Women’s roles and reproductive violence within armed rebellions

Abstract

Why do armed rebel movements perpetrate intragroup reproductive violence? While extant research predominantly focuses on wartime sexual violence against civilians, the targeting of rebel women with reproductive violence remains underexplored. My research contributes new insights on how women’s idealized roles within armed rebellions shape the likelihood of these groups engaging in various forms of intragroup reproductive violence. I theorize that forced abortions are more likely to occur within rebellions that idealize women’s contributions through masculine duties like frontline combat because in these cases, pregnancy is perceived as antithetical to women’s expected contributions to the rebel movement. Conversely, forced pregnancies are more likely to occur within rebel movements that idealize women’s feminine support roles away from the frontlines because in these cases, pregnancy and motherhood are often part of rebel women’s expected contributions. I provide illustrative examples of armed rebellions characterized by these dynamics, and I introduce novel data on intragroup reproductive violence across a global sample of rebel organizations. Using this new dataset, I statistically evaluate my hypotheses and find empirical support for my claims. This research focuses on gender-based violence that occurs within rebel organizations, providing new data and new insights regarding the intragroup gender dynamics that promote reproductive violence against rebel women.