'Sexism & misogyny': Outrage as Ukrainian female troops march in heels for military parade

Ukrainian Defence forces Saturday scooped flak and criticism after dozens of female soldiers were seen training in heels for the Ukrainian military parade scheduled for next month for the country’s 30th independence anniversary. Calling the move as “humiliating,” “sexist” and “misogynistic,” lawmakers demanded a response from the Ministry of Defence on why it let the female soldiers march in heeled black pumps. Amid nationwide backlash, the Ukrainian forces realigned their stance on the footwear as they admitted that it was “indeed more challenging” for the women soldiers to march in heels.

Angst and outrage poured in after the Ukrainian military published pictures of women troops wearing heels being trained by a male commander on the defense ministry’s official Facebook handle.

Ukrainian military came under fire after a female cadet shared the experience on the defence ministry's information site ArmiaInform, saying, “Today, for the first time, training takes place in heeled shoes. It is slightly harder than in army boots but we are trying.” 

Instantly, condemning the shocking incident, an opposition lawmaker,  Inna Sovsun, fired a response on Facebook stating, “Walking in the heat on our roads, the military risks injury, damage to shins, ligaments and even rubbing their feet. Why? To bring to life someone’s stereotypes about the only role of a woman as a beautiful doll?”

Across the social media, and within the Ukrainian parliament, MPs and commenters lambasted the “medieval mindset” of some men in the forces, as they called the heel march a disgrace and insult to the 31,000 women currently serving in Ukraine's armed forces, of which 4,000 are in the position of officers. Vitaly Portnikov on Facebook opined that the story of women armed forces parade in heels was a mockery. Te others slammed the move as discriminatory and unacceptable. "High heel is a mockery of women imposed by the beauty industry," Iryna Gerashchenko, an opposition MP, said on Facebook. 

'Women, like men, fight in combat boots,' reminded gender equality activist 

"It is hard to imagine a more idiotic, harmful idea," she said, adding that female soldiers in Ukraine, like men, were risking their lives and "do not deserve to be mocked,” Inna Sovsun, a member of the Golos party said, berating the unidentified decision-maker. The photos stirred debates about the position of the Ukrainian army in integrating the women in forces appropriately despite the opening doors of opportunities to the females.  Inna Sovsun slammed the idea as “harmful” and “idiotic.” A popular gender equality campaigner Maria Berlinska stated that the Ukrainian military had deflected from its goal of parading the female soldiers as “military’s strength.” “Women, like men, fight in combat boots,” she wrote in a Facebook post.