Insurgent Women: Female Combatants in Civil Wars

by Jessica Trisko Darden, Alexis Henshaw, Ora Szekely

Why do women go to war? Despite the reality that female combatants exist the world over, we still know relatively little about who these women are, what motivates them to take up arms, how they are utilized by armed groups, and what happens to them when war ends. This book uses three case studies to explore variation in women’s participation in nonstate armed groups in a range of contemporary political and social contexts: the civil war in Ukraine, the conflicts involving Kurdish groups in the Middle East, and the civil war in Colombia. In particular, the authors examine three important aspects of women’s participation in armed groups: mobilization, participation in combat, and conflict cessation. In doing so, they shed light on women’s pathways into and out of nonstate armed groups. They also address the implications of women’s participation in these conflicts for policy, including postconflict programming. This is an accessible and timely work that will be a useful introduction to another side of contemporary conflict.

Genres: Nonfiction, Ukraine, War

127 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 1, 2019

Reviews

[Liberté · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this scholarly account which delved into the characteristics of women in nonstate combatant movements. The book focuses on three cases studies - Ukraine, the Kurdish combatant movements, and Columbia - in which women join, organize, participate in, and help resolve combatant movements. This is distinct from cases where women are primarily or only active as support to male combatants. The book also includes policy prescriptions for addressing the involvement of women in nonstate combatant movements, which require recognizing that the reasons women join these movements are as varied as the reasons for male combatants.