Women were instrumental in the Revolution to achieve progress with fairness. They fought alongside their men and also provided some of the comforts of home to the soldiers, including food, clean clothes, and sexual services. Although women were clearly part of the Revolution, they did not benefit as much from it as did the working class in the cities for example. Soldaderas and the Mexican Revolution Women fought on the battlefield during the Mexican Revolution. Soldaderas or female soldiers, with rebel or federal forces, fought either by choice or coercion. Soldadera comes from the word soldada, or soldier’s pay. The men gave their wages to women to pay for food, meal preparation, clothes cleaning, and other services.