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

• DOI: 10.1177/0095327X20981696
• Date: 01 April 2022
• Published date: 01 April 2022
• Author: Marius Mehrl
• Subject Matter: Research Note

https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X20981696

Armed Forces & Society

2022, Vol. 48(2) 464 –479

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0095327X20981696

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Research Note

Female Combatants

and Wartime Rape:

Reconsidering the Role

of Women in Armed Conflict

Marius Mehrl

1

Abstract

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.

Keywords

sexual violence, rape, female combatants, rebel groups

1

University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom

Corresponding Author:

Marius Mehrl, University of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom.

Email: marius.mehrl@essex.ac.uk

Mehrl 465

Introduction

Recent research has begun to consider the structural and strategic determinants of

women participating as fighters in armed intrastate conflict (Henshaw, 2016;

Thomas & Bond, 2015; Thomas & Wood, 2018; R. M. Wood & Thomas, 2017).

At the same time, studies begin to examine the effects such participation has on the

dynamics of armed conflict. Most prominently,

1

Loken (2017) extends Cohen

(2013a) and presents evidence that contrary to qualitative studies and common

expectations (E. J. Wood, 2006, 2009), female combatants do not decrease the

prevalence of wartime rape. She argues instead that armed groups’ violence is driven

by organizational features such as military culture and that individuals conform to

this culture irrespective of their personal identities.

These conclusions are noteworthy as they challenge prominent existing work on

the interplay of military organizations’ recruitment and their goals, norms, and

behaviors. If armed group’s organizational culture can indeed neutralize the effects

of combatants’ personal characteristics, it is surprising that these groups would

invest in screening mechanisms to filter out low-quality recruits (Forney, 2015) and

recruit child soldiers whose main benefit appears to be their malleability (Beber &

Blattman, 2013) or that within the same organization, combatants’ behavior system-

atically differs based on their social background or how they entered that organiza-

tion (McLauchlin, 2015). And while Loken (2017) is correct to point out that

existing studies “prioritize organizational explanations for civilian [victimization],

arguing that organizational factors drive behavior and group decision-making” (p.

84), these organizational factors are often linked to violence via fighter character-

istics or group constituencies. For instance, Weinstein (2005, 2007) suggests that

materially endowed rebels are more likely to abuse civilians because their endow-

ments attract opportunistic recruits with little commitment to organizational goals.

Similarly, group goals may drive whether and which civilians are targeted or spared

(Asal & Rethemeyer, 2008; Fjelde & Hultman, 2014), but recent work shows that

these goals themselves are affected by group’s strategic pressures to mobilize and

retain support (Tokdemir et al., 2020). If groups seek to recruit women due to these

pressures (Thomas & Bond, 2015), they should hence adapt their goals and behavior

accordingly. For instance, women’s active participation in the Eritrean secessionist

movement led to women’s rights becoming a relevant point of debate and, ulti-

mately, core element of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front’s goals (Thomas &

Bond, 2015). Otherwise, disillusioned members may leave the organization or even

switch to rival groups (Oppenheim et al., 2 015). As such, there is a theoretical

foundation to expect that armed groups where women fight have more

gender-equal goals, less misogynistic socialization practices, and stronger norms

against sexual violence, resulting in less wartime rape (see E. J. Wood, 2009).

This article takes these insights as motivation to replicate and extend Loken’s

statistical analysis. It begins by conducting a close replication of her results and

uncovers two statistical issues with the analysis. First, the main independent variable

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