This article challenges the idea that women are necessarily more peaceful than men by looking at examples of female combatants in ethno-nationalist military organizations in Sri Lanka and Northern Ireland. Anti-state, ‘liberatory’ nationalisms often provide more space (ideologically and practically) for women to participate as combatants than do institutionalized state or pro-state nationalisms, and this can be seen in the cases of the LTTE in Sri Lanka and the IRA in Northern Ireland when contrasted with loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. However, the role of the female combatant is ambiguous and indicates a tension between different conceptualizations of societal security, where female combatants both fight against societal insecurity posed by the state and contribute to internal societal insecurity within their ethno-national groups.
Abdo, Nahla , 1994. ‘Nationalism and Feminism: Palestinian Women and the Intifada – No Going Back?’, in Valentine M. Moghadam , ed., Gender and National Identity: Women and Politics in Muslim Societies. London: Zed/Oxford University Press (148–170).
2.
Alison, Miranda , 2003. ‘Cogs in the Wheel? Women in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’ , Civil Wars6(4): 37–54 .
3.
Ann, Adele , 1993. Women Fighters of Liberation Tigers. Jaffna: LTTE Publication Section .
4.
Bilgin, Pinar , 2003. ‘Individual and Societal Dimensions of Security’ , International Studies Review5: 203–222 .
5.
Coulter, Colin , 1999. Contemporary Northern Irish Society: An Introduction. London: Pluto .
6.
de Silva, P. L. , 1995. ‘The Efficacy of “Combat Mode”: Organisation, Political Violence, Affect and Cognition in the Case of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’, in Pradeep Jeganathan & Qadri Ismail , eds, Unmaking the Nation: The Politics of Identity and History in Modern Sri Lanka. Colombo: Social Scientists’ Association (176–190).
7.
Galligan, Yvonne & Rick Wilford , 1999. ‘Women’s Political Representation in Ireland’, in Yvonne Galligan , Eilís Ward & Rick Wilford , eds, Contesting Politics: Women in Ireland, North and South. Boulder, CO: Westview (130–148).
8.
Guelke, Adrian , 1999. ‘Political Violence and the Paramilitaries’, in Paul Mitchell & Rick Wilford , eds, Politics in Northern Ireland. Boulder, CO: Westview (29–51).
9.
Maunaguru, Sitralega , 1995. ‘Gendering Tamil Nationalism: The Construction of “Woman” in Projects of Protest and Control’, in Pradeep Jeganathan & Qadri Ismail , eds, Unmaking the Nation: The Politics of Identity and History in Modern Sri Lanka. Colombo: Social Scientists’ Association (158–175).
10.
Moghadam, Valentine M. , 1993. Modernising Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner .
11.
Peterson, V. Spike , 1998. ‘Gendered Nationalism: Reproducing “Us” Versus “Them”’, in Lois Ann Lorentzen & Jennifer Turpin , eds, The Women and War Reader. New York: New York University Press (41–49).
12.
Ruane, Joseph & Jennifer Todd , 1996. The Dynamics of Conflict in Northern Ireland: Power, Conflict and Emancipation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
13.
Sales, Rosemary , 1997a. ‘Gender and Protestantism in Northern Ireland’, in Peter Shirlow & Mark McGovern , eds, Who Are ‘the People’? Unionism, Protestantism and Loyalism in Northern Ireland. London: Pluto (140–157).
14.
Sales, Rosemary , 1997b. Women Divided: Gender, Religion and Politics in Northern Ireland. London: Routledge .
15.
Samuel, Kumudini , 2001. ‘Gender Difference in Conflict Resolution: The Case of Sri Lanka’, in Inger Skjelsbæk & Dan Smith , eds, Gender, Peace and Conflict. London: Sage (184–204).
16.
Sebastian, Rita , 1996. ‘Do Women Soldiers Go Against Feminist Ideology of Working for Peace?’, Inter Press Service, 2 March; available at http://www.ips.org/index.htm (accessed 28 April 2002).
17.
Sharoni, Simona , 2001. ‘Rethinking Women’s Struggles in Israel–Palestine and in the North of Ireland’, in Caroline O. N. Moser & Fiona C. Clark , eds, Victims, Perpetrators or Actors? Gender, Armed Conflict and Political Violence. London: Zed (85–98).
18.
Turshen, Meredeth , 1998. ‘Women’s War Stories’, in Meredeth Turshen & Clotilde Twagiramariya , eds, What Women Do in Wartime: Gender and Conflict in Africa. London: Zed (1–26).
19.
van Creveld, Martin , 2001. Men, Women and War: Do Women Belong in the Front Line?London: Cassell .
20.
Ward, Margaret , 1989. Unmanageable Revolutionaries: Women and Irish Nationalism. London: Pluto .
21.
Ward, Rachel , 2002. ‘Invisible Women: The Political Roles of Unionist and Loyalist Women in Contemporary Northern Ireland’ , Parliamentary Affairs55: 167–178 .
22.
Wilford, Rick , 1998. ‘Women, Ethnicity and Nationalism: Surveying the Ground’, in Rick Wilford & Robert L. Miller , eds, Women, Ethnicity and Nationalism: The Politics of Transition. London: Routledge (1–22).
23.
Wilford, Rick , 1999. ‘Women and Politics’, in Paul Mitchell & Rick Wilford , eds, Politics in Northern Ireland. Boulder, CO: Westview (195–219).
24.
Wilford, Rick & Yvonne Galligan , 1999. ‘Gender and Party Politics in Northern Ireland’, in Yvonne Galligan , Eilís Ward & Rick Wilford , eds, Contesting Politics: Women in Ireland, North and South. Boulder, CO: Westview (169–184).
