Identity Transformation and Reintegration Among Ethiopian Women War Veterans: A Feminist Analysis

Abstract

Ethiopian women in the Tigray People's Liberation Front developed a collective identity during the civil war, including androgynous attitudes and behavior that defied traditional gender norms. After the war, they were demobilized and left on their own to re-adjust to civilian life. Interviews with 20 such women veterans suggest that all were integrated into society economically, and to some degree socially, but political integration was minimal. Social integration was facilitated when they saw their fighter identity as an asset rather than a liability. Viewing the post-war “fighter identity” as a liminal gender identity may help such women mine the strengths gained from their transformative war experiences.

Keywords:

• Ethiopian women
• war veterans
• reintegration
• gender identity
• Tigray People's Liberation Front
• military family
• feminist research
• feminist family research
• feminist psychotherapy