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Young Female Fighters in African Wars: Conflict and Its Consequences

Year: 2008

Type: report

Abstract: In the numerous armed conflicts that are tearing the African continent apart, young women are participants and carry guns alongside their male comrades-in-arms. Challenging the stereotype of women in African wars as victims only, this issue of the Nordic Africa Institute Policy Dialogues shows how in modern African wars women have often been as active as men. Female fighters are victimized, yet they are not mere victims. Girls and young women who volunteer to fight often possess quite considerable strength and independence. Programmes for disarming, demobilizing, and reintegrating former fighters must be based on better understanding of the range of women's roles and experiences in war and post-war settings in order to act in a gender-sensitive way and to empower this group of women in the aftermath of war.

Source: KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

Authors: Chris Coulter, Mariam Persson, Mats Utas

Institution: Uppsala University

Language: English

Topic: Gender, Security, and Conflict

Subfield: Gender Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Gender equality, Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W1850792191

Cites: 42

Cited by: 67

Related to: 10