Women In The Woman Warrior

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Within “The Woman Warrior,” McLaughlin states that participation in combat is the “quintessential masculine activity,” however the organizational processes of period armies provided a unique access point for women, whose expected societal roles centered within the private sphere. Military training was conducted within the confines of home rather than a specialized area outside of the home. Males were trained in weapon skills and warfare in a home setting; with this system a female had exposure to military strategy and training. Armies of the time consisted of retainers, warriors under the command of the lord who were also domestically in service to the lord’s wife who managed and defended the holdings in the lord’s absence. If women acted as guardians of domestic identity in certain circumstances; the societies prescribed gender roles may have led women to display altered norms in certain situations as their assigned economic and political tasks positioned them as mediators with the world outside Viking culture. There are a number of widows recorded as fighters, supporting their and their children’s interests with weapon in hand.…show more content…
Jane Kershaw has studied female displays of Scandinavian association in Scandinavian areas through their choice of dressornaments.59 Gender distinctions in expression of ethnic identity are widely observable in modern
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