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ROLES of WOMEN DURING ARMED CONFLICT Narratives of Jaffna Women in Sri Lanka

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ROLES of WOMEN DURING ARMED CONFLICT Narratives of Jaffna Women in Sri Lanka ROLES OF WOMEN DURING ARMED CONFLICT Narratives of Jaffna women in Sri Lanka ROLES OF WOMEN DURING ARMED CONFLICT Narratives of Jaffna women in Sri Lanka Doreen Arulanantham Chawade SCHOOL OF GLOBAL STUDIES Doctoral Dissertation in Peace and Development Research School of Global Studies University of Gothenburg 2 December 2016 © Author: Doreen Arulanantham Chawade Cover layout: Aakash Chawade Printing: Ineko, Gothenburg-Sweden, 2016 ISBN: 978-91-628-9983-7 (PDF) ISBN: 978-91-628-9984-4 (Print) http://hdl.handle.net/2077/47812 To my ammamma (grandma) who lived her life in war, and to my daughters Tanya and Tina Abstract Sri Lanka has been ravaged by the long-running civil war held between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE. The conflict cost thousands of lives, internal displacements and property damage. The results of the war thus have been destructive. Refugees, orphans, war widows, disabled youth and devastated economy have been the consequences of this prolonged conflict. Amidst these ongoing deaths, disappearance and economic crisis caused by the war, women of Jaffna say that they were determined to take up different roles by breaking the cultural barriers. Women claim they took up different roles in order to protect their families and the communities from the war and the violence. There are many different studies that have been done on Sri Lanka conflict. However, only a handful of them reveal the roles of women in the conflict. This study on the roles of women during the armed conflict in Sri Lanka provides a case study analysis. Presenting Jaffna women as the case, this study explores Tamil women’s experiences and understandings on the different roles they took on during the conflict in Sri Lanka. This case study is based on the fieldwork conducted in Jaffna in the years 2004 to 2006, which was also the time of Norwegian facilitated ceasefire agreement in the country. Through the framework of narrative methodology, interviews were held with women who took up different roles in the context of conflict in Sri Lanka. The observation method was also used in this study in order to observe and analyze the situation in the (sample) villages of Jaffna. Theoretically, this study is guided by gender theories on the roles of women and women’s empowerment in conflict times. Empirically, this study reveals women’s experiences and understandings on how they took up different roles during the conflict, the motivations behind them taking up those roles, and the challenges they had to face in the process of taking up roles. This study also explores women’s perception on women’s empowerment and social transformation, which they believe, can be achieved through the process of taking up different roles in times of conflict. This study therefore concludes that the roles of Tamil women are changing. These changing roles of Tamil women increase women’s empowerment in the society and thus, transform the society as well. Keywords: Tamil women, changing roles, women empowerment, social transformation, armed conflict, ceasefire agreement, Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Abbreviations AI- Amnesty International AHRC- Asian Human Rights Commission BBC- British Broadcasting Corporation CFA- Ceasefire Agreement CIDA- Canadian International Development Agency CJNR- Canadian Journal of Nursing Research COHRE - Centre on Housing Right and Eviction CLPID- Colombia Laws and Policies on Internal Displacement CFWD- Centre for Women Development ENI- Ecumenical News International EU- European Union EUEOM- European Union Election Observation Mission FGI- Focus Group Interviews GoSL- Government of Sri Lanka HUDEC- Human Development Centre HRW- Human Rights Watch IC- International Community ICAP - International Centre for Alcohol Policies ICES- International Centre for Ethnic Studies ICRC- International Committee of the Red Cross IDMC- International Displacement Monitoring Centre IDP- Internally Displaced People IFT- Informal Talks IMADR- International Movement Against all forms of Discrimination and Racism IOM- International Organization for Migration IPKF- Indian Peace Keeping Force IWS- International Women Studies JVP- Janata Vimukti Peramuna (Sinhala: People’s Liberation Front) MoU- Memorandum of Understanding NEPC - North and East Provincial Council NEPC- National Environment Protection Council NGO- Non- Governmental Organization OMCT- Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture (French: World Organization against Torture) LTTE- Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam RC- Refugee Council SCF-Save the Children Fund SCFWD - Sooriya Centre for Women Development SLMM- Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission TNA- Tamil National Alliance TMVP- Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (Tamil: Tamil People’s Liberation Tigers) TPI- Telephone Interview TULF- Tamil United Liberation Front UN- The United Nations UNDAW- The United Nations Divisions for the Advancement of Women UNDP- The United Nations Development Program UNICEF- The United Nation International Children’s Emergency Fund UNIFEM- The United Nations Development Fund for Women UNHCR- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNRISD- The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development VoT- Voice of Tigers Contents Acknowledgements............................................................................................... v 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research Problem........................................................................................ 4 1.2 Research Question and Sub-Research Questions ........................................ 7 1.3 Contributions ............................................................................................... 8 1.4 Outline of the Thesis ................................................................................. 10 2. Theoretical Focus and Literature Review ....................................................... 11 2.1 Women’s Roles in conflicts ...................................................................... 12 2.2 Roles of Women, War and Social Change ................................................ 15 2.2.1 Women, War and Women’s Empowerment ....................................... 18 2.2.2 Women, War and Social Transformation ........................................... 22 2.3 Analytical Framework ............................................................................... 25 3. Research Design and Methodology ................................................................ 37 3.1 Epistemological Positioning ...................................................................... 37 3.2 Research (Case Study) Design .................................................................. 38 3.2.1 Field Area: The District of Jaffna ....................................................... 39 3.2.2 The Sample Villages ........................................................................... 40 3.3 Methods of Data Collection ...................................................................... 44 3.3.2 Observation ......................................................................................... 50 3.4 Analyzing Data.......................................................................................... 52 3.5 Defining the Terms ................................................................................... 52 3.6 Field Experience........................................................................................ 54 3. 6.1 Researching under a Threatening Political Context ........................... 55 3.6.2 Building Trust ..................................................................................... 55 3.6.3 Interviewing the LTTE Women .......................................................... 57 3.6.4 Antagonism of People over Researchers ............................................ 57 3.7 Reviving Data ........................................................................................... 59 3.8 Delimitations ............................................................................................. 59 3.8.1 Temporal Delimitations (the 2002–2008 ceasefire period) ................ 59 3.9 Conclusions ............................................................................................... 60 4. Women, War and Tamil Society ..................................................................... 63 4.1 Jaffna ......................................................................................................... 63 4.2 The Armed Conflict .................................................................................. 66 4.2.1 The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) .................................. 69 4.2.2 Women’s Wing of the LTTE .............................................................. 70 4.2.3 Tamil Women and Armed Conflict .................................................... 73 4.3 Tamil Society and Women ........................................................................ 76 4.3.1 Marriage and Family Life ................................................................... 77 4.3.2. Dowry ................................................................................................ 78 i 4.3.3 Virginity and Chastity......................................................................... 80 4.3.4 Community Isolation .......................................................................... 81 4.3.5 Domestic Violence ............................................................................. 86 4.4 Conclusions ..............................................................................................
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