150 years of humanitarian action: women and war

06-03-2014 Photo gallery

Millions of women have paid – and are still paying – a heavy price in armed conflicts: violence, including sexual violence; forced displacement; the loss or disappearance of their loved ones; being deprived of their freedom, and many other forms of suffering. But although war often puts them in dangerous situations, women are not necessarily vulnerable, or victims. Sometimes they play an active role during a war, perhaps as activists, or fighters in the military or other armed groups. Last but not least, many of them have been, and still are, among those who bring help and protection to the victims of war.

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  • Franco-Prussian war, 1870-1871. A painting of Bazeilles, a village in France, after violent clashes there between French and Bavarian soldiers. In the foreground, among the victims, are a woman and her child.
    © ICRC Library / hist-00212-04