The Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988) left profound impacts on women’s lived experiences in both countries, shaping representations of feminine identity in their wartime literatures. This study employs qualitative content analysis and a comparative approach to examine feminine identity in The Baghdad Clock by Shahad Al Rawi and That Woman Called Me by Ma’sumeh Ansarian. Drawing on Stuart Hall’s theory of identity—as fluid, layered, and constructed through power relations, culture, and history—the research reveals that women in these novels transcend passive victimhood, emerging instead as resilient agents who actively reconstruct dynamic, multifaceted identities across social, cultural, and political spheres. Although both novels depict destruction, displacement, and suffering, they offer distinct narratives shaped by their unique socio-historical contexts. In Ansarian’s novel, feminine identity is redefined within Iran’s religious-national framework, with women moving from private spheres into public roles as caregivers and symbolic mothers (non-biological). Conversely, The Baghdad Clock emphasizes Iraq’s multicultural fabric and migration experiences, reconstructing feminine identity through cultural memory and a psychologically nuanced lens. Distinct narrative styles—magical realism in Al Rawi’s work and emotional realism in Ansarian’s—enrich these portrayals and reinforce enduring literary values such as resilience, solidarity, and hope. By challenging gender stereotypes and articulating autonomous identities, this study affirms literature’s role as a tool for narrating wartime history from a gendered perspective. Moreover, it provides a methodological framework for comparative studies of war literature across different cultural contexts.