Throughout history, women have served a critical role in wars and been deeply impacted by them in turn. Women have not only made a difference on the battlefields but also by supporting the economy and everyday life matters back home, while enlisted men fought. War as a product of patriarchy has affected the lives of millions of women in a unique way leaving them to deal with consequences they would not otherwise have.
During World War I, while women were still not allowed to vote in the U.S. and Canada, many viewed the war as an opportunity to fight for independence in the workplace. With more and more men taking off to the battlefields, factories of all sorts, including textile, construction and food processing, were left unemployed as significantly less women worked outside the home pre-war. As the National WWI Museum and Memorial states, in Germany, the female workforce grew from almost no women in 1914 to 30 percent of the workers by 1917 and 1.4 million women in the war labor. At the same time, in the U.K. the number of women in the workforce grew from 3.3 million to 4.7 million between 1914 and 1917.
Less than two decades later, humanity was struck by another world war. The same patterns repeated with women taking on more civil work roles while simultaneously being expected to take care of their household. According to the Government of Canada website, the number of women holding permanent jobs doubled during World War II, shifting from 600,000 to 1,200,000 within Canada’s then 11-million population. Women’s work in factories provided most of the clothing and knit garments needed to keep soldiers warm. They also organized and imported packages filled with various goods, mostly by volunteering.
Many women wanted to participate in the war and “lobbied the government to form military organizations for women,” states the Government of Canada. More than 50 thousand women served in various female-led Canadian organizations, such as The Canadian Women’s Army Corps, The Women’s Division, The Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service, and The Nursing Sisters.
On the other hand, war plays a big role in the increase of gender-based and domestic violence. According to The Guardian, Ukraine’s internal affairs ministry registered 291,000 cases of domestic violence in 2023, a 20 percent increase from the year before, when Russia invaded Ukraine and reignited the inter-country war. This increase was followed by an even larger one in 2024, with 56 percent growth of domestic violence offences. The growth of violence is due to “a higher risk with wartime stress factors, such as disruption to the family unit, losing one’s home and being displaced, poverty and the psychological stress of shelling and missile attacks,” as is mentioned in the same article.
Healthcare, especially for people with a uterus, is also affected by wars, leaving millions without proper postpartum and neonatal care. As UN Women notes, “every day, 500 women and girls in conflict-affected countries die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.” Violence-based housing insecurity or limited resources can force people to give birth in insanitary conditions or without proper medical care. Combined with high rates of gender violence and sexual assault, many of these pregnancies are likely to be unwanted, as pregnant people are unable to seek safe pregnancy termination.
Gender discrimination and prejudice also have roots in wars and conflicts. According to UN Women, “women made up only 9.6 per cent of negotiators in peace processes in 2023, even though studies show that when women are involved, peace agreements last longer and are better implemented.”
Despite being unproportionately and unfairly affected by the war and noticeably excluded from making decisions regarding the politics, women continue to make critically important contributions to the communities affected by the conflicts while “these efforts are largely unsupported and unrecognized in formal peace negotiations,” continues UN Women. For example, in 2018, women in Yemen led negotiations that “resulted in safe access to a water source for civilians and 49 women-led organizations in Sudan are pushing for a more inclusive peace process.”
Wars and conflicts have always and will continue to have a devastating impact on women around the world. Women carry a large portion of work and advocating for peace during these extremely troubling times but they are not given enough credit for their contribution. Despite all the hardship they face, women continue to help their families and communities.
