Running Head: Feminism during war Looking at the role of females

Feminism during war-Looking at the role of females during war time

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Abstract

In history, we have seen two biggest wars all over the world which indeed had bring a lot of

changes to the maps of the world and created revolutions and changed who the world worked.

During the times of wars, we know that men are particularly the ones fighting at borders. But

during the World War I due to insufficient presence of men at all over the nations urged the need

for women to take many of responsibility, so since the World War I world saw a drastic change

in the life of the women and their gender roles. Working women has been a taboo but Wars

changed it. This study aims to look at the perspective of feminist and the role of females during

war particularly focusing at the women in Africa and their comparison to the British women at

war. Also it will unfold the histories of African troops such as Kingdom of Dahomey.
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Introduction

From the views of both, the present studies and from the history we can see that till the

late 1980’s historians have forced upon the narrative that the time of World War I created a

gender division in the societies of Europe; the females were allowed to the right of the vote after

they serve to their nations in many countries across the world, thus we can say that war took this

world into a new era (Francoise, 1994).

From the critical evaluation of the eras in history Francoise (1994) has differentiated into

three timelines of these eras (Francoise, 1914: Francoise, 1918). From the early and initial

studies of Britain ranging from the period of 1960 & 1970, it was discovered that the fresh and

new roles played by the women during the war took over by them (Mitchell & David, 1966). The

hostile and aggressive states saw a sudden upload in the employment of women and they raised

as the heads of their houses when their husbands were fighting at their borders, and all the upper

and middle-class women were in this role-playing. The women supplemented support to certain

organizations and were recruited as nurses and caretakers in the military. The women’s who used

to work and were employed into jobs have had got into a great expansion, while they were

recruited to the industrial labor, certainly employed to the factories where weapons were made,

and in agricultural working as well as in the public transport facilitating services, where women

were considerably seen as the conductresses. As a result of this, the literature argues that females

also raise their new roles in the society, as in going to dine out all alone, cigarette smoking in

public areas, and celebrating sexual liberty (Marwick, 1968). Although the evidence from recent

studies has posed a challenge to this point of view (Grayzel & Susan, 1999; Chapel et al, 1999),

from the 1980s verbal interview with women it is outlined that the war was a driving force for
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the control of women on her traditional roles of gender to their economic experiences and

independence socially and a rise to new movement and confidence in self.

Looking at another phase in the history from the late 1970s & 1980s, Thebaud (1994),

explains that a relatively less positive point of view was seen and there was a very brief and

unreal change of the character of women that occurred and allowed the women to be back to her

home life after the war ended. The issue of equality was never the part of the war as seen from

the wages that women held and no matter what they never were equal to those of women. After

the war ended the nations wanted the women to go back home and get men back on the jobs

(Grayzel & Susan, 2010).

From the above-mentioned historical perspectives, we see a role played by the women

during the time of war and how feminism took a rise while men were at war. This proposed

study aims to look deep into the roles of females during wartime and specifically wants to focus

on the African vicinity and wants to compare it with the British women’s role during the war.

Collectively looking at the feminism perspective and role of African women during wartime and

how they were maybe better than those of other lands.

Research question

The role of African women during World War I and II and its comparison to the British

women during wars.

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Literature Review

Although the women had been already a significant part of the era before 1914 in labor,

the time of war increased their roles in the labor. The role of women in the wage-labor at that

time especially faced a taboo related to gender, the role of females related to the making of

weapons was a challenge to the taboos, and women now seem to be performing culturally

deviated roles rather than those of their natural ones like caregivers and takers of life (Grayzel,

2010).

The rivalry between the kingdoms of Africa and the emergence of the slave trade held an

important role in the development of a women's army in the Kingdom of Dahomey (UNESCO,

2014). The ordinary ways by which women were recruited as troops in the army were; those who

were held as captives from other areas, those who were deviants, some of the princess that were

attracted by weapons and some were taken out of the lot and some allowed themselves by

aspiration of force (UNESCO, 2014). The higher troops of female soldiers, which came into

existence by the early eighteenth century, played the role of the army of the Dahomey Kingdom

in the 18th and 19th centuries. Mostly enrolled in teenage, these female soldiers used to live in

the royal palace, which was away from society. The lives of these women were given to the

training of weapons, fighting wars to win, and in the protection of the King. At the end of the

19th century, there were almost 4000 women fighters who could be used in times of conflict

(UNESCO, 2014). These troops were divided into several units, each of them had its own

uniform, its own flag, own songs for battles and dances as well. These women soldiers were

considered as a part of their men troops, in history, they have had played a vital role in the events

like the battles of Savi (1727), Abeokouta (1851 and 1864) and Ketu, and also the two years of

war against France (UNSECO, 2014). Throughout the times of existence of the women’s
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military in the Kingdom of Dahomey, they made an expansion to the structures into different

units and slowly get themselves equipped through the availability of weapons. The army of these

women was particularly strengthened in the time of King Ghezo (1818-1858), who applied to the

rule of constant enrollment and took over new units. All (1858-1889) and Behanzin (1889-1894),

were the rulers after Ghezo who kept the continuation of the modernization. Almost in the

middle of the 19th century, the Dahomey army consisted of almost 30-40 percent of women in

their army (UNSECO, 2014).

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Bibliography

Bader-Zaar, Birgitta: Controversy: War-related Changes in Gender Relations: The Issue of

Women’s Citizenship , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First

World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene,

Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2014-10-08.

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Grayzel, Susan R.: Women’s Identities at War. Gender, Motherhood, and Politics in Britain and

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Grayzel, Susan R: Women and Men, in: Horne, John (ed.): A Companion to World War I,

Malden 2010, p. 274. See also Susan R. Grayzel’s article on Women, Work, and Politics

in 1914−1918-online.

Grayzel, Women and Men 2010, p. 267.

Marwick, Britain 1968, p. 108.

Mitchell, David J.: Women on the Warpath. The Story of the Women of the First World War,

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(ed.): A History of Women in the West 5. Toward a Cultural Identity in the Twentieth

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Thébaud, Great War 1994, pp. 22ff; Thébaud, Françoise: Femmes et genre dans la guerre, in:

Audoin-Rouzeau, Stéphane / Becker, Jean-Jacques (eds.): Encyclopédie de la Grande

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