Life magazine offers a really neat set of photos of women soldiers, from many countries, during World War II. Below are some of my favorites.
Women firefighters aim a hose at the fire after the attack on Pearl Harbor:
A member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service (Britain):
Italian resistance fighters:
A member of the Finnish paramilitary:
England’s first female military pilot: Pauline Gower:
Chinese women soldiers:
Via Shakesville.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 22
Ben — November 12, 2010
What's "neat" about it? So war is cool now just because women do it?
INTERNET COMMENT — November 12, 2010
Oh wow, no mention of the Soviet Union at all, which was the only nation state to actually have women in a military combat role
This is a good intro
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_women_in_the_Great_Patriotic_War#cite_note-1
Sanjana — November 12, 2010
I love the first photo.
Rantahauki — November 12, 2010
As a Finn, it is also interesting that the only Axis-allied nation in the LIFE photo series is Finland.
There is no source info, but I suppose the photo was taken during the Winter War. I can only imagine how enacted the photograph of a Lotta standing in a full fur is, considering the material circumstances in 1939 Finland.
Jon — November 13, 2010
I particularly enjoyed the picture of the 4 women holding the hose. I dare say that fewer men could have done the same job. Hopefully these ladies weren't paid the same as men for their less efficient work.
Sam R — November 13, 2010
Love that fur coat. Technology and what is acceptable cold weather attire has sure changed.
Butter — November 13, 2010
This is definitely not the kind of thing you see in movies about the World Wars. Most movies will barely have any female characters in them, let alone female characters that were soldiers.
Just imagine if they made an "Enemy at the Gates" type film about someone like Lyudmila Pavilichenko (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyudmila_Pavlichenko) - top female sniper in World War II.
Or if they had a character in a movie/book/whatever that was a women disguised as a man in order to fight (which has happened in almost every major war). Women like Dorthy Lawrence (WWI) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Lawrence) or Deborah Sampson (revolutionary war) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Sampson).
These are stories that you never hear about or see. It's a part of history that most people don't know about.
Ryan — November 17, 2010
Might be a good post to point out that the (recently featured on Soci Images for being to White Washed) video game series medal of honor featured a female resistance fighter as a main character in the PSOne title "medal of honor: underground".
Equal Opportunities Can Suck Too — November 21, 2010
We will not reach true gender equality until women are equally lauded as "heroes" for cleaning sewers for living, working on oil rigs, harvesting coal three miles underground, building skyscrapers, and generally doing their fair share to reduce the life expectancy gap.
UnAttributableSpoon — November 28, 2010
Though not a part of the slideshow, don't forget the Soviet Night Witches! They flew harrassment and precision bombing missions from 1942 until the end of the war. They flew over 23,000 sorties! These were some incredible ladies.
Here's more info at Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Witches
Eriqcha — July 18, 2011
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