Ukrainian refugee women's experiences in Poland in the first months of Russian invasion: a qualitative account Open Access

With the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia on the territory of Ukraine, a third of Ukrainians were forced to leave their homes. According to UNHCR UN information, since February 24, 2022, about 6.29 million people have left Ukraine and have not returned. According to UN data, as of mid-November 2022, there are 7.6 million Ukrainian citizens – forced migrants – who remain abroad. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as of June 21, 2023, 8 million 117 thousand Ukrainian citizens are abroad.

According to the results of a UN survey (UNHCR, Operational data portal, Ukraine refugee situation, May 8, 2023), more than 85% of respondents are women, the vast majority of Ukrainians abroad are women and children under 18 years of age.

According to Eurostat data, the countries that accepted the largest number of refugees are: (1) Germany – 1,111,590 refugees; (2) Poland – 991,375 refugees; (3) Czech Republic – 340,090 refugees (Eurostat data 2023).

Migration is inextricably linked to social inequality. Those who migrate may face unequal access to rights and social resources, including the right to seek protection in cases of those fleeing conflict, violence and persecution (IOM (The International Organization for Migration) 2022, 2023).

At the beginning of 2022, before the start of a full-scale war in Ukraine, the number of Ukrainians in Poland was estimated at approximately 1.3–1.5 million (Duszczyk et al. 2023). Russia's invasion of the territory of Ukraine led to mass movements of wartime refugees (Duszczyk and Kaczmarczyk 2022; Lloyd and Sirkeci 2022). An unprecedented scale of migration is being recorded, since the size of the Ukrainian population living in Poland was estimated at 3.2 million in March 2022 (8% of the total population of Poland) and 3.85 million in April 2022 (9%).

One of the important features that significantly distinguishes Ukrainian migrants who came to Poland before the full-scale war and those who came after February 24, 2022 is that women traveled with their children (Report ‘Citizens of Ukraine on the Polish Labor Market. New challenges and prospects’, EWL, March 2023).

In 2021, there were 89% of Ukrainians without children, after February 24, 2022, 31% moved with one child, 22% with two children, and 13% with three. As for the motives for going abroad, the results of this study coinside with the conclusions of our research, i.e. the main motive for leaving Ukraine was the necessity to save the lives of children and themselves.

The official data confirms it. At the end of 2022, almost 750,000 citizens of Ukraine were registered in the Polish social insurance system (ZUS), i.e. 19% more than at the end of 2021 (ZUS 2022, 2023).

Among those who crossed the border after February 24, 2022, the largest number of migrants are women and children, that is 87%. Before the full-scale invasion, they were 30–40 year old men, and it was a pendulum migration, that is, people went and returned (TVOEMISTO 2022). Another difference is that among migrants to Poland, a significant part of Ukrainians lived according to ‘6 by 6’ model, that is, they worked about half a year in Poland, and lived in Ukraine for half a year.

At the core of this article is the documentation of the experiences of women, including mothers with children, became forced migrants in Poland due to Russia's armed aggression.

Analyzing the life experiences of Ukrainian refugee women in Poland is crucial as it allows an understanding of the objective reality of forced migrants and captures the life experiences of individuals related to adaptation and integration into the conditions of a new country.

This is crucial for capturing the experiences of individuals facing the tragedy of war, understanding what war entails, and how to rebuild life in war conditions, especially concerning mothers with children. Reflections on war provide insight into the initial positions of women at the beginning of war, their status, opportunities, and reasons for emigrating abroad. The description of the challenges faced by refugee women with children in adaptation and integration can serve as a foundational basis for developing migration policies. The goal of such policies would be to provide support and assistance to women with children, and individuals who have become forcibly displaced. Analyzing the prospects of the forced migrants’ return to Ukraine is essential for evaluating the resources, chances, and possibilities of two respondent groups: those planning to return to Ukraine and those opting to remain abroad.

The theoretical foundations of this study are built upon the postulates of the concept of social inequality, the precariat theory, and the concept of resilience.

This study is based on the concept of social inequality, in view of the fact that refugee women in a state of forced migration are in a rather heterogeneous environment and present in a new status of forced migrant, a refugee. The positions of refugee women in their homogenous group are sometimes extremely polarized due to unequal levels of well-being, education and qualifications, and foreign language skills. The levels of social capital of refugee women are also different.

In addition, lack of language skills and social connections or acquaintances in a new country can create another problem for refugee women – the danger of falling into forced labor or sexual exploitation or becoming victims of human trafficking.

Considering this, when analyzing the problems, risks and challenges, which refugee women may face or are facing, the concept of social inequality can be treated as fundamental and key to studying the survival and adaptation strategies of migrants and refugees in the new social reality. The implementation of the idea of social inequality in the research will help to better understand the initial positions of Ukrainian refugee women in the conditions of the new social reality. It also gives an opportunity to assess their potential chances and opportunities for further adaptation and integration in Poland, or prospects of returning to Ukraine.

In this study, the author uses the concepts of social structure and self-identification (Kohn and Slomczynski 2006), and methodology for measuring social inequality (Therborn 2017).

In fact, refugee women, especially those who have limited income sources, form a special social class (refugee women can be considered to be a separate social class due to their number). And this social class can be defined as a precariat, i. e., a social class made up of people suffering from precarity (an unstable way of life without long-term guarantees) (Standing 2012).

To assess the prospects for the persistence of inequality over time, theories of adaptation focus not only on immigrants but also on their children. To study the lives of the descendants of immigrants, according to researchers, is to understand the legacy of immigration (Wallace et al. 2022). Some researchers, for example, predict that children of immigrants will be less likely to experience inequality and will adapt more quickly to life in a new place (Alba and Nee 2003).

Analyzing the motive of Ukrainian refugee women choosing Poland as a country of temporary stay, we refer to the works of Zanabazar et al. (2021), Schulzek (2012), Charsley and Shaw (2006). Thus, Zanabazar et al. (2021) single out various pull-and-push factors that influence migration, such as employment opportunities and high living standards, better medical care, religious tolerance, freedom from persecution etc. The drivers of migration around the world are economic factors, such as lack of work, low living standards and lack of food and shelter; social – lack of medical care and lack of religious tolerance (Carbajal and Calvo 2021; Khalid and Urbański 2021). Political factors influencing migration include war and terrorism, unjust legal systems, and lack of government tolerance. (Hadj Abdou 2020) emphasize that economic stagnation, civil wars, and political revolutions often prompt people to migrate to regions with safe political environment, and security concerns can be the impetus for the decision to migrate to other countries. (Schulzek 2012) concludes that social benefits are the main factors that encourage migration. Charsley and Shaw (2006) identify the desire to reunite with migrant relatives as the main reason for migration.

Baszczak et al. (2022), Bukowski and Duszczyk (2022), Wojdat and Cywiński (2022) describing other factors influencing the flow of refugees to Poland highlight the cultural and linguistic similarities between the two nations and Poland's display of openness to refugees fleeing a full-scale military invasion of their country.

In war conditions, Ukrainian women refugees form, on the one hand, an exceptionally vulnerable social group that is in a state of constant anxiety and lives in complete uncertainty; on the other hand, the awareness and constructive reviewing of values, which is caused by the tragedy of war, can contribute to the growth of the individual, transition to a qualitatively new, higher level of personal development.

Considering the fact that the Ukrainian refugee women in the new social reality, develop new roles, it is important to study the role typology of Ukrainian refugee women, and the stability factors in order to prevent role conflicts. To implement this research task, we refer to the works devoted to the analysis of gender roles, including the role typology of women in war conditions (Blackstone 2003; Lorentzen and Turpin 1998).

The analysis of the scientific literature on the issue of resilience gives reasons to single out the following main definitions of resilience: – a person's ability to cope with difficulties, uncertainty, risks or failures, as well as the ability to adapt to changing life and stressful situations (Masten and Reed 2002, Tugade and Fredrickson 2004); – the ability to adapt better to negative experiences and changes in the external environment (Luthans et al. 2006); – a kind of personal stability, a quality of personality associated with the ability to overcome obstacles and stress, have a high level of subjective well-being and strive for continuous personal self-development, grow in crisis situations, and come out of them as a stronger and more experienced person; – the individual's ability to successfully cope with significant changes, adversities or risks; – stability or rapid recovery (or even growth) under very adverse conditions (Keck and Sakdapolrak 2013); – the ability to resist, adapt to the conditions of adversity, failures and challenges in achieving the desired goals (Lotz 2016).

As for immigrants, resilience is the process that requires a certain type of coping and adaptation, which allows us to trace motives to leave home, to explore the perception of uncertainties and difficulties associated with seeking protection and building a life in a new and unfamiliar place (Oviedo et al. 2022).

In particular, for a more detailed analysis of the phenomenon of ‘resilience of a Ukrainian refugee woman’, it is necessary to refer to the concept of ‘family resilience’ (the ability of the family as a functional system to resist stressful life situations and come out of the family crises stronger and more resilient) (Walsh 2016), ‘community resilience’ (resilience to changes that occur in the community by mobilizing existing resources and confronting crisis phenomena) (Berks and Ross 2013), studying the nature of resilience as a complex construct, due to the fact that people can be more resilient in one moment of their lives and less at another, and that different people show different degree of resilience in approximately the same life situations (Southwick and Charney 2012), the study of resilience factors that help overcome difficulties and stresses are presented in works (Green et al. 2004).

‘Being resilient’ (flexible, stress-resistant personality) in war conditions is especially relevant. When people can rethink constructively their own experiences related to the war, it increases their resilience, enhances their ability to self-regulate, and increases the desire to restore their integrity and the ability to find new life opportunities.

Studies of the phenomenon of resilience and factors of resilience of refugees are related to supporting refugees at workplaces, creating conditions to ensure the psychological well-being of refugees and minimizing the negative impact of stress (Fozdar and Torezani 2008). Resilience of refugee women is the result of ‘human-environment interaction’, is formed in the social space with the external support of friends and other people and depends on the host community (Lenette et al. 2013; Pulvirenti and Mason 2011).

Grabowska et al. (2023), in order to study the psycho-social state of Ukrainian refugees, use the general concept of psychological capital (PsyCap), paying special attention to resilience as its important component. The following components are distinguished in the structure of PsyCap: (1) self-efficacy, as the ability to face challenges, control results and achieve success in solving complex tasks; (2) optimism; (3) hope as the ability to create pathways to success; (4) resilience as the ability to recover from setbacks and move on. Interest in the topic of sustainability is due to its positive impact on the individual, especially this issue is actualized in the context of the analysis of life strategies of vulnerable sections of society or people in difficult situations, such as refugees.

Resilience had a positive impact on the lives of refugees and was manifested in: optimism, the ability to quickly adapt, perseverance, faith in their own strength, which helped refugee women cope with difficult life situations and survive (Brough et al.2003; Khawaja et al. 2008); the ability to depart from being a victim, the ability to take responsibility for one's life, to keep the events of one's life under one's control (Gorman et al. 2003); resilience is necessary because it promotes the activation of the processes necessary to adapt to a new situation and provides an opportunity to cope with adverse conditions and stressful situations (Oviedo et al. 2022; Ungar 2018); resilience promotes the optimal use of resources and flexibility in life activities (Daly 2020).

The data for this paper were collected in Warsaw in June-July 2022, during my internship at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Science (IFiS PAN), financially supported by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS). I discussed the main idea of my study with colleagues from the Research Team on Comparative Analyses of Social Inequality (CASIN IFiS PAN). The collected material includes 32 interviews (IDI).

Regarding the age distribution, the most numerous (85%) among the respondents is the group of women aged 30–54, 10% – women aged 18–29, and 5% of women aged 55 and older. 90% of the interviewed females are women with children. As for the educational distribution, only 15% of the respondents are women with secondary or secondary special education, all the rest have higher education diplomas. Regarding the professional status and type of employment, among the interviewed women there are (in terms of the class scheme of J. Goldthorpe (Goldthorpe and Mcknight 2006)): professionals, managers and officials (civil workers) of the middle level, managers of small enterprises, non-manual labor workers in the field of trade and service, self-employed, skilled workers and unskilled workers. As for marital status, among the respondents, 40% are married, 28% are divorced, 18% are single mothers, 10% are single, and 4% are widows. Representation in the group of interviewed respondents of different social and family status, age gave an opportunity to get closer to the formation of a comprehensive examination of the lives of Ukrainian refugee women in Poland, as well as to conduct a more in-depth analysis of the process of adaptation and integration of women with different starting positions and different amounts of capital in P. Bourdieu's categories of economic, cultural and social capital (Bourdieu 1986).

The interviews were conducted in Ukrainian. It is important that the ‘equal-equal’ principle was observed in the interviews (when both the interviewer and the respondents speak the same language and understand all the difficulties, risks, and challenges associated with moving to Poland due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine). Respondents were mainly interviewed in the parks of Warsaw. We also met people for the interviews in the following places: the tent for Ukrainian refugees near the Warsaw Central station, children's playgrounds; the center for Ukrainian refugees in the premises of the Warsaw Zachodnia station; near hostels where Ukrainian refugee women lived. The author of the article also arranged some interviews when taking part in the integration activities organized by the Ukrainian House and the ‘Our Choice’ Foundation in Warsaw. The interviews were recorded on a dictaphone. All respondents agreed to record the interviews.

The content of the interviews was transcribed and analyzed according to the developed code system. The analysis of respondent's answers is devoted to finding answers to questions about the challenges, dangers, risks and opportunities of Ukrainian refugee women in the process of adaptation to the new social reality and factors of Ukrainian refugee women's resilience. The author of the article analyzed the interview recordings. No qualitative data analysis software was used.

The measurement methodology of social inequality includes the following basic parameters:

1. resource (complex tangible and intangible resources, individual achievements);

2. evaluative (the ability to take advantage of specific benefits and self-identification of individuals in the social reality, evaluation of social significance of one's activity in comparison with others);

3. activity-related (settings for the activity that increases the resource capacity of individuals and satisfaction with the results, which are determined by family status and educational capital, as well as by class affiliation) (Therborn 2017).

Empirical sociological research aimed at observing the following: factors that increase the life chances in a new country; difficulties of adaptation to be faced; the prospects of returning to Ukraine for the refugee women and their expectations from life in Poland.

In addition, the study also focuses on the factors of going abroad, research of starting positions objective status, level of material well-being, level of education, level of social capital, marital status of a woman, employment of a woman (availability or absence of a job in Ukraine upon entering Poland), women's self-assessment of chances and prospects for upward vertical social mobility.

In the article, we use the terms ‘refugee woman’, ‘Ukrainian refugee woman’, although it should be noted that Ukrainian men and women who went to the EU because of the war are not officially ‘refugees’. Persons who were forced to leave their homeland due to the war are subject to the mechanism of temporary protection, which Ukrainians in the EU countries mostly used.

In Poland, special additional legislation was adopted to provide temporary protection to Ukrainians, in particular, the Law ‘On assistance to citizens of Ukraine in connection with the armed conflict on the territory of this state’ dated March 12, 2022 was adopted.

Despite this, the term ‘refugee’ has become common to all Ukrainians. On the website of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) the term ‘refugees’ is used for all Ukrainians who were forced to leave Ukraine due to the war (for example, ‘refugees from Ukraine recorded across Europe’ and ‘refugees from Ukraine registered for Temporary Protection or similar national protection schemes in Europe’). ‘Refugees’ are defined as people who have fled war, violence, conflict or persecution and crossed an international border to find safety in another country (UNHCR, Operational Data Portal).

The understanding of the concept of a ‘refugee’, ‘becoming a refugee’ has become quite sensitive for the respondents. In particular, to the question: ‘Do you feel like a refugee?’, the overwhelming majority of respondents answered ‘no’. Although, later, when they talk about the difficulties they had to face, they say (especially women who had decent jobs and significant status positions in Ukraine) that: ‘they feel like refugees and cry from shame when they stand in line for humanitarian aid’.

For Ukrainian women, refugees are associated with the pain of loss, a tragedy that changed their lives forever. ‘To be a refugee’ means, according to Ukrainian women, to lose their home, to have nowhere to return to, and ‘to be in an uncertain situation and environment’. Based on this, those Ukrainian women who have homes to return to, have not lost their homes, have living relatives who have remained in Ukraine, do not feel like refugees, and do not position themselves as refugees. But, at the same time, they emphasize that they live in a state of uncertainty, and turbulence, they do not know what the next day will bring, they cannot plan their future, and do not know what and who to count on when they can return home.

However, still some women identify themselves as refugees. For many, ‘being a refugee’ means overcoming certain obstacles every day, and making great efforts to ensure more or less decent living conditions for themselves and their child or children. Trying to be as attentive and careful as possible to not fall into the hands of human traffickers or other forms of modern slavery.

Some have a rather calm and moderate attitude to the fact that millions of Ukrainians have become refugees, looking at this situation as a certain positive beginning, which can become an impetus for changes for the better both for the state of Ukraine in general and for each of the individuals who finds themselves in such a situation, in particular.

Grabowska et al. (2023) based on the results of their own research note that as an EU member state that shares a common border with Ukraine, Poland is an attractive destination for Ukrainian refugees. In addition, Poland has extensive networks of migrants that already existed. A large group of Ukrainian migrants in Poland became a source of support for newly arrived refugees: friends, acquaintances, family.

Ukrainian refugee women, when describing the reasons for going abroad, in addition to fear for their lives, also single out such factors as the destruction of infrastructure, demolition of neighboring buildings, water and electricity shutdowns.

For some Ukrainian women, the decision to go abroad is a kind of opportunity to somehow change their lives, and sometimes it is a chance for positive changes.

For example, a single mother who looks at moving to Poland as a chance and an opportunity to change her life for the better, a certain kind of chance for success. The war in Ukraine was a shock for her. She thought it was the end. But with the beginning of the war, she received an offer to leave for Poland. Life in Ukraine seemed extremely difficult to her, she had neither material nor moral support and could rely only on herself. In Poland, she was given shelter by the people she worked for before, when she came to Poland to earn money. After 18 months of stay in Poland, this woman wants to apply for temporary residence to stay in Poland permanently. She believes that Poland is a more favorable country, living in which there are enough chances for self-development and self-realization for adults and children.

Some women consider going abroad as a kind of impetus, ‘I realized that it is urgent to get out of the state of a victim and take responsibility for my life and health into my own hands.’ (Ilona, 44 years, a teacher in a private kindergarten).

Analyzing the spectrum of various factors that can be identified as an impetus for making a decision to move to another country, it is necessary to distinguish the conditions or living environment of a potential migrant. When it comes to living in a country engulfed in full-scale war, one of the basic human needs remains unsatisfied – the need for security. Accordingly, the priority motive for going abroad is the desire to save life for yourself and your child or children. In the vast majority, the choice of the country of temporary stay was not chosen consciously. Ukrainian refugee women were actually going into the unknown, in an unknown direction.

Of course, there were some women who saw certain prospects for a higher standard of living in the possibility of going abroad, some women considered Poland as a certain transit point where you can stop for a while and then go to more desirable countries in Europe, the USA or Canada. But the vast majority of Ukrainian women, especially in the first months after the full-scale invasion, went into obscurity.

After crossing the border, immigrants begin a new stage, adaptation to life in a new country. The process of adaptation is usually accompanied by some difficulties, it can be complicated by ignorance of the language of the country chosen as a place of residence, financial difficulties, ignorance of the legal framework of the host country, culture, traditions, lack of social contacts. Adaptation is defined as a process of convergence that leads to the absence of inequality or mismatch between foreign-born and native-born groups at the population level (Portes et al. 2009; Zhou and Gonzales 2019). Integration as the next stage after adaptation is a kind of indicator of immigrants’ knowledge and ability to build a successful and fulfilling life in a new country (Harder et al. 2018).

The adaptation process, according to Ukrainian women, was quite difficult. The problems were mainly caused by a lack of knowledge of the Polish language, financial difficulties, uncertainty, not understanding the transport infrastructure organization, not knowing how to behave in a new culture, etc. Children also experienced some adaptation inconveniences, they also had difficulty adapting to life in a new country, a new reality.

For many, the biggest difficulties were related to not knowing the language and the absence of work. ‘It's very difficult when you don't know the language, when you don't have a job. And in general, it is difficult to find a job, and it is even more difficult to find a job with a flexible schedule.’ (Oksana, 35 years, a private entrepreneur in the jewelry business).

It seemed difficult for Ukrainian women to understand how the medical system in Poland functions. It was especially worrying when one had to consult a doctor without knowing the Polish language.

According to the interviewees, in Poland, although the government and Polish citizens have provided everything necessary, they do not feel calm and peaceful in their souls, they constantly monitor the news from Ukraine, and the bombings. It is especially difficult for those whose husband or son serves in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And they live in absolute ignorance about what happened to their house, they constantly ask whether their house or apartment stays safe, and how things are going at home.

Many pay attention to the humane aspects of adaptation, the manifestation of extraordinary humanism from the Polish people. And they especially emphasize the feeling of gratitude to representatives of Poland, who helped Ukrainians, thereby often, probably, limiting themselves and their families in some way. For some women, help from the Polish people is like ‘wings of support’ that helped them not to fall into despair in a difficult life situation, to hold on and live on.

Some women associate the process of adaptation with the feeling of pride, first of all for themselves, that they managed to cross the border and arrange life for themselves and their children in a new country.

Moreover, refugee women are unequal both among other refugee women and in comparison with the local population. Due to the fact that quite often refugee women either do not know the Polish language or do not know it at a sufficient level, even if they have a good education and qualifications, they will not be able (at least at the initial stage) to apply for a job relevant to their professional qualifications.

The lack of knowledge of the Polish language, the lack of a nostrified diploma, according to many Ukrainian refugee women, does not inspire any hope for a happy life in Poland, only work in the cleaning service industry is possible. Although, there are a large number of women who attend Polish language courses, which are quite often offered free of charge, and consider the possibility of nostrifying their diploma to find a qualified job in Poland.

Many refugee women, especially those planning to stay in Poland, do low-skilled and auxiliary work, but at the same time they are studying the Polish language and intend to nostrify their Ukrainian diplomas.

Many of the interviewed Ukrainian women paid attention to the feeling of guilt that haunted them for a long time concerning going abroad.

Some women, especially those who live in hostels on a free basis, say that they feel extremely guilty when they stand in line for a free lunch.

Those women in Poland who have not tried on new roles and are, according to their attitudes, quite active and professionally motivated, say that ‘The hardest thing in this regard is to be only a mother due to the lack of opportunities for personal self-realization.’ (Oksana, 35 years, private entrepreneur).

Summing up, it should be noted that the prospects of staying in Poland depend on how successful the integration of Ukrainian refugee women into life in new conditions will be and how long the war in Ukraine will last. If the process of integration of Ukrainian refugee women into the countries of temporary stay is successful, then there may be a significant outflow of the male population from Ukraine for the purpose of ‘family reunification’.

Those women who do not plan to return to Ukraine explain their decision by the fact that ‘there are no prospects in Ukraine, it is difficult to find a job’, etc. In Poland, they have found accommodation, work, and opportunities for their development and self-realization, and they also see prospects, opportunities for development, and a better future for their children.

Poland is among the leading countries that accepted the largest number of Ukrainian refugees and the country that provided significant amounts of financial aid to Ukrainians. The choice of Poland as a country of temporary stay was determined by Poland's friendly attitude towards Ukraine, the desire to support and help; geographical proximity of Poland to Ukraine; provided that other family members were in Poland, then the motive for leaving Ukraine to Poland was the desire to reunite with other family members, financial payments for vulnerable groups of society, including children in the form of cash assistance in the amount of 500 zlotys per child.

From the analysis of the stories of Ukrainian women refugees who crossed the Ukrainian-Polish border after February 24, 2022, it becomes obvious that all the stories described above have the following in common: firstly, they chose the option ‘to go abroad’ regarding the fact that the entire territory of Ukraine was involved in a full-scale war and women, especially women with small children, were striving to save themselves and stay in a safer place where there would be no ‘constant explosions and sirens’, and, secondly, they did not travel to search for a better life for themselves and their children, but with only one goal – ‘to survive, save their lives, not to die at the hands of the aggressor and such a senseless war’.

For many Ukrainian refugee women with children who crossed the border after February 24, the decision to leave Ukraine was driven by fear and constant worry for their child or children. Among mothers, there are (1) those who had somewhere to go and with whom to go could count on someone's help and support and (2) those who had nowhere to go, could count only on themselves and the help from indifferent people, very often went just into uncertainty. Women who visited Poland before, have friends, acquaintances, or simply can contact people who are ready to help them, are in a more favorable situation.

The issue of the difficulty of adapting to new socio-cultural conditions is determined by: the level of globalization of the individual and the level of inclusion in the global geopolitical space (as a tourist, as a foreign worker). The analysis of respondents’ answers shows that women, who have previously come to Poland to work, integrate best or experience almost no adaptation difficulties.

Sometimes, the decision of some Ukrainian women refugees to leave for Poland is determined by the desire to find a job and a means of living, since they lost their jobs in Ukraine during the war.

Ukrainian women lived in Poland, but their thoughts stayed in Ukraine, with their relatives. At the same time, they were constantly worried whether their relatives had survived or not. While living in Poland, many stayed employed in Ukrainian companies and worked remotely.

Those Ukrainian women who were not planning to stay in Poland did not try to learn the Polish language or find a job. They were waiting for when the situation in Ukraine would stabilize and they would get the opportunity to return home.

Women who appeared as forced migrants experienced the most difficulties in the process of adaptation due to their lack of knowledge of the language, financial difficulties, lack of awareness of all the resources and opportunities provided to Ukrainian refugees, fears, in particular the fear of falling into forced labor slavery or sexual exploitation, the fear of becoming victims of human traffickers, lack of understanding transport infrastructure.

In addition to material resources, a fairly serious factor that contributes to integration into the new reality is knowledge of the language, as well as the compliance of educational and professional qualifications with European standards, which allows them to find a job with a decent salary and, for example, be able to rent housing. In this case, the ‘Matthew Effect’ is activated as a phenomenon of uneven distribution of advantages, in which the one who owns them continues to accumulate them (Merton 1968).

Many women, answering the question about leaving Ukraine, feel a sense of guilt because of their departure, motivating it by the fact that they could stay in their native country at least to volunteer, weave camouflage nets, and help the needy.

As for the prospects of returning to Ukraine, those who had a good life in Ukraine, who had a good job or their own business, or those who do not see prospects for further life in Poland, want to return to Ukraine the most.

Those who want to stay in Poland either have found a job in Poland or understand that there is nowhere to return to Ukraine, everything has been lost. There is a separate group of women who live in Poland to get through a difficult period, and work remotely in Ukraine. As soon as the situation in Ukraine stabilizes, they will immediately return to Ukraine.

The desire and intentions of Ukrainian refugee women to return to Ukraine can also be evidenced by the remote education of children in a Ukrainian school. Those of the women who intend to stay in Poland try to be integrated into life as much as possible, primarily through learning the Polish language and teaching their children the Polish language, visiting a Polish school.

Many of the interviewed Ukrainian women claim that ‘in Poland they did not live an adult life or did not lead the lifestyle of an adult.’ Since the vast majority of refugees did not pay for housing rent, but lived in housing that was provided to them as to refugees for free.

For many, returning to Ukraine will mean a victory, an opportunity to continue their usual life.

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.