Women and War: An Overview

Women have always been involved in warfare. They have been victims, enablers, and even combatants. Historiography has been totally inadequate in noticing and analyzing their role in warfare. Occasionally a nod has been given to them, often in the form of a footnote to emphasize the brutality of warfare. Ellen Rosenhaft has observed, “women are invisible (in history) unless we are looking straight at them.” I contend that even when they should have been plainly visible, they have been largely ignored.

This presentation will emphasize what an integral role has been played in war by women throughout history. It will provide an overview of the impact of war on women and the impact of women on war. It will assess women as survivors and victims, vivandières and combatants, agents of revolutionary violence and terror, and, finally in the twentieth century, as essential elements of war economies. Mass war in the twentieth century led to the recruitment of women first as members of uniformed auxiliary units and then as full-fledged members of combat units. The changes in the status of women in the military after World War II will be examined.  As women were integrated into the regular military forces of most developed industrial nations, the question of the role of women in war became a political issue. However, given the contemporary character of war and issues of equality, it has become impossible to separate women from combat.  This in turn has produced a new array of issues. Just as women have proven themselves capable of leading troops in difficult situations, so they have now shown that they can become vulnerable to the power of wielding power.