Invisible Battalion — Advocacy Research Driving Military Gender Reform in Ukraine

Invisible Battalion was a 2015 sociological study by Kyiv-Mohyla Academy researchers (Tamara Martsenyuk, Anna Kvit, Ganna Grytsenko), coordinated by activist Maria Berlinska with UN Women Ukraine support, based on 42 in-depth interviews with women serving in Ukraine's Anti-Terrorist Operation, documenting that women performed combat functions while formally registered in non-combat roles without legal recognition or veteran status.

Fewer than 40% of women interviewed had obtained a formal combat position and its legal protections. The resulting advocacy led to the 2018 Law opening 63 combat role categories to women and an October 2019 parliamentary vote granting veteran status to women ATO volunteers. By May 2021, women in the armed forces had doubled since 2013, female officers had tripled to about 5,000, and female cadets had nearly quadrupled; by September 2022 about 50,000 women were serving, including around 10,000 on the front lines.

UN Women documented the research-to-advocacy-to-law approach as a replicable model for addressing gender blind spots in post-conflict security sectors.