[War & Business] The Amazons and Female Conscription

[Image source=Still cut from the movie 'Wonder Woman'. The Wonder Woman character is known to be inspired by the Amazon warrior from mythology.]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] One of the stories often mentioned whenever the controversy over the female conscription system arises is the myth of the ‘Amazons.’ The tale of the Amazons, female warriors who roamed the battlefield overpowering men in ancient Greek mythology, has been known as if there were actually countries where women served in the military even during the era of cold weapons when spears and swords were wielded.

However, looking into the reality, even the etymology of the word Amazon is unclear. In Greek mythology, it is recorded that the female warriors cut off their right breast to shoot arrows better, and the word is said to be formed by combining the Greek negative prefix ‘Am’ and the word ‘azones,’ meaning breast.

Today, historians consider the story of cutting off the breast itself to be a fabricated myth. Ancient archers, regardless of gender, wore leather protectors on their chests to prevent their nipples from rubbing against the bowstring when shooting, so there was no need to cut off breasts. This has led to the more persuasive theory that the Greeks embellished stories passed down from other regions.

According to the traditions of the Persian Empire, which competed with ancient Greece at the time, there were highly trained female warriors among the Sarmatians, a nomadic people living in what is now southern Ukraine, and they passed on the name ‘Ha-mazan,’ meaning warrior in Persian, to them. The Greeks are said to have pieced this together to create the Amazon myth as we know it today.

Stories of some excellent and brave female warriors exist in most civilizations, but the idea that all women were conscripted and sent to the battlefield is rarely found. In ancient and medieval times, it was impossible to conscript over 90% of adult males in their twenties, as is done in modern South Korea, except during wartime. In agricultural economies, sending so many young people to war regardless of gender would have led to a severe shortage of agricultural labor, causing large-scale food shortages and the collapse of the state.

Even today, the ‘1% rule,’ which states that the number of soldiers in a country should not exceed 1% of the total population to avoid hindering economic development, has been passed down like a golden rule. However, it is said that the 1% rule has long been broken. Before debating gender discrimination issues related to the female conscription system controversy, it may be time to first consider how to balance the social losses caused by low birth rates and maintaining conscription.