follows: 'After the military authorities increased their requirements for female applicants and in connection with the overall reduction in the number of service personnel in the RF Armed Forces, this number has decreased significantly.' [16] By 2010, the motivations that servicewomen gave for working in the armed forces had also shifted markedly: 67% of women served out of financial necessity [17] (up from 53.9% in 1999 [10] ), while only 6% were focused on military service as their professional career [17] (down from 29.2% in 1999). [10]
Between 2010 and 2020, the total number of women employed in the Russian military fluctuated between 35,000 and 45,000. [17] Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu stated in May 2020 that c. 41,000 women (c. 4.26% of total active duty forces) were enlisted in the Russian Armed Forces. [17] This percentage was relatively low compared to most Western countries (the United States military had 16.5% at the time), and also to China (c. 9% at the time). [17] As of September 2020, conscription was only mandatory for males aged 18–27; members of the State Duma have at times suggested to include females, but such proposals were not adopted. [17] Moreover, unlike foreign men, foreign women were not allowed to join the Russian military. [17] Eligible female Russian citizens faced a large number of restrictions and prohibitions on the types of positions they could apply for and hold: "Russian women are not permitted in frontline combat roles and are therefore typically restricted from service on aircraft, submarines, or tanks. Though the full list is classified, women are also restricted from being mechanics and from performing sentry duties." [17] A notable case is that of a woman named Yana Surgaeva, who was turned away by military recruiters who sent her a letter saying "the approval of military service by women as a driver, mechanic, sniper or gunner is not permitted." [17] Surgaeva then sued the Ministry of Defence and National Guard, and went on to appeal both to the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court, but both courts refused to hear the case. [17]
Chesnut (2020) compared a 2019 survey showing that public opinion in the Russian Federation was simultaneously moving towards more gender equality, but "retreating" towards traditional gender roles, with a 2020 poll conducted by the state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) showing that social attitudes amongst Russians had become less favourable towards women serving in the military. [17] In the 2020 poll, 62% of respondents indicated that they would like to see a son of theirs to serve in the military (with 25% saying "because it is a man's job"), while 63% said they didn't want a daughter to join the army (with 42% saying "the army is not a woman's business, the army is for men"). [17]
The Russian military has faced severe personnel shortages after the 2008 Russian military reform, being only "manned" to c. 70% in 2012. [17] In response, the Ministry of Defence mounted an aggressive campaign against draft evasion amongst men to increase coverage levels to 90~95% by 2020, but 'made little apparent effort to enlist women' in doing so. [17] Despite a 2014 announcement by Deputy Defence Minister Tatiana Shevtsova to enlarge the number of servicewomen in the Russian Armed Forces to 80,000 by 2020, this goal was not achieved (it was c. 41,000 in May 2020). [17] Some observers have concluded that the government had overlooked an obvious source of "manpower" by ignoring the large pool of potential female soldiers. [17]
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On 12 July 2022, Russian media reported the first death of a Russian female soldier in the country's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The soldier was Anastasia Savitskaya, a corporal from Volgograd. [18]
Russian military spouses "are posing a subtle but significant challenge to Vladimir Putin’s handling of the war in Ukraine by engaging in a form of political activism best described as ‘patriotic dissent’. [19] [ clarification needed ]
Marina Mikhaylovna Raskova was the first woman in the Soviet Union to achieve the diploma of professional air navigator. Raskova went from a young woman with aspirations of becoming an opera singer to a military instructor to the Soviet's first female navigator. She was the navigator to many record-setting as well as record-breaking flights and the founding and commanding officer of the 587th Bomber Aviation Regiment, which was renamed the 125th M.M. Raskova Borisov Guards Dive Bomber Regiment in her honor. Raskova became one of over 800,000 women in the military service, founding three female air regiments, one of which eventually flew over 30,000 sorties in World War II and produced at least 30 Heroes of the Soviet Union.
Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak, also known as Lilya, was a fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Force during World War II. Historians estimate for her total victories range from thirteen to fourteen solo victories and four to five shared kills in her 66 combat sorties. In about two years of operations, she was the first female fighter pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft, the first of two female fighter pilots who have earned the title of fighter ace and the holder of the record for the greatest number of kills by a female fighter pilot. She was shot down near Orel during the Battle of Kursk as she attacked a formation of German aircraft.
Yekaterina Vasilyevna Budanova, nicknamed Katya (Катя), was a fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Force during World War II. Usually credited with five or more aerial victories, along with Lydia Litvyak, she is often considered one of the world's two female fighter aces. She was shot down by either Luftwaffe ace Georg Schwientek of JG 52 or ace Emil Bitsch, of JG 3.
Women have been serving in the military since the inception of organized warfare, in both combat and non-combat roles. Their inclusion in combat missions has increased in recent decades, often serving as pilots, mechanics, and infantry officers.
"Night Witches" was a World War II German nickname for the all-female military aviators of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, known later as the 46th "Taman" Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, of the Soviet Air Forces. Though women were officially barred from combat at the time, Major Marina Raskova used her position and personal contacts with the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to obtain permission to form female combat units. "Combat facilitated and ushered in a reluctant acceptance of women in military, based more upon practicality and necessity than for equality". On October 8, 1941, an order was issued to deploy three women's air-force units, including the 588th Regiment. The regiment, formed by Raskova and led by Major Yevdokiya Bershanskaya, was composed primarily of female volunteers in their late teens and early twenties.
Women in combat refers to female military personnel assigned to combat positions. The role of women in the military has varied across the world’s major countries throughout history with several views for and against women in combat. Over time countries have generally become more accepting of women fulfilling combat roles.
The Ukrainian Ground Forces, also referred to as the Ukrainian army, are the land forces of Ukraine and one of the eight branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They were formed from Ukrainian units of the Soviet Army after Ukrainian independence, and trace their ancestry to the 1917–22 army of the Ukrainian People's Republic.
Valentina Stepanovna Grizodubova was one of the first female pilots in the Soviet Union awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and the only female Hero of the Soviet Union to also be awarded the title Hero of Socialist Labour.
Soviet women played an important role in World War II. While most worked in industry, transport, agriculture and other civilian roles, working double shifts to free up enlisted men to fight and increase military production, a sizable number of women served in the army. The majority were in medical units.
Irina Fyodorovna Sebrova was a flight commander in the women's 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, also known as the Night Witches, during the Second World War. She was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 23 February 1945 for her first 825 bombing missions. By the end of the war she totaled over 1,000 sorties, more than any other female pilot.
The recent history of changes in women's roles includes having women in the military. Every country in the world permits the participation of women in the military, in one form or another. In 2018, only two countries conscripted women and men on the same formal conditions: Norway and Sweden. A few other countries have laws conscripting women into their armed forces, however with some difference such as service exemptions, length of service, and more. Some countries do not have conscription, but men and women may serve on a voluntary basis under equal conditions. Alenka Ermenc was the first female head of armed forces in any of the NATO member states, having served as the Chief of the General Staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces between 2018 and 2020.
European countries have had varying policies that confine women and military service or the extent of their participation in the national armed services of their respective countries, especially combatant roles in armed conflicts or hostile environments. While most of the countries have always allowed women to participate in military activities involving no direct aggression with the enemy, most began seeing the value of servicewomen in the armed services during the First World War when they began losing unprecedented numbers of servicemen. In the modern era, many of the European countries allow women to voluntarily pursue a career path or profession in the national armed services of their country as well as permit conscription equality, with minimal or no restrictions at all.
Latvian Riflemen Soviet Divisions were military formations of the Red Army during World War II created in 1941 and consisting primarily of ethnic Latvians.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine are the military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the President of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rada parliamentary commission. They trace their lineage to 1917, while the modern armed forces were formed after Ukrainian independence in 1991.
Raisa Yermolayevna Aronova was a Soviet Polikarpov Po-2 navigator and pilot of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, later renamed 46th Guards Night Bomber Regiment during World War II. She received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on 15 May 1946 for completing 914 night bombing missions against Axis forces.
Olga Aleksandrovna Sanfirova was a captain and squadron commander in the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment during World War II. She was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 23 February 1945, making her the first Tatar woman awarded the title.
Larisa Nikolayevna Rozanova was a Soviet pilot and later the senior navigator of the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, nicknamed the "Night Witches" during World War II. For successfully completing 793 sorties, she was declared a Hero of the Soviet Union on 23 February, 1948.
Zoya Ivanovna Akimova née Parfyonova was a senior lieutenant and deputy squadron commander in the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment during World War II. For completing 815 sorties during the war, she was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 18 August 1945, making her the only woman from Chuvashia to receive the title.
The 125th Borisov Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment named after Marina Raskova was one of the three Soviet women's aviation regiments founded by Marina Raskova at the start of the Second World War. The unit was founded as the 587th Bomber Aviation Regiment in the 223rd Bomber Air Division, 2nd Bomber Aviation Corps of the 16th Air Army on 8 October 1941, and later honored with the guards designation, being renamed 125th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment in September 1943 and reorganized into 4th Guards Bomber Aviation Division, 1st Bomber Aviation Corps, 3rd Air Army, in the 1st Baltic Front. Unlike the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, which used Polikarpov Po-2 utility aircraft, the unit was assigned modern Petlyakov Pe-2 aircraft, which caused some resentment among male units that had older aircraft. Throughout the course of the war, the unit flew 1,134 missions and dropped over 980 tons of bombs on the Axis.
The 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment was one of the three Soviet women's aviation regiments founded by Marina Raskova at the start of the Second World War after she convinced Joseph Stalin to allow her to form three all-female aviation regiments. The regiment was originally equipped with Yakovlev Yak-1 aircraft and later acquired Yak-7 and Yak-9 aircraft in 1943. Sorties were conducted to patrol over military installations and carry out defensive missions. While the regiment was intended to be an all-female regiment it became coed with a preponderance of females after regimental commander Tamara Kazarinova transferred to another unit in October 1942 and was replaced by a man, Aleksander Gridnev. The regiment yielded two female flying aces, Lydia Litvyak and Yekaterina Budanova, who were posthumously awarded the titles Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of the Russian Federation respectively.
В конце 2000-х годов в ВС РФ служили более 90 тыс. женщин. После повышения требований военного ведомства к претенденткам на службу по контракту и в связи с общим сокращением численности ВС РФ это число значительно снизилось.
