Join SOC ACE researchers Dr Orly Stern and Olivia Allison for a webinar examining the gendered dynamics of Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territories. They will consider how women participate in - and are harmed by - the illicit financial flows (IFF) underpinning the occupation economy.
While conventional analyses tend to foreground military actors and elite male networks, this session looks at the often‑overlooked roles women play.
The speakers will explore how women are embedded across mid‑ and lower‑level administrative, judicial, and civil service structures that facilitate property seizures, business expropriations, and corrupt reconstruction schemes. They will discuss how these patterns reflect wider gender norms in both Russia and Ukraine.
The webinar will also consider how some women become linked to IFF activity through personal relationships – as wives and partners of Russian or pro‑Russian elites, acting as proxies for male relatives.
A key theme will be the disproportionate impact on Ukrainian women who remain in occupied areas - often at higher rates than men due to caregiving responsibilities and reduced risk of detention. The speakers will critically examine how women being prosecuted for collaboration, often without full consideration of the duress they faced.
Finally, the panel will outline a more nuanced and context sensitive framework for understanding women’s roles under occupation which distinguishes between - enablers of illicit systems and individuals navigating survival in coercive environments.
Register for the Webinar here
Panelists
Dr Orly Stern
Researcher, consultant and international lawyer, focused on armed conflict, gender, security and law. She has 20 years’ experience, and has consulted for international organisations, governments, research institutions, companies and non-governmental organisations. She recently published a book, Women and War Economies, exploring women’s roles in wartime crime and in the economic elements of war-making.
Olivia Allison
Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), and an independent consultant on illicit finance, sanctions evasion, international corruption and corporate governance. She has more than 15 years’ experience carrying out complex international investigations, and supporting the development of integrity and governance for private and state-owned companies.
Professor Heather Marquette
Director of the Serious Organised Crime & Anti-Corruption Evidence (SOC ACE) research programme and Professor of Development Politics in the International Development Department, University of Birmingham. Her research focuses on transnational threats, corruption, organised crime, aid and foreign policy, governance, and political analysis.