Non-state armed groups have traditional ideologies of men and women within them. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the Tamil state of Sri Lanka and Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front in El Salvador are non-state armed groups. Birds of Freedom is a female military group apart of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Birds of Freedom articulates the traditional nature of women. For instance, their peaceful nature ensures that women will focus on social and political conflicts. In Farabundo Marti National Liberation, assigned men and women recruiters work together, which turned into a romantic relationship (Vigil, page 151). This relationship between men and women recruiters reinforce traditional expectations by, men recruiters protecting women recruiters and women recruiters taking care of the children.
There is a spectrum of circumstances to consider for men and women joining Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and Farabundo Marti National Liberation. On one end, men and women join these two non-state armed groups to serve as a hero. Tamil and Salvadoran men rely on protecting manhood. On the other end, Tamil women and girls, in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam joined for revenge on the loss of a loved one, escaping from abuse at home, opportunities (Cohn, page 152-153) “…fear of sexual violence, and to redeem themselves after rape” (Cohn, pages 153). On the other hand, Salvadoran women joined Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front for a relationship and adventure aside from nationalism.
In the Salvadoran non-state armed group, Salvadoran men and women were both lovers and compañeros, also known as combatants. Salvadoran men served other roles such as fathers, commanders, brothers, and husbands. In rare cases, they were rapists. Salvadoran women were mothers, single women, wives, pregnant women, sisters, and girls were trainers of the recruitment.
In the Tamil non-state armed group, men could not be recruiters due to “emigration, detention, and death.” (Cohn, page 152) Tamil women and girls handled “propaganda work, administration, medical care, information collection, fundraisers, recruitment,” (Cohn, page 153), victims of sexual violence, became members of “the Sea Tigers..and suicide squad known as the Black Tigers,” (Cohn, page 153) leaders on women empowerment to liberation (Cohn, pages 153-154). Lastly, they were also suicide bombers “throughout the 1900s.” (Cohn, page 159)
The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front wants to overthrow the government and seek hierarchical justice. Sexual violence is an issue in El Salvador. Knowing “men..make sexual harassment seem likely especially considering guerrilla men outnumbered guerrilla women,” (Vigil, page 152) Vigil mentions that the Salvadoran non-state armed group prohibits sexual violence. Speaking of that, this group desires to change Salvadoran men in the nation. It also informs the public that it welcomes recruiters without ulterior motives.
The Tamil non-state armed group incorporates feminist and leftist theories (Cohn, page 151). In this way, Birds of Freedom will be “a representative of the Tamil nation” (Cohn, page 152) and “a progressive vision of the future” (Cohn, page 152). “The LTTE’s fundamental goal is…. of women will automatically be achieved through nationalist victory” (Cohn, page 154). In other words, Birds of Freedom allows women and girls to exercise their capacity and is the first step in gender equality.
Cohn mostly discusses Tamil women and girls. There were not many interactions between men and women referring to the Tamil non-state armed group. Outside of the non-state armed group, Tamil women were able to pass security checkpoints in Sri Lanka due to “cultural sensitivities about men touching women.” (Cohn, page 152) Male security guards did not force to check Tamil women and violate the cultural aspect.
The prohibition in sexual misconduct teaches men recruiters to respect women recruiters in the Salvadoran non-state armed group. Respect leads to a healthy relationship between them. Vigil compares the unity like a “family.” (Vigil, page 152) There are testimonies from men and women recruiters describing the dynamics of the group and strengthening the family concept. Rosa states that if a male recruiter violates the sexual misconduct regulation “he would receive the death penalty.”(Vigil, page 155) A couple is “required to go to the commander…..and make a formal announcement to the entire camp that two were officially together…. punished.” (Vigil, page 156) Elsy points out that “we laid down like siblings, talking..without thinking about sex.” (Vigil, 153) These examples clear the misconception in sexual misconduct present in the guerrilla group. The recruiters worked as a team and dedicated to fighting. From that, the recruiters also enjoyed spending time with each other. Note that this non-state armed group concerns women and they “were never forced to have sexual relations with anyone” (Vigil, page 157) as stated by Cristofer.
There are other variations of gender-relationships in the Salvadoran non-state armed group. Men recruiters would flirt. Julia highlights that if “if you pay attention to him…attach himself to you, because you responded.” (Vigil, page 154) For single Salvadoran women recruiters, her compañero “would fall in love with her, and if she accepted, then it was not a problem.” (Vigil, page 158) The Salvadoran women recruiters had multiple compañeros. Unfortunately, “of the twenty-women guerrillas….nineteen lost one or more of their compañeros…death or separation.” (Vigil, page 158) There were times where compañeros let go of the relationship with a compañera because it was not serious and ”they were looking for a life after the war.” (Vigil, page 160)
The “sexual relationships frequently resulted in pregnancy for women guerrillas.” (Vigil, page 160) Luckily, this group provided services for pregnant women and sex education to other women recruiters. The group’s policy for women recruiters is to take birth control for maintaining the recruiters. However, “a commander..forced women to use IUD during a period of especially intense conflict in 1986.” (Vigil, page 161) This proves that a male commander can abuse his power. In this scenario, he only cares about the army. Furthermore, male recruiters had to leave their compañera and children. However, Julio “stayed a few days longer than he was supposed to in order to be with his child.” (Vigil, page 164) This case expresses the love Julio has for his child and is willing to cherish that moment which does not occur often in the group. He cares about his partner after birth even though he has to serve his duty. The relationship between the compañera and child is meaningful to Julio even he left them.
The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam respected women and girls. They did not tolerate sexual misconduct within the groups. In addition, women and girls made their decision to join through their emotions. For the most part, men and women cooperated and put the effort for success. These two non-state armed groups were also presented in media. In the Tamil group, women gained attention from the public and the group describes them as a “powerful public relations tool” (Cohn, page 152) In the Vigil reading, the Salvadoran non-state armed group had interviews with men and women recruiters on their experiences. These interviews give feedback of the non-state armed group and convince more people to join.