Women aren't supposed to be responsible for generating money for the family to survive on, but Courage did so ruthlessly. At one point she was so pre-occupied with trying to save money that one of her sons, Swiss Cheese, ends up being executed because she tried to bargain with his captors. At the end of the play, when the last of her children are dead, Courage still keeps on going. She picks up her cart without a second thought and moves on by herself. Whereas conversely, the typical woman would be drowned in emotion, Mother Courage's reaction is that of a stereotypical male.
Women are capable of achieving exactly that which men do.
Women and war are images not traditionally related. Perhaps, if any relation can be drawn during a war, it is that women are waiting for their men to come home from defending their honour. 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.