ABSTRACT

First published in 2005. This volume documents women's 20th century wartime experiences from World War I through the recent conflicts in Bosnia. The articles cross national boundaries including France, China, Peru, Guatemala, Germany, Bosnia, the U.S. and Great Britain.. The contributors of these original essays trace the evolution of women's roles as victims of war while also showing how they have been increasingly incorporated into battle as actors and perpetrators. These comparative studies analyze war's disruptions of daily life, its effects on children, rape as a war crime, access to equal opportunity, and women's resistance to violence.

chapter One|28 pages

Soldiers, Saints, or Sacrificial Lambs?

Women's Relationship to Combat and the Fortification of the Home Front in the Twentieth Century

part I|52 pages

1914—1939

chapter Two|10 pages

Tortured and Exalted by War

French Catholic Women, 1914–1918

chapter Three|10 pages

The Great War and Modern Motherhood

La Maternité and the Bombing of Paris

chapter Four|14 pages

The Enemy Within

The Problem of British Women's Sexuality During the First World War

chapter Five|17 pages

Why We Joined the Revolution

Voices of Chinese Women Soldiers

part II|112 pages

1940–1945

chapter Six|17 pages

Surviving the German Invasion of France

Women's Stories of the Exodus of 1940

chapter Seven|18 pages

The Womanly Face of War

Soviet Women Remember World War II

chapter Eight|18 pages

A Question of Silence

The Rape of German Women by Soviet Occupation Soldiers

chapter Nine|19 pages

The Lesbian Threat

Within the World War II Women's Army Corps

chapter Ten|21 pages

The Silent Significant Minority

Japanese-American Women, Evacuation, and Internment During World War II

chapter Eleven|18 pages

Turning Women into Weapons

Japan's Women, the Battle of Saipan, and the “Nature of the Pacific War”

part III|70 pages

1946-Present

chapter Twelve|18 pages

Gender, War, and the Birth of States

Syrian and Lebanese Women's Mobilization During World War II

chapter Thirteen|16 pages

Silence, Invisibility, and Isolation

Mayan Women's Strategies for Defense and Survival in Guatemala

chapter Fourteen|14 pages

“It's Right to Fight”

Women Insurgents in Peru

chapter Fifteen|21 pages

Surfacing Gender

Reengraving Crimes Against Women in Humanitarian Law