These qualities are displayed throughout the entire play, and the only time we see the true feminine motherliness in Courage is when a recruiter tries to get her boys to enlist. She immediately tries to convince him that he ought to ignore them. Her boys aren't up for trade. This motherly protectiveness is supposedly typical of women. However we quickly see Mother Courage revert to her male characteristics as the recruiter decides to keep pressing the issue of her sons enlistment.
Protectiveness is one thing, but sheer aggression is categorized as a male trait.
Mother Courage is a physical force to be reckoned with and that force is not a quality indicative of a stereotypical woman. M. Butterfly depicts a man, Gallimard, as a possessor of completely typical, ideal masculine qualities. He is the male stereotype. In this play the female stereotype is what destroys him. The male actor knows exactly how to get Gallimard to pursue Song.