Women's Roles During Times of War and Virginia Woolf's Three Guineas

The role of women played in any given war is quite often severely underestimated. This sentiment especially goes for the American Revolutionary War, where women actually played an absolutely essential role in our victory against the British. Not only where there different types of women who had helped, but there were many different ways each of them helped--particularly as nurses to help save lives and tend to injured soldiers. Without women helping in the war, we would have most certainly lost (National History Education Clearinghouse).

They opened up their homes to the wounded, raised money for and provided food and clothing to the Army. There are even several recorded instances of women serving as spies or soldiers in disguise. Most of the active participants however, were in the form of what was called "camp followers". While some of these were women were prostitutes, many others were wives, daughters and mothers of soldiers who followed the Army because they were unable to support themselves after their men left for war. They served the Continental Army as nurses, cooks, laundresses, and water bearers. These women became the earliest American examples of women who supported the military to "free a man to fight" as they performed jobs usually done by male soldiers.

There were quite a few women who had stories to tell about the roles that they played during the war. Many women’s stories involved small acts of rebellion, while others stories were much more exciting. Such women with smaller acts of rebellion are Hannah Israel, who saved her husband’s pride along with his cattle (Hanafore). Sybil Ludington warned soldiers of the oncoming British (Zitek). Patience Wright was an American informant in England (Pavao).

During World War II, approximately 350,000 women served in the United States Armed Forces. There are many women that people still think of today that is inspiring to them, but many of them know the main person that was popular on the poster board and films which is Rosie The Riveter.

Without women those many soldiers would have died and others would not have been physical or healthy enough to fight for their nation’s liberty. Women were running the household and the farms when their husbands left to war; they were responsible for taking care of their children, servants, slaves and defending the home against enemy soldiers. Women demonstrate that they can do multiple things at a time, and that they can do men’s job and more than

The women during the war felt an obligation to assist in one form or another. Many

Wars have been happening all throughout history. With every war, there is conflict. The war that our female American ancestors had to fight was the war against the injustices toward women that consumed our patriarchal society. They had been part of what we now call The Women’s Suffrage Movement. This movement was composed of feminist activists who have had enough of the male superiority that dominated the United States economically, socially, and politically. Their motivation to change the United States caused a movement that would impact future generations of women. The ratification of the 19th amendment greatly impacted the United States for women today by giving them greater opportunities in education, politics, and the workplace, transforming them from being seen as submissive beings to powerful members of society.

Rather it be experiencing extreme passion to discover the world, patriotism and determinism to fight for their beliefs, or simply a desire to help, many women joined the Civil War. As an amazing step of progress in history, these heroes effectively challenged traditional values

Some of the people and revolutionary heroes in the war were women, George Washington, Paul Revere, and slaves. When men left to fight, women had new roles and jobs to do. When the women worked as carpenters, farmers, and shipbuilders, they must have been very successful because since most of the men were gone, they could do as much as they needed. They took over the jobs that men used to do. For example, women farmed, carpenters, and built ships. Some of the wives followed their husbands in the war and did new jobs in it. In the war, the jobs that they

Women have indeed served alongside men in the military since war began. One such historical female warrior of note is the Chiricahua Apache warrior Lozen. She was born in the 1840’s, and was the sister of the famed Apache warrior leader Victorio (Black Powder/ Red Power Midia, n.d.). She was celebrated as not only a warrior, but also as a medicine women; it is said that she could hold her hand in the air and tell the location and number of enemy troops. She is also remembered as a great hero to her people often noted for helping the women and children as the Apache retreated from the US Calvary in the 1870’s. Lozen embodied many traits that westerners would identify as masculine, but this was actually common in Apaches culture as taught

Not all women took active participation in the rebellions that other women created, as there were a number of loyalist women as well. Now defining yourself as a loyalist women was not easy the loyalists were the strongest of all in the southern colonies, mostly in Pennsylvania, and New York. There was a huge load of pressure on these woman as they had to leave their properties as soon as possible for the sake of protection. They always had to ask for permission from nearby committees. They would walk to where their husbands were situated in specific forts with the help of the military guides. In these forts they were treated as burdens. A major constant fear for the women throughout the war was that the British would locate themselves somewhere

Women were also important in their selfless support of the troops that fought the battles. These soldaderas (female soldiers) not only joined the men on the frontlines, but they also supported them in a way that allowed the troops to succeed, by doing the many thankless tasks that go along with fighting. Unfortunately, because of women’s lower class standing, male historians have often omitted information about many of these spectacular women. The legends of these women have been popularized romanticized by male storytellers, making them seem more like sexual beings rather than heroes.

In the United States, women played an imperative role that is clearly depicted in American history. Women’s significance was apparent in imperative historical events such as the American Revolution, struggle for independence, and the colonial America. During the American Revolution, women contributed significantly, where they played an active role in the American armies (Wayne & Tiffany 213). In this case, the women participated in the war as soldiers, where they fought alongside men, with the intention of overwhelming nations that took part in the revolutionary war. Women such as Deborah Sampson, Hannah Snell, among many others played an active role (women soldiers) during the revolutionary war. Their active participation in battle accounted for their rise in high military ranks. The likes of Deborah Sampson were named aide-de-camps to revolutionary war generals such as John Peterson.

"When warring tribes fought over food or men during our first beginnings, those women were undoubtedly in combat…women warriors [later in history] were not considered so unusual…Joan of Arc and Bodecia fought as warriors. Women fought in the Civil War alongside their buddies, only to be found out once they were slain in battle" (Culture & Society)

Women in point of fact, have been serving their country since it began - Molly Pitcher fired her cannon in 1778 without congressional sanction. In the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, women fought disguised as men. In World War One. their medical services were indispensable. During the crises of World War Two, when women were