women in war

{{Short description|Involvement of women during periods of war}}

{{For|the 1940 film|Women in War}}

{{war}}

Throughout history, women have assumed diverse roles during periods of war, contributing to war efforts in various capacities.

Women served as warriors in many ancient armies. Some ancient civilizations like the Scythians, Sarmatians and many others had female regiments which inspired the creation of the story of the Amazons in Ancient Greece.{{cite book |last1=Toler|first1=Pamela D.|title="Women Warriors. An Unexpected History"|date=2019 |publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=978-0807064320}}

During World War I and World War II, the primary role of women shifted towards employment in munitions factories, agriculture and food rationing, and other areas to fill the gaps left by men who had been drafted into the military. One of the most notable changes during World War II was the inclusion of many of women in regular military units. In several countries, including the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and the United Kingdom in the European Theater, as well as China and Imperial Japan in the Pacific Theater, women served in combat roles, such as anti-aircraft warfare, guerrilla warfare, and direct engagement in frontline battles. Additionally, women were also active in underground and resistance movements.

After 1945, the roles available to women in major armies were significantly reduced. However, beginning in the 1970s, women gradually assumed increasing roles in the military of major nations, eventually including combat positions such as pilots by 2005 in the United States. These new combat roles sparked controversy, with debates centered around differences in physical capabilities between the sexes,{{cite web |author=Brad Knickerbocker |date=January 4, 2014 |title=Just three pull-ups: Too many for women in the Marine Corps? |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2014/0104/Just-three-pull-ups-Too-many-for-women-in-the-Marine-Corps |access-date=October 10, 2017 |publisher=CS Monitor}} and issues related to gender identity for both women and men.Barton C. Hacker and Margaret Vining, eds. A Companion to Women's Military History (2012) but many studies shows this is wrong opinion, as female units performance is equal to male units.{{cite book |last1=Grigorov|first1=Plamen|title=Germany's elite combat units (in Bulgarian), pp. 67 "Women in combat in Germany and Europe, quote:"Studies and tests of the combat performance of female and male units, conducted in Norway, Germany and 8 other EU countries (Netherlands, Bulgaria, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Romania, Czech Republic and Finland) during the period of 2011 - 2015 show that female units performance is almost equal to that of male, as all-female and mixed (female and male) units performing almost the same results as all-male groups. The study showed that no significant differences were observed in the performance of the both sexes. There are no differences between the men and women soldiers in performance in the basic combat tasks. Results disproved the myth about lower shooting accuracy in combat, while even several all-female teams from 5 countries (Netherlands, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Sweden and Romania) were performed better than all-male teams (of course Ukrainians were not surprised - Lyudmila Pavlichenko is known to everyone)."|date=2016 |publisher=ИК Распер|isbn=9789543451104}}