Abstract
Studies of war often neglect women’s participation in wars beyond the lens of victimhood. Women have traditionally not been associated with war because of societal norms that associate masculinity with war and portraying women as opposed to war and violence. However, women’s involvement in violence as part of armed nonstate groups is an increasing characteristic of contemporary intra-state wars and conflict across the world.
The aim of this study was to explore the reasons women become fighters in armed non-state groups and the roles they play in such groups during civil wars. Furthermore, to establish the challenges that women face as part of these armed groups. Two case studies were selected to examine the participation of women in armed conflict - the female rebel fighters in the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) who fought in the 1991-2002 Sierra Leonean conflict and the YPJ (Kurdish women’s protection units) in the Syrian civil war that started in 2011 and which, by 2022 was still ongoing.
This study found that in analysing women’s motivation for joining non-state armed groups a distinction should be drawn between ‘pull’ factors and ‘push’ factors. In the case of the RUF, there were hardly any ‘pull’ factors. Many women and girls joined the RUF through forced recruitment by means of abduction. The women that joined the RUF later on did so to escape poverty after the destruction of their livelihoods by the RUF.
In Syria, most women that joined the YPJ were motivated by ‘pull factors’ rather than ‘push’ factors. When the civil war started, most women joined the YPG/YPJ, to protect the Kurdish community against the Syrian regime and other armed groups, including the Islamist extremists hostile to the Kurds, such as the Islamic State (ISIS), the Al Nusra Front and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels. Kurdish women in Rojava (and elsewhere) also joined the YPJ because they were attracted to the ideological foundation of the YPJ, called jineology. The latter emphasises the promotion of women’s rights in a region largely characterised by patriarchy and an oppressive culture. Certain ‘push factors’ also account for women’s decision to join the YPJ. The most important are material benefit to escape poverty and the prevalence of patriarchy and a conservative culture in their communities.
The RUF’s large-scale abduction of women and girls into the group was mainly for the purposes of making them so-called bush wives of male combatants or to be used as sex slaves in the camps. They also had to perform other non-combat duties such as cooking, taking care of children and wounded fighters, diamond traders and carriers
of weapons and other supplies. This was contrary to the male soldiers who did not fulfil any of the domestic roles. However, women also fulfilled combat roles such as being soldiers, suicide bombers and spies.
Women’s status in the YPJ differs considerably from those female fighters in the RUF. Women in these military wings fight alongside men on an equal footing. Women are commanders, frontline soldiers, and trainers of new recruits. They are also suicide bombers and conduct intelligence activities such as spying.
The high prevalence of forced recruitment of women and girls in the Sierra Leonean war coincided with high levels of violence against these women in the RUF. This study found that sexual violence was very prevalent amongst female combatants under the RUF, with many having experienced rape, forced prostitution, forced pregnancies and sexual slavery amongst others. Despite the image in the Western media of women in the YPJ as fearless fighters, these women also face great challenges. Such challenges include sexual violence, kidnappings, torture, and gender-based violence by enemy forces.