Female soldier

For thousands of years in a substantial number of cultures and nations, women have served in various roles in the military, from ancient warrior women to those currently serving in current armed conflicts.

While the majority of combatants in most cultures have been men, a number of women in history have fought alongside them. In the American Civil War, there were women who sometimes even fought cross-dressed as men. Fighting on the battlefront was not the only way women involved themselves in war. Some also served as nurses and aides.

Despite various roles in the armies of past societies, the role of women in the military, particularly in combat, is controversial and it is only recently that women have begun to be given a more prominent role in contemporary armed forces. As increasing numbers of countries begin to expand the role of women in their militaries, the debate continues.

More recently, from the beginning of the 1970s, most Western armies have begun to admit women to serve active duty in all of military branches. In nine countries women are conscripted into military.

Thousands of women served as nurses and in other support roles in the major armies.

The only nation to deploy female combat troops in substantial numbers was Russia. From the outset, female recruits either joined up in disguise or were tacitly accepted by their units. The most prominent were a contingent of front-line light cavalry in a Cossack regiment commanded by a female colonel. Others included the famous Maria Bochkareva, who was decorated three times and promoted to senior NCO rank, while the New York Times reported that a group of twelve schoolgirls from Moscow had joined up together disguised as young men. In 1917, the Provisional Government raised a number of "Women's Battalions", with Bochkareva given an officer's commission to command the first unit. They fought well, but failed to provide the propaganda value expected of them and were disbanded before the end of the year. In the later Russian Civil War, the Bolsheviks employed some women infantry, while female soldiers are also recorded in the White Guard.

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