Civil resistance and the dynamics of gender - Examples from France, Germany, Bolivia and Argentina during World War 2 and the period 1970-1980

In this comparative study of four movements of civil resistance involving w omen in Western Europe during World War II and in the cone of South America during the military dictatorship of the 1970's, the author shows how this form of contestation partakes of the dynamics of gender. While realizing ho w much the historical context is essential to understand the development of these movements of resistance, we observe that the individuals and the org anizations which boosted them and eventually gave them a structure, mobiliz ed and used mythological images of the woman, allowing them to take action in a public sphere closed to any kind of opposition, because these images c orresponded with the values promoted by various repressive regimes. Anyway, according to the cultural situation, the fact of joining in these movement s of resistance also had an influence on the evolution of the gender identi ties of women activists.