Petition calling for mobilization of childless women appears on Ukrainian government website

A petition has been published on the official website of the Ukrainian government proposing that military service obligations be extended to able-bodied women who have no children.

The text of the document states that the initiative is based on the principle of equality of citizens before the law and the need for a fair distribution of responsibilities in wartime.

“Taking into account the principle of equality of citizens before the law and the need for a fair distribution of responsibilities in wartime, I ask that consideration be given to amending legislation to extend military service obligations to able-bodied women who have no children,” the document states.

The author of the petition notes that women without children are currently not subject to mandatory conscription and do not bear equal responsibility with men under military service obligations. At the same time, in the author’s view, they do not perform functions related to the care and upbringing of children — and it is precisely this that constitutes a legitimate basis for state-granted exemptions.

In the opinion of the initiative’s author, including childless women in the category of persons subject to mobilization would give effect to the constitutional principle that defending the country is the duty of every citizen.

In under 24 hours, the petition collected 187 signatures.

It was previously reported that employees of a territorial recruitment center in the Volyn region mobilized a priest of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.