Women in Wars, between Polarization and Invisibility: The Case of Women of Shining Path and Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement

Throughout the last Peruvian conflict (1980-2000) many women joined both armed groups, Peruvian Communist Party-Shining Path (PCP-SL in Spanish) and Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA in Spanish), mostly in the first one. Both fought against the Peruvian state leaving nearly 70,000 casualties according Peruvian Commission of Truth and Reconciliation (CVR, 2003).

By transgressing the gender role assigned to women, which shows women as peacemakers "by nature", a stereotype of women belonging to these groups as “cruel, perverse and unnatural” was created. This ideal was reinforced by the Peruvian governments, media and academia. Therefore, women received much more severe social, legal and symbolic punishment than their male counterparts.

This research emphasizes the social and political factors which have influenced the presence of women in wars. Through a fieldwork carried out in Peru from 2007 to 2009, I analyze the participation of women in both Peruvian armed groups. What were their motivations and experiences lived in the conflict, during their imprisonment or after their release? How did create their combatant identity? How did they face the consequences of the conflict, motherhood and separation from their families and children?