ABSTRACT
In general, war lies at the heart of constructing stereotypes regarding sexual differences. Men, from the young to the elderly, are expected to go to the war front as soldiers, while women are in most cases expected to stay at home. This sexual division of labour in war is based on a universal social and cultural assumption about men and women across various nation-states and through history, that is, an assumption that men are aggressive and warlike (‘masculine’) as compared to women who procreate and raise new generations (‘feminine’) (Enloe 1988: 210-13). This also suggests that women love a peaceful world where children’s welfare can be sustained. However, contrary to the conventional assumption of the sexual division of labour in war, the ‘total war’ regime brought a new question into the sexual division of labour, as it theoretically required every single member of the state to make commitments to the war project. In fact, numerous women joined the Second World War as ‘women soldiers’ for both the Allied and the Axis powers (Takahashi 1992: 249-56).4 Besides being women soldiers, moreover, women waged war through their various social and familial roles. Takahashi summarizes women’s participation in the Second World War across the combatant states in the following three areas.
