МАТЕРИНСТВО І ВІЙНА: ЕКЗИСТЕНЦІЙНІ ВИКЛИКИ ТА ЕТИЧНІ КОЛІЗІЇ

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study of the problem of fulfilling maternal responsibilities during war. The attention is focused on the different roles that mothers play during the war, on possible responses of motherhood to the challenges of war. It is emphasized that war is a breaking point for society and for each family, a test of morality and nobility of the human spirit. A just defensive war is viewed as an ethical and existential challenge that provides a tragic opportunity to reveal moral qualities, leading to the rise of the spirit, in conditions when the aggressor is trying to brutally destroy them. It is noted that gender issues in wartime were considered in feminist discourse since the mid-twentieth century. Traditionally, researchers have focused on such women's roles as anti-militarists, women victims, women volunteers, and women soldiers. It is emphasized that a woman can play several roles during war, changing her attitude to events, the degree of activity, and the priority of roles. The role multiplicity of mothers remained on the outskirts of humanitarian discourse. The article emphasizes that mothers perform different roles in wartime, depending on the age of there children, the territory of residence, the attitude to the military service of an adult child, etc. A woman mother immanently assumes responsibility and the burden of sacrifice, the degree of which has a specific historical character and is significantly increased in the conditions of hostilities. The role variants of mothers are considered not as deterministic, but as teleological, as those that depend on the system of ethical qualities of a woman. The roles of a mother who serves in the army, a volunteer mother, and a mother who saves young children are given as examples. However, the greatest attention is paid to the mothers of soldiers. The author analyzes the historical tradition of the possibilities of using the influence of mothers on mobilization, on organizing assistance to the army, and on supporting the spirit of the military. It is argued that, despite the nine-year experience of the Russian-Ukrainian war and positive examples of modern Ukrainian mothers of soldiers, sacrifice and high morality will never be widespread, but there may be more conscious mothers, and the attitude towards soldiers and their families may become more respectful. It is emphasized that maternal responsibility is a worthy response to the existential challenges and ethical conflicts caused by war, so further research on these issues in the multidisciplinary humanitarian discourse is important.