Have conscripted women fought in any notable battles or wars? Wikipedia's article on Conscription of Women does not mention any concrete examples.
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3Hi Miroslav, not a downvoter myself, but recommend you read through http://history.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-ask and then edit your question to show what your research has turned up and where it is lacking – AllInOne Aug 25 '16 at 20:44
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1Do you mean "had to fight", or "fought in significant numbers"? – Pieter Geerkens Aug 25 '16 at 22:37
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@PieterGeerkens I mean wars, where women were forced to fight by their political leaders. – sitems Aug 25 '16 at 22:50
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@MarkC.Wallace Thank you for your edit. By "forced to" I meant drafted. – sitems Aug 25 '16 at 23:13
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I can't think of any although the German Army in World War 2 was regularly shocked at how women were used as combatants on the Eastern Front during World War 2. You could call them "conscripts" as technically Soviet Russia made – Doctor Zhivago Aug 26 '16 at 01:25
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2Soviet Communism made no distinction between the who and the what...only "the all." – Doctor Zhivago Aug 26 '16 at 01:26
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I think this question is quite similar to Were there any women who were against women voting rights? If that Question was highly upvoted despite showing similar level of research, why downvote this one? +1 just because it is an interesting question (Not to negate DV of other users as thats not what votes are for) – NSNoob Aug 26 '16 at 06:36
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In most societies during most of the history, Women were considered weak/gentle sex who had no business in field of Battle other than non-combatant duties. I don't think women were drafted anywhere (Except maybe SU but I am not sure about that) however there may have been women who chose to serve. – NSNoob Aug 26 '16 at 06:39
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This question ought to be salvageable with a good edit. eg: "drafted" and "against their will" seem redundant, so the latter could probably be dispensed with. – T.E.D. Aug 26 '16 at 08:47
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Hm. I was drafted for the German army, but I did go there on my own free will. (I could have opted for alternative civilian service, and decided not to.) The OP should decide what his question is really about -- being drafted, or being forced against your will. That's two subtly different things. – DevSolar Aug 26 '16 at 09:54
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@DevSolar I believe he is talking about Drafting in the sense of Vietnam war. Go to war or be charged in court. – NSNoob Aug 26 '16 at 10:41
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@NSNoob: I know what he is talking about. But there are always some who are drafted, and still go on their own will, because they want to join and just didn't get around volunteering. Are they to be excluded from answers because they were not actually "forced"? – DevSolar Aug 26 '16 at 10:55
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@NSNoob You are right. By "drafted" I mean: Go to war or be charged in court. – sitems Aug 26 '16 at 11:09
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3women in the six day war answers the question. Also see women in war project – MCW Aug 26 '16 at 11:53
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1See this article on nations for which women serve in combat roles: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130125-women-combat-world-australia-israel-canada-norway/ Some of these nations use conscription, others (such as the US) do not. – Peter Diehr Aug 27 '16 at 17:00
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1During WW II over 350,000 women served in various non-combatant roles, including nursing. Over 200 Army nurses died while on duty. See http://www.nationalww2museum.org/see-hear/collections/focus-on/women-at-war.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/ One of my great aunts, Eva Kelly, served as a nurse during WW I; she died in 1920 as a lingering result of having been gassed late in the war. She was a volunteer. – Peter Diehr Aug 27 '16 at 17:06
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1This article on "Women Warriors of WW II" includes women who were conscripted, and fought: http://mentalfloss.com/article/29219/11-women-warriors-world-war-ii – Peter Diehr Aug 27 '16 at 17:08
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Not really conscription-based, but female soldiers of Vietcong or the Women's Protection Units of Syrian Democratic Forces are examples where women were in the front line in large numbers. – Greg May 03 '21 at 05:40
3 Answers
Wikipedia lists 9 countries that conscript women:
. . . only nine countries have laws allowing for the conscription of women into their armed forces: China, Eritrea, Israel, Libya, Malaysia, North Korea, Norway, Bolivia and Taiwan.
I am aware of two of those countries that have recently engaged in combat.
- Libya has recently fought a civil war; women probably fought. I can't find any records of Qaddafi's amazon guard fighting, although I would assume they did so.
- Israel has definitely had women in combat.
Obviously in the pre-modern period, conscription was the norm - in a feudal society, military service is effectively conscripted. (If you fail to show up for feudal levies the government will punish you; we could argue the edge cases of this, but for the purposes of this question, I think it stands). Nicchola de la Haye was the castellan of Lincoln castle during the Baronial revolt against John. She defended the castle. If she had not done so, she would have been brought to account by her government.
Modern military service is generally volunteer service (once again, I am aware of exceptions to the rule, but I don't think they affect the question). Individuals are not conscripted to fight, but once they volunteer, the government will punish them for failing to fight. I mention this because there are hundreds if not thousands of women in combat positions, many of whom have seen service. Major Rossi was the first US woman known to have given her life in combat.
Other sources:
- Women in Russian/Soviet Military Consult @Anixx's answer, which suggests that conscripted Soviet women were unlikely to have seen combat.
- women in the six day war
- The Women in War project
- 33,640
- 12
- 105
- 158
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1Does Nicchola de la Haye count as a conscript? It would seem to me that her military service was ex officio. – Steve Bird Aug 30 '16 at 12:17
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The first question is interesting; I believe that it does; all feudal military service is conscripted by OP's definition. I don't understand the second question; I don't see any evidence that de la Haye's service was "ex officio", except in the sense that all feudal offices were "ex officio". – MCW Aug 30 '16 at 12:21
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2Upvoted. I'd suggest prioritizing the Israel angle though, and perhaps coming up with a specific example or two, since "concrete examples" were specifically asked for. It isn't easy to find countries that still have conscription, that level of equality for women, and engage in a lot of fighting. Israel would certainly seem like your best bet. – T.E.D. Aug 30 '16 at 13:48
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If Nicola de la Haie count as a conscripted soldier, Margaret Thatcher does also count as she was the Prime during the Falkland War and all the queens in history. In my opinion, conscription does mean something else than being a feudal warlord. – Greg May 03 '21 at 05:29
Let us not forget the fearsome amazon warriors of Dahomey in West Africa.
Borghero listens, but his mind is wandering. He finds the general captivating: “slender but shapely, proud of bearing, but without affectation.” Not too tall, perhaps, nor excessively muscular. But then, of course, the general is a woman, as are all 3,000 of her troops. Father Borghero has been watching the King of Dahomey’s famed corps of “amazons,” as contemporary writers termed them—the only female soldiers in the world who then routinely served as combat troops.
- 72,560
- 9
- 210
- 330
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1but were they conscripts or professionals. We'll probably never know. – jwenting Aug 29 '16 at 11:37
In the USSR they mostly conscripted only women to work as rear personnel. There were some women's fight units as well but formed on volunteer basis.
In the USSR in 1942 there were 3 waves of mobilization of the women.
- The first one for 100 000 Komsomol women into air defense.
- The second one for 30 000 women into communications service
- The third one for 40 000 women mainly into logistics service and to serve as secretaries.
In 1943 there were the following women mobilizations:
The first one for 4 200 mainly for service for service personnel (cooks, laundry etc).
The second was for 25 000 women but this was on voluntary basis.
I would also add the following air force regiments composed of volunteer women pilots:
- The 586 Women's Fighter Regiment
- The 587 Women's Near Bomber regiment
- The 588 Women's Night Aviation Regiment
- 32,728
- 13
- 90
- 183
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So the USSR is out of scope for this question - the women who were conscripted, were not in combat roles. – MCW Aug 30 '16 at 15:38
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1@Mark C. Wallace yes, I have added the info. Possibly only the first mobilization counts as somewhat combat role. – Anixx Aug 30 '16 at 15:43
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@Mark C. Wallace yes, they were mobilized both to combat roles and non-combat roles, but even combat roles were mostly in rear cities, not at front lines. Also they were from Komsomol, so there are chances that they even if not volunteered at war time, were trained voluntarily before the war. – Anixx Aug 30 '16 at 15:46
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If I correct there were a few Soviet snipers (with significant achievements, too): those definitely combat roles, though the ones I know volunteered to be in the infantry as opposed to eg being a nurse. – Greg May 03 '21 at 05:33