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Damousi, Joy & Marilyn Lake, ed.: Gender and war

Damousi, Joy & Marilyn Lake, ed.

Gender and War: Australians at War in the Twentieth Century, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 2nd edition, 2011; first published 1995

Essays which explore ‘the inter-relationship of gender and war in Australia for the first time. Traditional images of Australians during wartime show the “digger” making history in battle, while women play a supportive role as nurses, or wives and mothers on the home front. Yet as this book shows, war offers opportunities that erode gender boundaries. Women may be empowered economically, politically and sexually, while the trauma of war can leave men emasculated.’ (blurb) The essays are arranged under the main headings ‘feminisation’, ‘masculinisation’ and ‘mobilisation’.