During World War II, the Nazi Reich drafted 400,000 women, Great Britain 450,000, and the United States 266,000. These million volunteers from three completely different countries had one thing in common:they were forbidden to fight. Even in self-defense.
Radio operator. A proper job for a woman in a war
Whether it was the Third Reich, ruled by a totalitarian and militarist, xenophobic ideology, or the democratic United States, the approach to women in the army was almost the same. Everywhere they were employed primarily in completely non-combatant positions. They performed administrative, clerical, technical and communication functions. Their numbers grew rapidly, but the authorities - even in the homeland of the suffragette movement - made every effort to ensure that it did not change the perception of soldiers. The men were to fight; women - wait at home. This rule was upheld even at the expense of the elementary safety of women in uniform. As Anna Krylova states in her book Soviet Women in Combat: the closer women were to the fight, the more forcefully the military and society tried to imagine them as non-combatants.
In each of these countries, women in the military were considered civilians, not soldiers. They were not issued with weapons and were not trained in their use. The situation was almost absurd, because at the same time in Germany and Great Britain women were admitted to combat units - specifically to handle anti-aircraft weapons. It's just that they weren't allowed to… use that weapon. They were to be solely of auxiliary service, no matter what. Even if the enemy was firing at the post and all the men were indisposed, the woman was supposed to sit with her arms folded. The same was true of every other position in the army.
A German is standing over you with a rifle, and are you a woman? Concerned about sexual conventions, be polite not to move. And sometimes don't take out a gun ... which was not given to you anyway.
In "Soviet Women in Combat" (which will be released in Poland in a few months by Replica edition) you can find many other information about the presence of women in the armed forces - not only in the Soviet Union. Be warned, however, that this is a very specialized book and not everyone will enjoy reading it.
Sources:
Anna Krylova, Soviet Women in Combat , Cambridge University Press 2010, pp. 116-118; Jeff M. Tuten, Germany and the World Wars [in:] Female Soldiers - Combatants or Noncombatants? Historical and Contemporary Perspectives , ed. Nancy Loring Goldman, Greenwood Press 1982; D'Ann Campbell, Women in Combat:The World War II. Experience in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and the Soviet Union , "The Journal of Military History" (April 1993).
Annotation:
Of course, there were some exceptions to the above-described rule - in the USA even squads of military pilots were created, and in the German Reich SS-men were equipped with firearms as much as possible. Only that these "alternative" initiatives were always undertaken on the basis of the absolute exception or in great secrecy. Also, women's guerrilla and intelligence activities cannot be called official participation in military structures.