Navigating Access: Lived Experiences of Ukrainian Refugee Women in Germany’s Social and Healthcare Services

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, over one million predominantly female Ukrainian refugees have settled in Germany. While the EU Temporary Protection Directive formally grants them access to housing, welfare, and healthcare, these services remain difficult to navigate due to complex bureaucratic processes and inequalities of access. This presentation uses access as an analytical lens to explore how Ukrainian refugee mothers engage with essential services such as healthcare, social welfare, housing, and language education, and how these systems shape their current life situation.

This presentation uses access as an analytical lens to explore how Ukrainian refugee mothers perceive and engage with key services such as healthcare, social welfare, housing, and language education. Drawing on in-depth interviews, the research highlights not only the barriers they encounter—such as linguistic challenges, lack of knowledge, and bureaucratic complexities—but also the role of formal and informal gatekeepers who have the power to either facilitate access or contribute to their exclusion from these services. The study also examines how individual life circumstances, such as single motherhood and community ties, shape both their access to and exclusion from essential services, as well as the strategies they employ to navigate these challenges.

By applying access as a central analytical concept and highlighting the particular challenges and strategies of (single) refugee mothers, this study brings migration studies and social policy into dialogue. It uncovers gaps in the current support systems while offering insights into how access can be adjusted for refugee women and mothers.