As a woman I have no country

Bibliographic Data

ID12356228
AuthorsMichèle Griffin (corresponding author), Michèle McHugh Griffin
Year1998
Volume10
Issue2
Pages255-259
Publication date1998-06-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePeace Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1040-2659 • E-ISSN: 1469-9982
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10402659808426152
OpenAlexW2026017434
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited11

In this age of political correctness, it is not only acceptable for women to be patriotic citizens and capable soldiers, it is almost mandatory. But this was not always so. Within living memory the idea of women in combat was anathema to most people. Feminist thinkers have struggled with the relationship between women and war. Women's roles in wars of national liberation are even more complicated. A deep but unreconciled conflict exists between identities based on gender and identities based on nationality, and between feminism and patriotism. In 1938, in a passage from which this essay's title is taken, Virginia Woolf strenuously rejected the idea of female patriotism. Arguing that the social contract between state and citizen did not extend to women, she declared that "as a woman I have no country. As a woman I want no country. As a woman my country is the whole world." But, as this essay examines, the relationship between women and war is complex and perhaps contradictory. While the rhetoric and imagery surrounding wars of national liberation may deeply contradict current ideas of women as capable soldiers, women's active involvement in those wars suggests, contrary to Virginia Woolf, that women do indeed have a country

Feminism · Immigration · Nationality · Patriotism · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Sociology · State (computer science · Gender Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Law

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