The war in Ukraine has been reshaping women’s roles at home and in their communities. When war separates families, who holds everyday life together?

This and other questions will be answered by Ágnes Erőss (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano) during the 5^th  DEMFAM Thursday talk:

“Changing roles of ethnic Hungarian women in Transcarpathia, Western Ukraine”

This talk brings into the spotlight ethnic Hungarian women who stayed in their homeland, Transcarpathia, Western Ukraine, after the full-scale invasion of Russia in 2022. It aims to show what kind of (im)mobility-based coping strategies families develop and how the role of women changes in this process.

In Transcarpathia, transnational circular migration has been an integral part of families' survival strategies for decades, resulting in gender and age imbalance, especially in rural areas. With the ongoing war in Ukraine, many families have separated: men liable to military service either left or decided not to return to Transcarpathia, while women and older adults who stay put face increased responsibilities at home and within the community. Women took over many tasks, some previously considered ‘men’s duty’ in the family, entailing significantly increased mobility and the acquisition or reactivation of skills, resources, and networks. Women act in multiple roles in the family that are often construed in patriarchal terms, internalized by generations of women, and only occasionally questioned.

Speakers’ bio:

Ágnes Erőss is a geographer, currently a Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions (MSCA) Seal of Excellence post-doctoral researcher at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (Italy), and a research fellow at the HUN-REN RCAES Geographical Institute (Hungary). Her MSCA project aims to explore the gender aspect of (im)mobility in Transcarpathia, Western Ukraine in the context of the ongoing war. She co-directed two documentary films and is the co-organizer of Spotlight
Summer School on documentary filmmaking in social sciences.