This document compares the roles of women in wars across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. In Europe, women took on new roles as laborers in factories and on farms, and as caregivers to families while men fought. In Asia, women rarely served as combatants but some did, like female samurai in Japan. However, many Asian women experienced sexual violence and exploitation. In the Middle East, some women directly participated as soldiers and suicide bombers, while others engaged in politics and expanded reproductive duties during conflicts. Overall, women's experiences varied significantly between regions due to cultural and ideological differences regarding gender.

1. Women in Wars – A cross-border
comparison between Europe, Asia
and Middle East
Law Po Yee, Sunny 10019510
Tong Wai Kit, Wilson 10012214
Lui Sin Ting, Annie 10011242

2. Europe

3. Women’s Role and Responsibilities
 A new source of labour
force
 New roles and
responsibilities in 3
aspects:
 1. family
 2. factory work
 3. Support for war 
homefront

4. Family
 become the
breadwinners of the
family
 Take care of child and
elderly
 Evacuation
 Food rationing

5. Factory Work
 Encouraged and later
conscripted by the
government
 Engaged in both
domestic and war
production
 Take part in jobs
which used to be
done by male only
 Unequally paid

6. Support for war
1. The Women's Land
Army
2. The Auxiliary
Territorial Service
3. Women's Royal
Naval Service
4. Women's Auxiliary
Air Force

7. Influence
 Financially
independent
 Sense of
accomplishment and
satisfaction
 war ended  were
encouraged to give up
their job
 emergence of 1950s-
60s feminism
 Advocating women
rights

8. Comparison to Middle East/Asia
 Unequally treated
 basic human rights
 As replacement of
males in several
aspects
 Voluntarily work to
support the war ,
willing to utilized by
the government

9. Asia

10. Asia
Combat Duties
Japanese Women Samurai (Tomoe The Trung Sisters (Hai Ba Trung) of
Gozen) Vietnam & 80,000 fighters
Martial Arts, Self-defense training Successful rebellion against Chinese in
 Rare cases of women combatants 39CE
Possible reason: societal hierachy of men & women (e.g. Little Chinese women
received education)
 Interesting musculine characteristic as feminist influence was not prominent in Asia
e.g. Vietnamese women could be judges, soldiers or even rulers

11. Asia
Non- Combat Duties
 Victims of sexual assault – forced to
work as prostitutes in Japanese
military brothels, gathered within
civilians or combatants
War rape used as an psychological
warfare to humiliate the enemy –
significant even though not a
voluntary duty
e.g. Comfort Women in WWII:
~Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese and
Philippino women
US Army: after the Battle of
Okinawa in 1945 : official
broadcast that rapes,
torture or murder might
take place

12. Difference between Asia and
Europe/Middle East:
 Little non-combat/combat duties assigned
(More passive roles during wartime)
 Statuses of women vary greatly across
Asian countries (e.g. Asia & Vietnam) –
rich cultural diversity
 Divergence derived from traditional Asian
ideologies, almost a total opposite to
Europe

13. Middle East

14. Women as Soldiers
 To expand the army, women are recruited as soldiers
 In the Iran-Iraq conflict, Iranian trained female combatants for war
 Israel Defense Forces(IDF) set up in 1948 Arab–Israeli War (women
comprising 33% of all IDF soldiers)

15. Women as Suicide Bombers
• Women make up around
•7% of Palestinian suicide
bombers,
•1% of suicide bombers in Iraq
 female suicide bombers are
often portrayed as the
chaste wives and mothers of
the revolution

16. Political Participation
 As a large proportion of the male population was concentrated at the
war front
 Women found opportunities for employment in the government
sector
Iran: the number of women in the civil
service and higher education has risen
during Iran-Iraq War(1980-1990)
Palestine: women’s political activity
and participation in resistance groups
expanded during Israeli–Palestinian
conflict
Lebanon: certain parties specifically
sought women’s participation during
the civil war (1975-1190)

17. Reproductive role
 Governments desire for a expanding population
during wartime
 Iran:prohibited abortion
 discouraged contraception
• lowered the age of
marriage for girls to puberty

18. Difference between Middle East and
Asia/Europe
 Political participation increased slightly during
wartime
 Status of women is the lowest: suicide bombers
 Muslim: women are inferior in legal status and
rights
 Human rights are ignored: reproductive tools