Resilience Against All Odds: How Refugee Women From Ukraine Find Courage Through Transnational Families

Abstract

The recent war in Ukraine has prompted a global focus on refugees and their ability to successfully overcome adversity. This article focuses on the factors that foster resilience in women refugees. Refugee resilience depends on external environments as much as on internal strength, both of which relate to the nature of transnational families that stretch across at least two countries and rely on the family member's internal capacity to address the challenge of maintaining ties, alongside their external resources available in their circumstances. A qualitative study was conducted in November 2022 with 11 women refugees from Ukraine interviewed in Warsaw, Poland. Eight themes that contribute to resilience in women refugees were identified, including (1) family (in particular, intergenerational family solidarity), (2) community, (3) artistic expression and artisan creation, (4) connection to nature and environment, (5) access to mental health professionals, (6) work, (7) faith and spirituality and (8) hope for the future. Dominant, overarching narratives included the safety and well-being of participants’ children, overcoming adversities for the sake of their sons and daughters and facing daily struggles related to providing for their family.