With Diplomas in One Hand and Children in the Other: Status Reconstruction Work Among Highly Educated Ukrainian Refugee Women

Highly educated refugee women often enter the local labor market without regaining their previous occupational standing. This study examines how Ukrainian refugee women rebuild occupational status after forced, gendered, and credentialed displacement. The analysis draws on 28 qualitative interviews, complemented by a pre-interview survey, which provides descriptive context. We develop the concept of status reconstruction work to describe the practices through which women respond to the devaluation of qualifications, experience, and professional identity. Three interconnected forms of work emerged. Convertibility work makes prior competence usable in a new institutional setting. Connectivity work links that competence to information, opportunities, and gatekeepers. Credibility work rebuilds professional legitimacy and recognition. These forms are distinguished by their functions, so a single activity may serve multiple purposes. Gendered care and settlement demands limit the time and resources available for reconstruction work. At the same time, continued employment or study in Ukraine may preserve income and professional identity while simultaneously adding to women's workload. Experiences associated with post-traumatic growth were uneven and did not necessarily accompany occupational reconstruction. By shifting attention from status loss to the work undertaken in response, the study links professional devaluation with women's agency. It shows how displaced women try to make prior competence usable, connect it to opportunities, and establish its credibility within recognition contexts they do not fully control.