Throughout history, women have played diverse roles in times of war, often contributing to the war efforts in various ways. Despite facing significant societal and cultural barriers, many women have made remarkable contributions to their countries during times of conflict.
Below the level of queens and prime ministers, throughout history, some women accompanied armies assigned combat missions, usually handling roles such as cooking and laundry, as relations and camp followers. They sewed bandages, rubbed cow pat as 'medicine' and other medical equipment for the soldiers. Women worked in munitions factories. Nursing became a major role starting in the middle 19th century. The main role in World War I (1914-1918) was employment in munitions factories, farming, and other roles to replace men drafted for the army. Women played an important role in making the system of food rationing work. World War II (1939-1945) marked a decisive turning point, with millions of women handling important homefront roles, such as working in munitions factories and otherwise replacing drafted men. Volunteer roles expanded. The most dramatic new change was millions of women in regular military units. Typically they handled clerical roles so that some men could be released for combat. Many women in the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and the United Kingdom fought in combat roles especially in anti-aircraft units, where they shot down enemy bombers. Underground and resistance movements made extensive use of women in combat roles. Reaction set in after 1945, and the roles allowed to women was sharply reduced in all major armies. Restarting in the 1970s, women played an increasing role in the military of major nations, including by 2005 roles as combat pilots. The new combat roles were highly controversial for many reasons including differences in physical capabilities of the sexes [1] and issues of gender identity for both women and men.[2]
^Brad Knickerbocker (January 4, 2014). "Just three pull-ups: Too many for women in the Marine Corps?". CS Monitor. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
^Barton C. Hacker and Margaret Vining, eds. A Companion to Women's Military History (2012)
Throughout history, women have played diverse roles in times of war, often contributing to the war efforts in various ways. Despite facing significant...
Womenin the Vietnam War were active in a large variety of roles, making significant impacts on the War and with the War having significant impacts on...
Womenin World War I were mobilized in unprecedented numbers on all sides. The vast majority of these women were drafted into the civilian work force...
Women took on many different roles during World War II, including as combatants and workers on the home front. “More than six million women took wartime...
WomeninWar is a 1940 American war film about the nurses of the British Voluntary Aid Detachment during the Battle of France. Directed by John H. Auer...
Women fulfilled a number of different functions during the Algerian War (1954–1962). The majority of Muslim women who became active participants did so...
reported on the warin 1868, it considered Paraguayan women equal to their male counterparts. Paraguayan women's support of the war effort can be divided...
War II. The term "comfort women" is a translation of the Japanese ianfu (慰安婦), which literally means "comforting, consoling woman". During World War II...
During the First World War, the main purpose of British propaganda was to encourage men to join the army, and women to work in the country's industry...
"War on women" is a slogan in United States politics used to describe certain Republican Party policies and legislation as a wide-scale effort to restrict...
women played an important role in World War II (whose Eastern Front was known as the Great Patriotic Warin the Soviet Union). While most worked in industry...
of women. In the 1918 Finnish Civil War, more than 2,000 women fought in the Women's Red Guards. During the Spanish Civil War, thousands of women fought...
During both World Wars, women were required to undertake new roles in their respective national war efforts. Women across the world experienced severe...
Since the beginning of the Mexican Drug Warin 2006, many women, of Mexican and other nationalities, have been victims of extortion, rape, torture, and...
War brides are women who married military personnel from other countries in times of war or during military occupations, a practice that occurred in great...
Womenin the warin Donbas have taken on many different roles, both in the military and as civilians. The war has seen a significant increase in the number...
women is rooted in the days of the Yishuv, when Jewish women served in the ranks of various Zionist paramilitaries during the 1947–1949 Palestine War...
In the Indian Armed Forces women are allowed to join in combat service support branches and in non combatant roles only and they can only become officers...
Women at War is a 1943 American short drama film directed by Jean Negulesco and starring Faye Emerson. It was nominated for an Academy Award at the 16th...
Women were active in a number of roles during the Gulf War. The Gulf War marked the first conflict in which women officially took on combat roles in the...
American womenin World War II became involved in many tasks they rarely had before; as the war involved global conflict on an unprecedented scale, the...
Ancient Greek myths of the Amazons. In Ancient Greece, several women were said to have participated in the Trojan War, including Epipole of Carystus and...
The role of womenin warfare and outside the home continued to increase throughout the 20th century, especially during the Indochina Wars. During and...
Women Against War is the name of two organizations of women opposed to war. The first of these organizations was created in the 1950s in response to the...