Female combatants, forced recruitment, and civil conflict outcomes

Braithwaite, Alex; Ruiz, Luna B.

doi:10.1177/2053168018770559

Cited by 21 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Given the highly asymmetric nature of civil conflicts, the additional resources resulting from female recruitment-possibly hundreds or thousands of fighters-should also increase the group's ability to mount an effective challenge to the incumbent regime. It is arguably for this reason that incumbents are less likely to defeat rebel movements that (voluntarily) recruit female combatants (Braithwaite and Ruiz, 2018).…”

Section: Rebel Capabilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite rising scholarly interest in identifying and explaining patterns of women's participation in armed conflict, few cross-national studies have investigated the potential influence that armed group gender composition and gendered recruitment strategies might have on conflict dynamics, group behaviors, or war outcomes. To our knowledge, a recent study by Braithwaite and Ruiz (2018), which finds that incumbents are less likely to defeat rebel groups that include female fighters, represents the only existing research that explicitly examines these relationships.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Female fighters and the fates of rebellions: How mobilizing women influences conflict duration

Wood

Allemang

2021

Conflict Management and Peace Science

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We investigate the potential relationship between female combatants and conflict duration. We contend that recruiting female combatants extends war duration via its influence on state–rebel bargaining. The recruitment and deployment of female combatants contribute to divergent perspectives between the rebels and the incumbent regarding the rebel group’s capabilities and the depth of its resolve, which impedes successful bargaining and extends the duration of the conflict. Results from duration analyses using data on the estimated prevalence of female combatants in rebel groups active between 1964 and 2011 support our central hypothesis and suggest that the use of female fighters is associated with longer conflicts.

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Section: Rebel Capabilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Female fighters and the fates of rebellions: How mobilizing women influences conflict duration

Wood

Allemang

2021

Conflict Management and Peace Science

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“…Burgeoning evidence suggests that women can tangibly improve militant outcomes (Braithwaite and Ruiz, 2018; Loken, 2018; Wood, 2019). Female militants can also legitimize belligerents within the community.…”

Section: Women and Gender In Militant Organizationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Both needed and threatened’: Armed mothers in militant visuals

Loken

2020

Security Dialogue

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Because women are assumed to be nonviolent, their participation in militant groups can humanize organizations and legitimize rebellion. But gender beliefs are deeply engrained, and consequently women’s involvement can also generate resistance. This article explores how militants navigate this tension through their political visuals, specifically analyzing images of ‘armed mothers’ across six diverse conflicts. Leveraging life-giving as the ‘natural’ role for women, these images signal violent disruption of everyday life and authorize political violence in response. But they also stress the temporariness of gender-role expansion, promising and preserving a ‘return to normal’. Militant groups contextualize, justify, and humanize violent struggle through these images even in cases where women rarely participate on the front lines.

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“…1. See, for example, Braithwaite & Ruiz (2018) and R. M. Wood (2019). Out of these studies, Loken has been cited most often and has received attention outside of political science (e.g., McDermott, 2020).…”

Section: Author's Notementioning

confidence: 99%

Female Combatants and Wartime Rape: Reconsidering the Role of Women in Armed Conflict

Mehrl

2020

Armed Forces & Society

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Whereas existing research posits that the presence of female fighters in armed groups decreases their propensity for wartime rape, one recent study tests this claim quantitatively and is unable to detect a statistically significant effect. This leads the author to conclude that female combatants do not decrease rape. Using that study’s original data, this article reexamines the evidence for the relationship between female rebel combatants and wartime sexual violence. Replications of the original models suggest that they make strong functional form assumptions regarding numerous independent variables and time dependence and that relaxing them results in substantively different findings. Namely, women’s participation in armed groups decreases groups’ use of wartime rape. In support of Loken’s organizational theory of rape, results also suggest that this effect is moderated by group norms. These findings contribute to the literature on female participation in rebel groups and beyond.

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Female combatants, forced recruitment, and civil conflict outcomes

Cited by 21 publications

References 22 publications

Female fighters and the fates of rebellions: How mobilizing women influences conflict duration

Female fighters and the fates of rebellions: How mobilizing women influences conflict duration

‘Both needed and threatened’: Armed mothers in militant visuals

Female Combatants and Wartime Rape: Reconsidering the Role of Women in Armed Conflict

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