The Social Origins of Female Combatants

Citation:

Thomas, Jakana L., and Reed M. Wood. 2018. "The Social Origins of Female Combatants." Conflict Management and Peace Science 35(3): 215-32.

Authors: Jakana L Thomas, Reed M Wood

Abstract:

We investigate the factors that lead some rebel organizations to deploy women in combat roles while others restrict women's participation to non-combat roles or exclude them entirely. Our argument focuses on the influence of the scope and frequency of women's prior participation in social, political, and economic activities on groups' decisions to employ women in combat roles and women's desire to pursue such roles when they are made available. We evaluate our hypotheses using a new dataset on women's combat participation in rebel movements active from 1979 to 2009. Our results provide support for our central hypothesis. 

Keywords: civil war, female combatants, gender and conflict, rebellion

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Combatants, Female Combatants, Conflict, Gender, Livelihoods

Year: 2018

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