ABSTRACT
Among the variety of social, economic, and political factors that affect women’s participation in the military are the conditions and constraints of female economic and political participation. As far as the pattern of women’s economic mobilization is concerned, a crucial question is that of the conciliation of work and the family. As underlined in Chapter 1, not only are women’s social roles affected by cultural expectations regarding their devotion to the family, but the share of responsibilities in the domestic sphere also structures to a great extent women’s work options and strategies. The second issue, in turn, refers to women’s status as citizens and their relationship to the state. Examining this requires a close analysis of the specifically political debates and controversies around women’s status and interests as both citizens and soldiers. In this chapter I shall explore these two dimensions of the presence of women in the social and political system.
