Open Access“TAKING ONE'S PART IN THE REVOLUTION”: A COMPARISON OF WOMEN'S LABOR AS TOOLS OF REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE IN FRANCE, VIET NAM, AND POLAND
Author(s) -
Stewart Pamela
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
workingusa
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1743-4580
pISSN - 1089-7011
DOI - 10.1111/j.1743-4580.2008.00221.x
Subject(s) - solidarity , viet nam , politics , narrative , political science , political economy , gender studies , sociology , economy , law , economics , linguistics , philosophy
This article assesses three events that traditionally highlight the labors of men, but which demonstrate the integral roles played by women's labor: the 1871 Paris Commune, Viet Nam's American War during the 1960s and early 1970s, and the rise of Poland's Solidarity during the 1980s. Arguing for increased and consistent attention to the hows and whys of women's participation in regime change and related warfare, this analysis exposes and compares gendered omissions in the customary narratives of these major events, revealing women's collective involvement in political upheavals and the warfare that can accompany them. This article argues that despite their obscured visibility, women nonetheless “took their place without begging for it,” demonstrating that women's collective labor contributed substantially to the maintenance, and potentially the outcome, of large‐scale political, military, and national actions.