War and Gender
How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice Versa

Goldstein explains the exclusion of women from combat across history and cultures.

Joshua S. Goldstein (Author)

9780521001809, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 17 July 2003

540 pages, 44 b/w illus. 8 tables
23 x 15.2 x 3.3 cm, 0.8 kg

'War and Gender is a going to be an important book, one to be read thoughtfully.' War in History

Gender roles are nowhere more prominent than in war. Yet contentious debates, and the scattering of scholarship across academic disciplines, have obscured understanding of how gender affects war and vice versa. In this authoritative and lively review of our state of knowledge, Joshua Goldstein assesses the possible explanations for the near-total exclusion of women from combat forces, through history and across cultures. Topics covered include the history of women who did fight and fought well, the complex role of testosterone in men's social behaviours, and the construction of masculinity and femininity in the shadow of war. Goldstein concludes that killing in war does not come naturally for either gender, and that gender norms often shape men, women, and children to the needs of the war system. lllustrated with photographs, drawings, and graphics, and drawing from scholarship spanning six academic disciplines, this book provides a unique study of a fascinating issue.

1. A puzzle: the cross-cultural consistency of gender roles in war
2. Women warriors: the historical record of female combatants
3. Bodies: the biology of individual gender
4. Groups: bonding, hierarchy, and social identity
5. Heroes: the making of militarised masculinity
6. Conquests: sex, rape, and exploitation in wartime
7. Reflections: the mutuality of gender and war.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS], Social, group or collective psychology [JMH], Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Gender studies: women [JFSJ1], Gender studies, gender groups [JFSJ], Cultural studies [JFC], General & world history [HBG]