Sur le front des sexes : un combat douteux

On the sex front, Michelle Perrot The conclusions of a recent colloquium on « Women and War » organized by the Center for European Studies at Harvard University shake up the conventional wisdom that the 20th century wars helped in the emancipation of women. Two world conflicts certainly gave them « man's » work and greater individual freedom. But such changes hardly altered the inherited sexual roles : as nurses or Resistance flghters, factory workers or union activists, women are subjected to the power of man in war as in peace time. Wars accelerated some changes and retarded others. Contradictory in their impact, they helped the victory of feminist ideas, but announced the men's revenge.Perrot Michelle. Sur le front des sexes : un combat douteux. In: Vingtième Siècle, revue d'histoire, n°3, juillet 1984. La guerre en son siecle. pp. 69-76