Right now, the world is facing more conflicts than it has since World War II – and women continue to bear the heaviest burden. From Ukraine to Gaza to Sudan, the toll on women is brutal as they deal with violence, trafficking, homelessness, hunger and the struggle to survive amid the wreckage of war.
Nowhere is this more clear than in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where last month, Rwandan-backed M23 rebels seized Goma, the largest city in eastern DRC, killing over 900 people in a week. The violence against women was especially horrific: many were not only killed but also raped and kidnapped. While the United Nations (UN) condemned the attacks, they were limited in what they could do to stop the violence. Reports from their partners on the ground showed a staggering increase in rape cases, with 42 health facilities treating five times more victims in a single week, from 27 January to 2 February of this year.
In Ukraine, where Russia’s full-scale invasion heads into its third year, women make up the majority of the 4.6 million people displaced inside the country, while 8 million women and girls require humanitarian aid. Despite these overwhelming needs, local women’s organisations receive less than 1% of the $30 billion in relief funds. But as women flee, they don’t just dodge bombs – they also face traffickers. Within weeks of the war’s onset, sex rings began targeting women, exploiting their desperation for safety. Now survival has become even harder – on Tuesday 4 March, US President Donald Trump froze all military aid to Ukraine, halting ammunition, vehicles and equipment. This cut will cost lives as US funds don’t just fuel the war effort, they keep Ukraine’s government afloat.
In Gaza, even as a fragile ceasefire holds, the devastation is absolute. Of the 12 partially functioning hospitals, only two can provide maternity services – down from 36. Each day, an estimated 180 women give birth amid the ruins of a collapsed health system, where newborns struggle in makeshift incubators and mothers haemorrhage due to lack of medical supplies. Things are bound to get worse, as over the past weekend, Israel stopped all humanitarian aid and supplies from entering. Othman Moqbel, who works at Action For Humanity, told Service95 it’s a “mass torture”, condemning Israel’s actions as a breach of international law. With 80% of women in Gaza skipping meals so their children can eat, the suffering is unimaginable.
Further south, Sudan teeters on the edge of complete collapse. Fighting has engulfed entire regions, with reports emerging of chemical weapons being used on civilians. Rape, forced marriage and sexual slavery are rampant, with firearms, whips and knives also used against victims. More than 11 million people are displaced, 2.7 million of them being women of reproductive age.
When women survive, they are also the frontlines of resilience. In Lebanon, where conflict has collapsed the economy, women provide 94% of unpaid childcare, navigate school closures and absorb the fallout of a crumbling society. The poverty rate surged from 12% in 2012 to 44% in 2022, worsening early marriages, limiting education and deteriorating maternal health outcomes.
These are not isolated horrors but part of, tragically, a global trend where war is waged on women’s bodies. UN Women’s latest report reveals the proportion of women killed in armed conflicts has doubled as well as a 50% surge in sexual violence in war zones, with women making up half of the world’s 117.5 million displaced people. Yet Western governments are slashing aid instead of increasing it. The UK’s recent decision to cut its aid budget from 0.5% to 0.3% of national income in favour of defence spending was described by former development minister Anneliese Dodds as “a betrayal of the world’s poorest.” Plus, the abrupt dismantling of USAID under President Trump’s administration has halted critical humanitarian aid programmes, haemorrhaging support for women in some of the most vulnerable countries.
“More than 600 million women and girls live in areas affected by conflict,” says Sara Bowcutt from Women for Women International UK. “The need is going through the roof and support is going through the floor. The world works better for everyone, not just for women and girls, and not just for people in conflict zones when women are empowered.”
On this year’s International Women’s Day, there will be speeches and hashtags. But for the millions of women trapped in war zones, what they need is not words; it is action. Aid that reaches them. Accountability for their abusers. A seat at the table where their futures are decided.
Of course, despite the immense turmoil and suffering, and even in the heart of these active war zones, many women are defying the odds, carving out careers and working tirelessly to build a better future for themselves and their families. Here, are just a few inspiring stories from around the world...
Marharyta, Ukraine
In the pockmarked fields of Kharkiv, where war has left its trace in rusted shells and hidden explosives, Marharyta Yelkina treads carefully. One wrong step and it could be her last. At 34, she has swapped spreadsheets for mine detectors, leading a team with the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) to clear Ukraine’s scarred landscape. It is, by any measure, one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Nearly a third of the country is now contaminated with mines and unexploded ordnance, a deadly legacy of Russia’s continued invasion.
In Balakliya, a town that was under occupation for more than six months, the scars of war are everywhere – tripwires, buried shells, and abandoned homes holding hidden dangers
Marharyta and her team have been clearing the area since the start of February. “There’s a lot of work to do and a lot of threats, but it’s also a new experience for me,” she says. Since February, Marharyta and her team have been clearing the area. Before the war, she was an accountant, but when her mother fell ill, she had to abandon her career to care for her. Struggling financially, Marharyta discovered demining, and “something clicked. I knew I could do this,” she says. Now, she’s part of the long-term effort to clear land and aid her country’s recovery. “I hope that we will be able to start restoring the state of our country. This includes clearing land, but also economic and psychological recovery, the last one will play an important role in all of this.”
Doreen, Democratic Republic of Congo
When Doreen arrived in Uganda in 2020, she had nothing. War had torn through her village in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), forcing her to flee with her children. Her husband had been killed in an ambush. The journey, eight months on foot, was brutal. “We used to have everything: land, food, money, freedom – but when the war started, all of it was taken from us,” says the 28-year-old. Yakubu Mohammed Saani, ActionAid DRC’s Country Director, says: “More than 400,000 people have been displaced this year alone [2025]. The crisis is already one of the worst in the world, and this latest surge in violence threatens to make it even worse.”
In the refugee settlements of Uganda, survival for Doreen was a daily struggle. She scavenged for firewood, took on casual labour – anything to feed her children. But she refused to let war define her future. A training programme run by Community Transformation Agenda (COTA), an ActionAid partner, offered her a way out with agroecology. She learnt to farm, growing food to feed her family and sell at the market. Slowly, life stabilised and now she is a leader, too. As chairperson of the Refugee Welfare Council, she listens to the needs of her community, mobilises others and fights for refugee rights. “I learnt that women have the right to do everything,” she says. “I decided to lead and make a difference.”
Grace, Nigeria
In 2012, gunmen raided Grace’s village in Nigeria. Clutching her baby daughter and carrying her son on her back, she fled into the night, wading into a river to hide. She gripped a thorny plant to stop the current from sweeping her away – and by morning, her home was gone. Years later, after the death of her husband, she was pressured into another marriage. When that also became unbearable, she returned to her mother’s home and, determined to rebuild, she took up tailoring.
In May 2023, Grace joined one of the Women For Women International’s programmes and discovered a new purpose: making reusable menstrual pads. For many women in her community, periods were shameful and a struggle. Without access to sanitary products, many women were forced to rely on rags, leaves or even cow dung. Grace is helping to change that by sewing and selling reusable pads while educating her community on menstrual health, providing not only a safer option but a more affordable one, too. She tells Service95: “Besides the profit, improving menstrual hygiene in my community is a significant achievement for me.”
Yazidi Women, Iraq
The gym in Essyan camp in Iraqi Kurdistan is little more than a shipping container, its corrugated metal walls trapping the fierce heat. When the electricity works, fans hum against temperatures that soar beyond 50°C. But for the Yazidi women who come here every day, survivors of ISIS brutality, this space is more than just a place to exercise – it is a chance to reclaim their lives.
Most of the women at the gym were teenagers when ISIS stormed their hometowns in 2014 and committed what would later be declared genocide against the ethnoreligious group. Since then, tens of thousands of people have been languishing in displacement camps across Iraqi Kurdistan. Families have spent years in makeshift tents under dire circumstances, but in the gym, they find solace. “I come every weekday for an hour,” one woman, who wishes to stay anonymous, tells Service95. She continues: “It helps me reduce stress and take care of my health. I feel like I have more energy now. Before, we had nothing to do and life was hard. Now, we have somewhere to go. We gossip and exchange ideas ”
In the shipping container next door, a small library established by the same charity – a Lotus Flower project with CARE – is a rare oasis in the middle of the camp. A sign at the entrance reads: “Books wash away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Inside, bright blue walls and fake flowers are a far cry from the piles of putrid rubbish building up tents. For all the suffering witnessed here, this is one of the only places where the women can be seen smiling.
