Female Former Combatants in News Media
A descriptive analysis comparing narratives in international and Colombian news
By: Ragna Stertman
Spring 2020
Uppsala University
Department of Political Science
Bachelor Thesis in Development Studies Supervisor: Johanna Söderström
Number of pages: 42 Word Count: 12926
I would like to express my great appreciation to Gabriela Velásquez Medina for checking and commenting on translations
made in this thesis.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 4
1.1. Aim and research question 6
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 7
2.1. Feminist critique of DDR 7
2.2. International Journalism 8
2.3. The ”Third World Woman” 10
2.4. Narrative Theory 11
2.5. The ‘Beautiful Soul’ Narrative 12
DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 14
3.1. Case selection 14
3.2. Method - Qualitative Narrative analysis 15
3.3. Analytic tools 16
3.4. Material selection 19
3.5. Problems and limitations 22
ANALYSIS 24
4.1. The Peaceful Element 24
4.1.1. Female combatants’ roles 24
4.1.2. Agency and ideological motivations 28
4.2. The Maternal Element 31
4.2.1. References to the private sphere 31
4.2.2. References to the public sphere 34
CONCLUSION 36
REFERENCE LIST 38
INTRODUCTION
Feminist scholars and practitioners have for a long time pointed out that security politics in general and armed conflict in particular are inherently gendered. This is manifested both in discourse and practice, including everything from the direct exclusion of women from these fields to the implicit neglect of concerns associated with femininity (Sjoberg, 2010; 55). The absence of gender neutrality within security politics can be traced back to the narratives of warfare that relied on a clear distinction between gender roles. The great old stories about States fighting wars follow the same pattern: a heroic man as protagonist, fighting to protect (his) (innocent) woman back home. Certainly, this narration did not correspond to reality.
Women participated in most of the history’s major wars, only that their roles have consistently been overlooked (Sjoberg, 2010; 57). Over time, the number of women in combat has further increased and nowadays, women and girls are active in all kinds of modern armed groups, ranging from insurgent movements to state militaries, from the political left to the political right and in numerous, diverse contexts across the globe (Wood
& Thomas, 2017; Haer & Böhmelt, 2018; Henshaw, 2020). Despite this, some ingredients of the above narrative prevail and continue to dominate and influence how we understand women’s relation to warfare. That they are not seen as “pure” combatants is in itself
disturbing but does also entail additional costs for female combatants. For example, women fighters are often denied the rewards and prestige associated with their soldiering, in spite of making the same efforts and sacrifices as men do (Sjoberg, 2010; 67-68).
Female combatants are not only marginalized during conflict but also, and in some cases to an even larger extent, after conflict. This tendency has been observed in the United Nations Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programs, implemented in
post-conflict societies with the aim to facilitate the transition from conflict to peace and recovery (UNDDR, n.d.). While efforts to address the underrepresentation of female former combatants have increased during the last two decades, men and women still do not
participate on equal terms and gender hierarchies continue to characterize the programs.
Therefore, scholars and researchers call for a profound transformation of how female former combatants are understood and talked about in DDR (Henshaw, 2020; Björkdahl
&Mannergren Selimovic, 2015; Hauge, 2020; Basini, 2013; Gizelis & Olsson, 2015;
MacKenzie, 2009). While such transformation is more than necessary, there is arguably one perspective that is lacking in the discussion: the Global South and North divide. All DDR processes of today are taking place in the Global South (UN, n.d.) while much of the literature and research on related issues have been produced in the Global North (Mohanty, 1988). Evidently, this is disturbing in itself but especially considering the colonial history and legacy that have made - and still make - the Global North misunderstand the Global South, both intentionally and unintentionally. Misunderstandings of this kind are manifested in, for example, the terminology used to describe former combatants. The ex-combatant from the Global South is portrayed in quite extreme and simplistic terms whereas the veteran from the Global North is seen in a more nuanced way (Söderström, forthcoming; 7). 1
In addition to the lacking consideration of colonial legacy, another critique of the DDR literature can be noted: the mere focus on DDR is perhaps a scope too narrow to fully grasp how female former combatants are understood and how that understanding has an impact on their lives. Policy documents and reintegration programs do not exist in isolation from broader social structures that they are part of and narratives about female combatants are probably not reserved to these fields. More likely are they reproduced and transferred within and across other areas of society as well. One of those areas, and perhaps one of the most powerful ones due to its extensive reach and ability to impact people's thoughts, is news media. This is also an area in which the colonial heritage has left considerable footprints.
Through the constant flow of international news, most often dominated by the Global North, stereotypes of people and places of the Global South are carved into people’s minds. If repeated often enough, they will shape long lasting attitudes, perceptions and ideas among its audience (Williams, 2011). Due to the extensive social and political power that news media has as well as the dominance that the Global North enjoy on the international news market, there is arguably a need to examine and compare if there is a difference in the portrayal of female former combatants from the Global South between international and local news.
1 In accordance with Johanna Söderström, the more neutral term former combatant will be
1.1. Aim and research question
This thesis is a case study of how female former combatants from the Global South are portrayed in the news media. More specifically, it analyzes and compares portrayals of female former combatants from the armed group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in international and Colombian news respectively in order to investigate if there is a difference and if so, what the difference is. Accordingly, the aim of the study is primarily descriptive, but also comparative, in nature. The research question is the following:
Is there a difference in how female former combatants from FARC are portrayed in Colombian news and in international news? If so, what is the difference?
In order to answer the research question, a qualitative narrative analysis is applied and narratives about former female combatants from FARC will be searched for and analyzed in the news articles. The news agencies: Reuters, Associated Press (AP) and Agence France Presse (AFP) constitute the sources for international news whereas the newspaper El Tiempo constitute the source for the Colombian news.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
This section departs from previous research on female former combatants, the literature in which the research problem is located, and then moves on to the empirical and theoretical underpinnings that this study is built on: International Journalism, The “Third World Woman”, Narrative Theory and the ‘Beautiful Soul’ Narrative.
2.1. Feminist critique of DDR
In 2000 the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325), in order to improve the situation for women in post-conflict contexts as well as address the lack of participating women in all peace-building measures (Gizelis & Olsson, 2015). However, the evaluation of the implementation of Resolution 1325 in general, and its effects on Demobilization, Democratization and Reintegration (DDR) processes in particular, have generated mixed results. While the resolution has brought attention to gender dimensions and women’s specific needs in post-conflict societies, many scholars agree that peace building measures, all around the world, continue to exclude women and sustain gender hierarchies (Henshaw, 2020; Hauge, 2020; Basini, 2013; MacKenzie, 2009). In the case of former combatants, a much smaller proportion of women have accessed DDR programs due to various reasons, ranging from strict entry requirements to implicit gender norms. For a long time, the handover of a weapon was considered the basic condition for registration,
something that disfavored women former combatants as many of them performed roles as cooks, medics or messengers within the armed group (Basini, 2013; 538, 539). While such logistical issues have to some extent been addressed leading to a somewhat greater number of women former combatants represented in the programs (DDR, n.d) many structural obstacles remain, meaning that men and women still do not participate on equal terms.
The continuous neglect of women as ”pure” combatants has been noted and discussed by various scholars and researchers (Henshaw, 2020; Björkdahl & Mannergren Selimovic, 2015;
Hauge, 2020; Basini, 2013; Gizelis & Olsson, 2015; MacKenzie, 2009). Megan MacKenzie, for example, report that female soldiers in post-conflict Sierra Leone were consistently labelled as ”camp followers, abductees, sex slaves and domestic slaves” or ”girls and women associated with the fighting forces” (MacKenzie 2009; 255, 256). These linguistic indicators
robbed women of their very agency and role as combatants and resulted in exclusion from the DDR program as they were instead assisted as victims, thus denying these women their adequate assistance. Megan MacKenzie conclude that the needs of female combatants cannot be understood only in terms of their victimhood - it is also essential to take into account their needs as former, active participants in violence (2009; 261). The underlying assumption that women can only be victims in conflicts, and that if women participate in violence they have been coerced, is a far too simplistic notion that does not correspond to reality (ibid).
This study contributes to the literature on female former combatants by generating a deeper understanding of how we talk about this group beyond policy and outside of the formal structures of DDR. Arguably, policy documents and reintegration programs do not exist in isolation from broader social structures that they are part of and narratives about female combatants are probably not reserved to these fields. More likely are they reproduced and transferred within and across other areas of society as well. Thus, in order to make discursive changes within DDR, there may be a need to understand the overarching discourse in which it is located. Certainly, how we talk about and understand female former combatants is
important in itself and has not to be justified by any other means. However, as outlined in the above discussion, the way this group is perceived does have implications for actual policies and practices related to their reintegration and therefore, the purpose is also to provide this specific field with new insight and awareness.
2.2. International Journalism
According to Williams (2011) contemporary, international journalism can not be understood in isolation from its colonial legacy and the hundreds of years of western dominance in the discursive construction of the world and the people that inhabit it. Today’s foreign
correspondence can be traced all the way back to the European explorers and colonizers of the fifteenth century and the travel stories they brought back home from Latin America, Asia and Africa. Their surreal and problematic depictions of the world outside of Europe shaped how the western audience thought of and understood people outside of their borders as well as what they came to expect from foreign correspondence during centuries. These societies, that later were colonized, were described as “uncivilized” and “primitive” in contrast to the
self-representation of the west as “civilized” and “advanced”. In the same way, the colonized people were described as “savages”, “barbarians” and “mentally inferior”, descriptions that were used to justify the colonial project and the physical, social and cultural suppression that followed from that (Williams, 2011; 63-66). When the casual storytelling grew into more regular and systematic reporting in the nineteenth century, foreign news gathering came to be dominated by news agencies with close ties to imperial and colonial powers. Essentially the whole field of international journalism was monopolized by the Global North and the content as well as the nature of the information communicated was crafted in order to suit its readers.
Hence, the colonial discourse continued to play a decisive role in the production of international news (Williams, 2011; 45-59).
Over time, international journalism has evolved in various ways but one element that has remained constant is the customer orientation and the importance of the readers. In the globalized world of today, as well as in the colonial Europe of the nineteenth century, the factor that ultimately determines what ends up being news, and what is left out, is the interest of the readers and stakeholders. What may be troublesome is that international newspapers and news agencies are to a much larger extent consumed and paid for by people based in the Global North and thus the focus will inevitably be biased (Williams, 2011; 78). The priority to satisfy the West becomes evident in Bunce’s interviews with foreign and local
correspondents in Kenya (2014). For instance, one western correspondent ”felt that his primary ethical obligation - and the purpose of his work - was to describe events to readers
’back home’ in terms they could readily understand ” (Bunce, 2014; 10). To report in a way that corresponds to westerners perceptions and understandings of the world ultimately means reproducing the stereotypes and misrepresentations first introduced by the explorers and colonizers (Williams, 2011; 157). This is further confirmed by Hannerz who demonstrate that western foreign correspondents focus on the same story lines for each region, emphasizing some characteristics in particular and overlooking alternative stories (2004; 145). This, he argues, leads to severe stereotyping in international media coverage. In accordance with the colonial history of foreign correspondence and the hegemony that the Global North still enjoys within international news media, this study expect to find a difference between how female former combatants from FARC are portrayed in international news and Colombian news media respectively.
2.3. The ”Third World Woman”
Much of the previously mentioned criticism towards the discourse and practice of the DDR resembles Chandra Mohanty’s analysis of the discursive colonization of non-western women from 1988. The main argument is that western feminist discourse portray women in what Mohanty calls the “third world” or the Global South, as a monolithic powerless group, systematically located as victims prior to their entry into any historical and political analysis.
From this viewpoint, a woman is equivalent to ”being oppressed”, and being from the Global South is equivalent to being ”ignorant, poor, uneducated, tradition-bound, religious,
domesticated, family-oriented, victimized” (Mohanty, 1988; 65). Furthermore, Mohanty review several western feminist work on women in the Global South and note that they are predominantly interested in the ways that these women are affected or not affected by various phenomenon, implicitly defining them in terms of their object status and thus reinforcing the idea of women in the Global South as a passive and powerless recipient (Mohanty, 1988; 66).
More recent work, for instance by Alexis Leanna Henshaw, also note that presumptions about agency are not only gendered but are also defined by geography with people in the Global South seen as less capable than people in developed countries (2020; 67).
The victimization and objectification of women in the Global South by feminist scholars in the Global North is similar to how DDR structures have seemingly understood and treated female former combatants. Could it be the case that the colonial legacy is influencing how these women have come to be perceived by the Global North? While this study is not explanatory in nature, examining the portrayal of female former combatants from FARC in Colombian and international news, could be considered an initial step in order to answer that question. Despite the increasing literature on female former combatants and their
reintegration there are still few discussions incorporating such a perspective. The gendered dimension is to a large extent analyzed and discussed without any consideration of the colonial legacy and the implications it may have for how female former combatants of the Global South are understood. This study intend to make some contribution in the filling of this gap by comparing how international news media, dominated by the Global North, and the news media from Colombia, considered to be a country of the Global South, portray female former combatants from FARC. Based on Mohanty’s observations and the history of
international journalism, outlined in the previous section, this study expect to find a difference.
2.4. Narrative Theory
In the discussion of how social groups, for example female former combatants, are talked about and understood, narrative theory becomes useful. Narratives are essentially stories, i.e.
information about our surroundings that we put together cognitively in order to make sense of our world and the people, places and events that it consists of. In other words, they function as mental frames that organize our perceptions, give them meaning and make them more comprehensible. In that sense, narratives inform our ways of interpreting the reality which in turn also guide our behavior (Patterson & Renwick Monroe, 1998; 315, 316). Nevertheless, the construction of narratives is as much a social as a mental process as we do not only tell these stories to ourselves but also to others, in everyday life, through news-media, in politics etc. Consequently, some narratives are shared collectively in societies, nations or
communities. However, that they are shared does not necessarily mean that everyone
recognizes themselves within the story, nor that its content is necessarily true, but rather that it constitutes the norm or reflects the dominant assumptions and perceptions. Subgroups that do not relate to the dominant narratives or even feel that they are unjust or untrue might call for alternative narratives. Minorities, for example, are often excluded or mistreated in narratives of the nation and its history (Esaiasson et al., 2017; 220, 221).
Patterson and Renwick Monroe note that the absence of narratives that give voice to excluded subgroups and challenge the dominant stories may drive these very groups into further
marginalization (1998; 320). In the case of female combatants it is well known that the dominant narrative, which will be explained in the next section, does not mirror the diverse experiences of women in armed groups. In order to make room for and enable alternative narratives to prosper, there is arguably a need to map out what narratives about female former combatants are in circulation and if they vary depending on the narrator. By analyzing and comparing how female former combatants from FARC are portrayed in international and Colombian news respectively, this study aims to contribute to this mapping.
2.5. The ‘Beautiful Soul’ Narrative
While the lives and experiences of female combatants are as diverse as the number of women themselves, they have often been reduced to a simplistic and gendered understanding of women’s relation to warfare. Laura Sjoberg refers to this understanding as the ‘Beautiful Soul’ Narrative and explains how it has dominated and informed most of our understanding (misunderstanding) of female combatants (2010). Due to its demonstrated reach and usage, its presence should be expected in the portrayals of female former combatants of FARC, at least to some degree. Moreover, in accordance with the above discussion of the colonial legacy and discursive colonization of women in the Global South, the narrative is assumed to be more notable in international press.
The ‘Beautiful Soul’ Narrative consists of three elements, which this study refers to as The Peaceful Element, The Maternal Element and The Warfare Element. The first one treat women combatants as inherently peaceful and innocent (Sjoberg, 2010; 57). While male soldiers are often depicted as heroes risking their lives at the frontline, female soldiers are thought of as vulnerable and non-violent in their nature. Therefore, women as perpetrators of violence, or even as defenders of themselves, appear unnatural and outside normal. Instead, women, even in their roles as soldiers, need to be protected from the frontline - protection that is provided by men (Sjoberg, 2010; 55; 60-61). This dichotomy constructs the man as the saviour and the woman as the victim. Even when women’s actual fighting is acknowledged, it is often considered women’s fighting contrasted to the ‘normal’ fighting, that of men
(Sjoberg, 2010; 58). Further reinforcing the victimhood is the portrayal of female soldiers as inherently naive and unconscious of what war really is about. Accordingly, the narrative tells us that women’s reason for joining armed struggle is another than that for men. They have simply ended up in war because they do not know better or because they have been forced, compared to male soldiers who are thought to make deliberate and heroic decisions to join.
Potential political or ideological motivations that women in reality might have are
downplayed or completely overlooked by the Peaceful Element (Sjoberg, 2010; 55; 60-62;
66).
The Maternal Element can be identified by the clear distinction between the private sphere, where women are thought to belong, and the public sphere of armed conflict where women do not belong (Sjoberg, 2010; 57). Women combatants are therefore often described with reference to the household, emphasizing that they are mothers and caregivers first and that their soldiering is only a phase before going back to their beloved private sphere. An example of such a description is the common reference to the children that women soldiers are thought to have left behind or cannot have due to their participation in conflict (Sjoberg, 2010; 61).
According to the Maternal Element, female soldiers never really ‘step out’ of the private sphere but rather bring it with them into armed conflict. This is manifested through caring and nurturing of their male comrades on the battlefield or other activities associated with motherhood (Sjoberg, 2010; 56).
In the third element, what this paper has labelled the Warfare Element, women are used as the reason to fight war or aim for peace (Sjoberg, 2010; 57; 61). However, this element is
arguably not relevant for the study in question due to case specific factors. FARC can arguably be considered an armed group with clear political motivations due to its Marxist-Leninist orientation and aim to end “U.S. imperialism” as well as implement large-scale socio-economic reforms (UCDP, n.d.). Considering this political position, it is less likely that their motivations or justifications for certain actions are described in terms of women’s security. For these reasons, the Warfare Element is not included in this study.
While this study does not examine portrayal of male former combatants, gender stereotypes are often mutually constituted and can only be understood in contrast to the other (Sjoberg, 2010; 67). Thus, in order to identify the ‘Beautiful Soul’ Narrative there is a need to pay attention to the portrayal of female former combatants in relation to male former combatants.
Normally, the identification of narratives is further facilitated by a set of analytic tools. That Sjoberg does not herself present any such tools with the purpose to systematically detect and analyze the ‘Beautiful Soul’ Narrative is not necessarily a problem for the intended study.
Based on the two elements outlined above and guided by the research question, particular tools will instead be developed and concreticized in order to fit this very study. The analytic tools and the analytic process will be explained in further detail under Design and
Methodology, section 3.3.
DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
3.1. Case selection
FARC and Colombia are selected for the following reasons: (1) together they constitute a case rich of stories about female former combatants and (2) these stories are relatively likely to be covered by both national and international news media. The first assumption is based on the relatively high proportion of female combatants in FARC. Women constitute between 30 and 40 % of all FARC combatants, a relatively high number for any armed group (Henshaw, 2020; 66). The second assumption is based on the amount of media attention that the case has received ever since the beginning of the peace negotiations. Most coverage has centered around the peace deal that put an end to one of the most protracted conflicts of our time and to the reception of the Nobel Peace Prize by President Juan Manuel Santos (Utrikespolitiska institutet, n.d.) but there has also been a particular focus on women and their inclusion.
Several female combatants from FARC participated in the negotiations of the peace deal in Havana and in a sub-commission, established with the purpose to work on gender related issues included in the peace deal (Hauge, 2020; 15). It could be argued that these factors taken together increase the likelihood of narratives about female former combatants being represented in news media, especially in Colombia but also the rest of the world.
Considering the circumstances outlined above, one could also expect more sensitivity to the issue of gender in general and perhaps in news media coverage as well. It is already
demonstrated that the efforts made to increase awareness around gender related issues have had some effects. For example, work by the sub-commission seems to have influenced decisions regarding the DDR process to a relatively large extent (Hauge, 2020; 15). If this kind of awareness and sensitivity is also reflected in the press, then the case’s representatives should be discussed. However, if the portrayal of female former combatants from FARC is found to be considerably gendered, despite the favourable conditions outlined, then we could perhaps expect the portrayal of female former combatants from other cases to be even less balanced and more extreme.
3.2. Method - Qualitative Narrative analysis
In order to answer the research question a qualitative narrative analysis is conducted on text-material. As outlined in the previous section, narrative can be understood as a theory but is also, and perhaps more commonly, considered a qualitative method within the broader area of qualitative text-analysis (Esaiasson et al., 2017; 211). According to Esaiasson et al., a qualitative text-analysis is suitable when we are interested in the underlying meaning of a text or the social process through which that meaning has been shaped (2017; 211-213). The point of departure is that what something means is not evident from the object or phenomenon itself. Put another way, meaning is not fixed or predetermined but a phenomenon can have different meanings over time and between places. This relates to the study in question as we assume that the social group female former combatants does not have a universal or fixed meaning. Based on the colonial legacy within international journalism we rather expect the ascribed meaning to vary between international news and Colombian news. Since meaning is expressed through language it can be observed via, for example, written texts and
communications. Therefore, a qualitative text-analysis uncover meaning through thorough, systematic reading and examination of written material (Esaiasson et al., 2017; 212). The process is structured and facilitated by a set of analytic tools which, for this study, will be outlined below. The focus on meaning is what makes this method particularly suitable for the intended study since the aim is to scrutinize the implicit understanding of female former combatants from FARC within international and Colombian news.
In accordance with the general objective and procedure of qualitative text-analysis, a
narrative analysis strives to understand a certain phenomenon through the narrative in which it is situated. The premise is that the content of the narrative gives meaning to the
phenomenon and guides our understanding of it. The narrative, in which the phenomenon is located, is therefore the study object and its unraveling provides insight into the
understanding of that phenomenon (Boréus & Bergström, 2017; 124). But what is a narrative, then? As explained in Theoretical Framework, a narrative is essentially a story that we
construct by ordering disparate information about a phenomenon into a coherent depiction of the same. To study a narrative thus becomes a process of identifying the information that dominates, that is given most emphasis and that is repeated with greatest frequency in the
accounts of the phenomenon (Esaiasson et al., 2017; 220). Sjoberg’s work resulting in the identification of the ‘Beautiful Soul’ Narrative is a typical example of this. By identifying the information that dominates in accounts of female combatants she has concluded that the narrative, or the story, about female former combatants is that of a peaceful and vulnerable soul that has not sought war or violence voluntarily but has rather ended up there because something or someone has forced her. She worries about her family and children left back home and long for the day when she can return. Since she is a woman she can not defend herself and needs to be protected from the frontline and from the enemy (Sjoberg, 2010).
Exactly what kind of information that constitutes a narrative depends on the phenomenon itself and therefore there are no universal or fixed categories of information to look for (Boreus & Bergström, 2017; 127). However, since Sjoberg has already identified what seems to be the dominant narrative about female combatants, the study will rely on the elements of that very narrative as the point of departure for the analysis (2010). This is further explained and concreticised in the next section.
3.3. Analytic tools
The identification and examination of narratives in written material require a set of analytic tools that guide the analysis. In a qualitative text analysis, those tools consist of specified questions, derived from the research problem and then posed to the text in question
(Esaiasson et al., 2017; 216). Since this study aims to analyze and compare the portrayal of female former combatants from FARC with the ‘Beautiful Soul’ Narrative as point of departure, the questions are constructed in order to capture the two elements of that very narrative (See section 2.5.). The answers obtained from these precise questions make up the answer to the research problem. In that sense, the questions constitute the empirical indicators of the phenomenon that the study intends to investigate (Esaiasson et al., 2017; 222).
The Peaceful Element:
The Peaceful Element deals with women’s relation to violence, implying that women are inherently peaceful and vulnerable as well as denying their agency and motivations as combatants.
● What are the roles ascribed female former combatants’ from FARC during their active soldiering?
The question is designed to capture potential emphasis on victimhood, non-violent nature and/or general downplaying of their roles as soldiers. Its open approach also enables detection of other portrayals related to female former combatants’ roles as active soldiers.
By active soldiering, the question refers to the time before demobilisation took place.
● What is told about female former combatants’ ideological motivations? Are they mentioned in accounts of how and why they entered FARC?
This question is designed to capture potential denial of female former combatant’s agency and motivations to join FARC. Its open approach also enables detection of other
descriptions of how and why female former combatants have entered FARC, including those acknowledging agency and motivations.
The Maternal Element:
The Maternal Element is based on the traditional idea of women’s close relation to the private sphere and their absence in the public sphere. It implies that female combatants are mothers and caregivers first and that their soldiering is only a phase before going back to their beloved private sphere.
● Are there references to the private sphere in the portrayals of female former combatants from FARC? If so, what is told?
This question is designed to capture potential overemphasis on the private sphere.
● Are there references to the public sphere (that is not directly related to their active soldiering) in the portrayals of female former combatants from FARC? If so, what is told?
This question is designed to capture potential accounts of female combatants with reference to the public sphere.
The questions outlined above are thought to encompass portrayals of female former
combatants from FARC and the obtained answers will constitute the basis for the subsequent comparison between international and Colombian news. Evidently, answers to these
questions do not cover everything that could possibly be told about female former combatants from FARC. However, questions are open ended in order to both capture potential portrayals that correspond to the ‘Beautiful Soul’ Narrative but also to enable detection of portrayals that challenge that narrative, or any other portrayal not necessarily related to the narrative.
Furthermore, no predefined categories for answers have been prepared beforehand. By adopting such an open approach, the risk to miss certain details or variations is reduced (Esaiasson et al., 2017; 223). As described in the outline of the ‘Beautiful Soul’ Narrative (Section 2.5) gender stereotypes are many times mutually constructed and can only be illuminated in contrast to each other (Sjoberg, 2010; 67). Therefore all answers to the above questions will be contrasted and compared to the accounts of male former combatants from FARC within the same material. Furthermore, this analysis does not rely on codebooks or classification schemes but by having a transparent dialogue with the reader, the study intends to strengthen its reliability. Nevertheless, it is important to note that reliability is a complex issue when doing a qualitative text analysis and therefore, it will be further discussed in section 3.5.
How to recognize a narrative is highly dependent on the nature of the material and will not always be as straightforward as the classic tale (Boréus & Bergström, 2017; 130). This is the case with news media since the phenomenon under study may not always be the center of the news report but rather additional information to another story and therefore only dedicated a few comments. For this reason, the ‘Beautiful Soul’ Narrative is not expected to be found in any complete, coherent form in the reports where female former combatants from FARC are mentioned. The articles will rather contain disparate elements that together constitute and form a narrative. In order to capture these disparate elements systematically, every question will be asked to all articles. This procedure will be carried out first on articles from
Colombian news and then on articles from international news. Answers from both of the news spheres will then be compared and analyzed in order to find out if there is a difference in the portrayals.
3.4. Material selection
As explained in the Theoretical Framework, foreign correspondence has played a crucial role in the colonial projects by delivering the colonial discourse to its people ‘back home’ during centuries. Despite rapid globalization and increased awareness, some of the portrayals from that era are still present in international news and therefore, news media constitute a suitable sort of material. Further strengthening this choice is the customer orientation of news media.
Since the interest and expectations of the readership determine the coverage, we can assume that news media, to some extent, reflect the worldview of its readers. Hence, in addition to information of what narratives are present in the news, the study may also provide us with indications of what narratives are circulating in society at large. To conclude, due to what seems to be considerable stereotyping and the mutual effect between news media coverage and the interest of the readers, news media will constitute the material of the study in question.
From news media, which include a wide range of outlets such as broadcasted media, radio, television etc., the scope is further narrowed by only examining written news. This decision is based on Boreus and Bergström’s suggestion that text constitutes the most adequate material for systematic studying of narratives (2017; 128). However, this choice is not free from implications. During most of history, newspapers and other written communications have dominated the news industry but rapid globalization and expansion of social media have come to question the role of traditional news-media. Some argue that, due to the increased competence on the news market, conventional distributors of news in general and written news in particular have lost their influence on public opinion (Williams, 2011, 5-20).
Nevertheless, Djerf-Pierre and Shehata find that these claims have little empirical bearing and that traditional news outlets remain significant for public opinion formation (2017; 751).
Furthermore, written news sources are today available online and therefore accessible to everyone with internet connection. Therefore, news articles from newspapers and news agencies available online will be selected.
The ideal would obviously be to examine all relevant, written news sources but due to practical constraints and time limitations, and in order to secure the quality of the analysis, we will have to further narrow the scope. As Esaiasson et al. point out, when the analysis
requires thorough and in-depth reading it is not feasible to go through everything that might seem relevant (2017; 226). That would imply covering a wider range of material at the expense of the quality of the analysis. On the other hand, by excluding certain material we might miss relevant narratives or depictions of female former combatants and consequently run the risk of making an erroneous analysis. Therefore, by not examining all material, or not making a random sampling, our possibilities to generalize the results to other similar cases decrease. Nevertheless, for the sake of quality, only a few written news sources will be selected. Moreover, the selection procedure will be explained in detail in order to provide the reader with full insight into the limitations following from selections made. In that way it will be clear, what conclusions can and cannot be drawn from the results. These matters as well as other potential problems and limitations will be further discussed in section 3.5.
Since it is not possible to analyze all news sources, neither within the international nor the Colombian news market, sources will be strategically selected based on their circulation. The assumption is that news sources with extensive reach set the agenda for other, smaller news sources and therefore are more likely to impact readers’ attitudes and beliefs directly but also indirectly. Turning to the international news market, dominated by the Global North, the number of newspapers is overwhelming and relatively diverse depending on the specific country or political affiliation. However, since a majority of the newspapers and news outlets rely on and retrieve information from news agencies, the agencies’ content will supposedly reflect the content of a majority of the newspapers. On the international arena, Reuters, Associated Press (AP) and Agence France Presse (AFP) are the most influential news agencies of today (Watanabe, 2017; 140). Since they provide material to newspapers and news outlets all over the world they could arguably be considered to have the largest circulation. Therefore, Reuters, AP and AFP will make up the material for what is here referred to as international news. Articles retrieved from these news agencies will be in English since that is the original language of the articles.
Regarding Colombian news sources, the newspaper with the largest circulation in the country in terms of readership numbers is El Tiempo. It is also the newspaper most used by opinion leaders in Colombia to keep themselves updated on the latest matters (Arroyave Cabrera, J., n.d.). It could be argued that this increases the likelihood that content reported in El Tiempo is
reflected in other, national and regional news outlets in Colombia. Therefore, El Tiempo will make up the material for what is here referred to as Colombian news. Articles retrieved from this newspaper will be in Spanish since that is the original language of the articles.
The period of publication is limited, ranging from 26 of september 2016 to 1 of april 2020.
The first date is when the signing of the peace deal took place which meant an increase in media focus directed towards Colombia and therefore, the number of articles referring to the subject is greater after the 26 of september 2016. The search period ends when the analysis for this thesis begins. Articles from this time period are retrieved from the database Factiva.
Two separate searches have been made, one for the international news agencies and one the Colombian news articles. Except the news sources and the language, i.e. English and Spanish, there are no differences between the two searches.
For both of the searches, the ambition was to include all synonyms to the word combatant in English and its equivalent combatante in Spanish, both in plural and singular, in order to include and cover as many narratives as possible. For the same reason both present and past forms are included, e.g. combatant and ex-combatant or rebels and ex-rebels. Lastly, all articles had to include the words FARC and either women or woman in English and mujeres or mujer in Spanish. The purpose of this last limitation is to avoid an excessive number of articles referring to former combatants from other armed groups and to increase the likelihood that female combatants are included in the texts. All articles generated by these searches (91 international news articles and 54 Colombian news articles) have then been read through carefully in order to exclude articles that do not refer to female former combatants from FARC specifically. This last step has generated 14 articles from international news and 15 articles from Colombian news (29 articles in total) that constitute the material of this study.
For international news, the search included at least one of the following words:
combatant, combatants, ex-combatant, ex-combatants, rebel, rebels, ex-rebel, ex-rebels, ex-farc, and all of these words: FARC, women or woman.
For Colombian news, the search included at least one of the following words:
combatiente, combatientes, excombatiente, excombatientes, rebelde, rebeldes, ex-rebelde, ex-rebeldes, ex-farc, and all of these words: FARC, mujeres or mujer.
3.5. Problems and limitations
According to Esaiasson et al., meaning is best uncovered and interpreted if the temporal, social and cultural distance between the text and the interpreter is minimal (2017; 227). In other words, to be familiar with the material, and the context in which it is created, is crucial for the quality of the interpretation and analysis. Considering the study in question and myself as a student from Sweden with no personal or professional ties to Colombia, the cultural and social distance is considerably long. However, due to my own awareness of this limitation, this issue has been taken into account and reflected upon while conducting the analysis. In addition, all my own translations and interpretations from Spanish to English have been proofread by native Spanish speaker Gabriela Velásquez Medina, from Colombia.
The aspect of interpretation is also an issue for the reliability of the study, which is always critical when conducting qualitative text analysis. However, by having a transparent dialogue with the reader and presenting the most important paragraphs and quotes on which the
analysis relays, it is my intention to enable replication by other students or scholars.
Due to the impracticability of examining all news sources there are and the strategic selection of material that follows from that, some portrayals of female former combatants from FARC will inevitably be excluded in the analysis. Most urgent is the case of Colombian news in which only one newspaper, with relatively strong ties to the capital (Arroyave Cabrera, n.d.), constitutes the material. Due to the cultural and social divide between urban and rural areas in Colombia (Arroyave Cabrera, n.d.) it could be assumed that the rural perspective is then, to some extent, ignored. However, even if the portrayals presented in the following analysis are not completely representative for neither the Colombian nor the international news media landscape, their very publication is arguably of importance since it is reflecting the
perceptions held by some part of the societies as well as impacting the ones reading them.
Another limitation that has to do with the material is the filtration tool in the database Factiva. Since narratives about female former combatants can be told without explicitly referring to, for example, any synonym of combatant/combatiente there is a risk that such narratives have escaped the filter. Furthermore, the synonym guerilla in English and its equivalent guerrillero/a in Spanish are excluded from the searches. This is because the Spanish word guerrillero/a can refer to both a “paisano que combate en la guerrilla” (RAE, n.d.) (English: a civilian who fights in the guerrilla) but it can also be used as an adjective.
For example, una victoria guerrillera (English: a guerilla victory). Consequently, any search including the word guerrilla/guerrillero/guerrillera generates too many articles that are not relevant for this study. However, the high prevalence of this word in references to combatants from FARC makes this exclusion particularly problematic for the study in question. On the other hand, I argue that the amount of articles that can be processed under limited time by Factiva outweigh the disadvantages of the database. Besides, it is a useful tool in terms of reliability as selection of articles becomes a matter of systematization instead of exclusively relying on the author's interpretative capabilities.
ANALYSIS
4.1. The Peaceful Element
In accounts of female former combatants’ time as active soldiers, both news spheres
emphasize their roles as victims. The same victimization is not observed in accounts of male former combatants. This gender difference is further reinforced by portrayals implicitly indicating that female combatants are not expected to perform their role as soldiers the same way as male combatants do. In this aspect, a small difference between international and Colombian news is identified. In addition to the roles as victims and soldiers, stories of female former combatants performing roles as medics and seamstresses are also found.
Regarding the ideological motivations of female former combatants from FARC, there are only a few articles touching upon this issue and all of them are found among the international news agencies. The same division between the news spheres, although not as clear cut, is observed in accounts of how and why female former combatants entered FARC.
4.1.1. Female combatants’ roles
Considering the roles ascribed female former combatants from FARC during their active soldiering, there is a clear emphasis on their roles as victims within both news spheres.
Contrasted to the accounts of male former combatants from FARC, victimhood is almost never brought up as an issue. It is merely present in reports of forced recruitment of children, where boys are included (Reuters 7; 8; El Tiempo 3; 15). Nevertheless, even in reports
treating both boys and girls as victims, the sexual and reproductive exploitation of the latter is prevalent. This is exemplified in the quote below:
Quote: Children also served as messengers, informants and porters, while girls were used as sex slaves and have undergone forced abortions, according to the government and human rights groups. (Reuters 7)
In accounts where female former combatants are primarily described as victims, most
frequent are reports of sexual and reproductive abuse suffered from their male comrades, with forced abortions and girls used as sex slaves as most common. Such accounts appear in a greater number of articles within international news agencies (Reuters 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 7; 8; AP 3) compared to the Colombian newspaper (El Tiempo 3; 4; 9; 10; 15). On the other hand, in El Tiempo, these issues are given more relative space within each article. The newspaper also accounts for these offenses in more detail with the inclusion of testimonies from girls and women directly affected. The difference is illustrated by the following 4 quotes:
Quote: Thousands of women, including former rebel fighters, are believed to have suffered sexual abuse at the hands of rebels and paramilitaries during the war. Former FARC fighters have also reported being forced to have abortions. (Reuters 2)
Quote: Women (female combatants in FARC) were given steady supplies of contraceptives, and those who did get pregnant were presented with two options: leave the baby with the family members or end the pregnancy. (AP 3)
The above quotes are examples of how abuse of female former combatants’ are reported within international news. As apparent, offenses are summarized in rather short accounts.
Quote: "Desde que una llega allá le ponen dispositivos o inyecciones. Las embarazadas tienen que abortar. Es el comandante el que decide si tienes al bebé o tienes que abortarlo.
Hay de las que se han volado por eso. Si las atrapan, las matan, no importa qué edad tengan.
Es traicionar al movimiento volarte". (El Tiempo 4)
Translation: “From the moment you get there, they give you devices or injections. The pregnant women have to abort. It is the commander who decides if you can have the baby or if you have to abort it. There are those (women) who have escaped for that. If they catch them (the women), they kill them (the women), their age does not matter. Escaping means
betraying the movement”.
Quote: “Nos reclutaron a la fuerza, nos pusieron fusiles en las manos siendo niñas, nos violaron y luego nos hicieron abortar los niños que ellos mismos engendraron”, reclama con fuerza Sara, mientras su voz se quiebra. (El Tiempo 9)
Translation: “They recruited us by force, they put rifles in our hands despite being only girls, they raped us and then they made us abort the children they themselves fathered”, Sara exclaims with force as her voice breaks.
In the above quotes from Colombian news, the sexual and reproductive abuses are described in more detail and by the female combatants themselves. In the first quote, women are described to have “escaped” from the guerrilla, suggesting that women were held in the guerrilla against their will and could only leave the group by fleeing, something that reinforces the image of them as victims. In the second quote, the testimony is ended by describing how the witness’s voice breaks, adding further vulnerability to the portrayal of her.
Comparing these testimonies with the relatively short reports from international news agencies, it could be argued that the same issues are depicted in a more notable way in the Colombian newspaper. On the other hand, it is only in international news where female former combatants are reported to claim that “they were not victims or sex objects” (Reuters 5) and where women explicitly describe soldiering as a liberating and empowering
experience (AFP 3). In any case, it is evident that portrayals of female former combatants as victims dominate in accounts of their active soldiering, in both news spheres. Such portrayal resemble to a large extent with the the ‘Beautiful Soul’ Narrative as it mirrors the idea of women as defenseless actors in need of protection. While the issue of sexual and reproductive abuse should not be minimized or trivialized, overemphasis on victimhood may distort the idea of female soldiers and result in disproportionate victimization, as explained in the Theoretical Framework, section 2.1.
Proceeding to accounts where female former combatants’ victimhood is not the central topic, the gender dimension is still relatively prominent. For example, in international news, their
role as active soldiers is measured and described in relation to their male comrades. The following quote illustrate this:
Quote: Armed with an AK-47, Gladis (female former combatant) was expected to fight on the frontline alongside her FARC guerrilla comrades, hoist heavy loads and stand guard, just as the men in rebel ranks did. (Reuters 5)
It is not far-fetched to say that soldiering entails armed conflict. Perhaps one of the most basic assumptions about combatants is that they participate in armed fighting. Despite this, the fact that Gladis (female former combatant) did fight on the frontline is portrayed as something almost surprising. It is reported that she was “expected to fight on the frontline” as if that is not something to be expected from every combatant. Furthermore, she is described to have performed her role as combatant just as the men did, implying that a woman is normally performing her role as combatant in some other way than that of men. Arguably, such description echoes the ‘Beautiful Soul’ Narrative implying that even when female combatants actual soldiering is recognized it is considered women’s fighting (Sjoberg, 2010;
58). The following quote constitutes another example of women’s roles as soldiers being treated as something else than normal:
Quote: With their rifles, green fatigues and black rubber boots, the women fighters of the FARC rebel force have become one of the international faces of Colombia's civil war. Soon the photographs that have fascinated world media will be for the history books. (AFP 3)
The above quote implies that women fighters are an extraordinary phenomenon. The mere image of them with “rifles, green fatigues and black rubber boots” has “fascinated world media”. Such portrayals convey women’s role as active combatants as something sensational and not in accordance with what is considered normal.
In addition to accounts of female former combatants as victims and soldiers, there are some accounts, although relatively few in comparison, of women performing other roles within the armed group. Among these accounts, no apparent difference between the two news spheres is identified. In Reuters (8) Reyes describe her and her fellow female former combatants as the
“stylists, the tailors of the guerrilla movement” and El Tiempo (8) include a long reportage of female former combatant Margarita who performed the role as medic in FARC. A similar story is told in Reuters (5):
Quote: "I've learnt things I would never have had the opportunity to do," said Kelly
Martinez, a 42-year-old FARC nurse, who performed first aid and amputations on wounded rebels. (Reuters 5)
It could be argued that testimonies like the one above, introduce a more nuanced portrayal of the roles of female former combatants in contrast to the emphasized, and to some extent simplified, stories of victimhood. El Tiempo (7) further contributes to the depiction of FARC women’ soldiering as a more diverse experience. This article is partly a review of “The woman with the 7 names” (My translation), a documentary about former combatant Yineth and her life in the guerrilla. The following quote is a description of the same:
Quote: Los recuerdos de la protagonista (...) mezclan ‘orgullo, tristeza y dolor’, como ella aclara en este documental dedicado a reflejar su mirada personal sobre el conflicto. (El Tiempo 7)
Translation: The main characters’ memories (...) are a mix of ‘pride, sadness and pain’, as she herself (Yineth) clarifies in this documentary intended to reflect her personal view of the conflict.
That the main character’s experience as a combatant constitutes a mix of pride, sadness and suffering is arguably a more nuanced representation of women’s soldiering than that of only suffering which is the main content of the victim role.
4.1.2. Agency and ideological motivations
In general, relatively little is told about potential ideological motivations in the accounts of individual former combatants, regardless if they are men or women. The political orientation of the guerrilla, is merely mentioned in reference to the armed group as a whole (El Tiempo
13; El Tiempo 14; Reuters 2; Reuters 5). However, in a couple of articles from the international news agencies, the political aspirations of some male and female former combatants are observable through their testimonies. Thus, in respect to ideological motivations there is no gender difference identified but a small difference between international and Colombian news. This is illustrated by the following quotes:
Quote: “Afterwards? I'll carry on with the political movement that the FARC is going to become. I'll go where they tell me," says Adriana Cabarrus, 38, a FARC guerrilla for the past 18 years. (AFP 3)
In the above quote, female former combatant Adriana responds to the question of what her plans are after demobilization. Her determination to continue with the political movement illuminate her ideological motivations.
Quote: After spending most of her life fighting for Colombia's Marxist guerrillas, dodging air raids and patching up wounded rebels, 42-year-old FARC nurse Kelly Martinez has no intention of giving up the battle. But her fight now is at the ballot box and not on the battlefield. (Reuters 6)
That Kelly Martinez has no intention of giving up the battle highlights her own agency and decision making regarding the ideological struggle. Furthermore, that her fight is convertible from the battlefield to the ballot box imply that it is an ideological struggle that she has been committed to and not only fighting per se.
Quote: "We're in transition from an armed movement to a political movement, from armed resistance to political resistance," said Solis Almeyda, a veteran commander, who still uses his nom de guerre. "People are fed up with corrupt political parties. We will come with the prestige of not being corrupt. The people will vote for us," said Almeyda, wearing a black beret. (Reuters 6)
Similar to the two previous quotes, male former combatant Solis Almeyda is portrayed as committed to and confident with the political struggle that awaits FARC after transition.
Regarding how and why female former combatants entered FARC, reports of women that have taken active, deliberate decisions to join the guerrilla are scarce and references to political motivations for enlisting are almost non-existent. Out of all articles, both from international and Colombian news, there is only one article in which the political aspect is described as the reason for having joined FARC. In this narration female former combatant Sandino is told to have “left for the jungle to join the FARC when she was 25, motivated by the group's Marxist ideals, and moved up the ranks to become a commander” (Reuters 8).
Other articles from international news agencies refer to voluntary enlisting (AFP 1; AP 2;
Reuters 3; 6; 8) but without any concretization of reasons.
Most common, however, are either no account at all of how and why they entered or cases in which female soldiers have joined simply because they had no other choice (AFP 3; Reuters, 3; 7; 8). In AFP (3), for example, a female former combatant reports that she joined FARC
"to protect her life" and another to “escape poverty”. However, the absent depiction of how and why entrance took place is also the case in accounts of male former combatants. In addition, some references to forced recruitments include both men and women, or boys and girls (Reuters 7; 8).
In general, the same pattern is observed in the the columbian newspaper, both men and women taken into account. Either no explanation of their entrance is given (El Tiempo 12) or their entrance is explained by forced recruitment (El Tiempo 3; 4; 5; 7; 9; 10; 15). Only two individual stories in which voluntary enrollment is reported have been identified. These articles tell the stories of Margarita who voluntarily left her previous life to enlist in the guerrilla (El Tiempo 8) and Yuliana who is told to have made the same journey (El Tiempo 12).
According to the ‘Beautiful Soul’ Narrative, female combatants’ agency and potential ideological motivations are downplayed in contrast to male combatants who are thought to take deliberate, politically motivated decisions to take up arms (Sjoberg, 2010; 55). However, in articles from the two news spheres under study, no gender difference is identified and barely any differences between the news spheres either.
4.2. The Maternal Element
The private sphere is frequently referred to in accounts of female former combatants from FARC, both in reports from their process of demobilization and reintegration but also in episodes of their active soldiering. In contrast, this sphere is rarely mentioned in accounts of male former combatants, with a few exceptions identified in El Tiempo. Regarding the portrayal of female former combatants in relation to the public sphere, the gender difference is less notable. Men and women in process of demobilization and reintegration are described in very much the same way. No clear distinction between international and Colombian news are found in portrayals related to the public sphere.
4.2.1. References to the private sphere
The private sphere is a common theme in the accounts of female former combatants’ active soldiering, both in international and Colombian news. Contrarily, not a single reference to the private sphere is made in accounts of male former combatants’ active soldiering.
Notwithstanding, it is important to note that, while this is the case considering the articles under study it may not be generalizable to all existing articles reporting on male former combatants’ past as soldiers. Moreover, as is observable below, some references to the private sphere are made in accounts of male former combatants who are in the process of demobilization and reintegration.
Among the references to the private sphere, motherhood is the theme given most emphasis (Reuters 3; 5; 8; AP 3; AFP 3; El Tiempo 2; 4; 6; 8; 9; 11; 13). The prohibition of having children within FARC is remarked upon by several of the articles and described as something that has caused great sorrow for these women (Reuters 3; 5; AP 3; El Tiempo 4; 9). Such descriptions correspond very well to the Maternal Element which imply that female combatants are mothers and caregivers first and that soldiering means great sacrifices for their motherhood (Sjoberg, 2010; 61). The following two quotes illustrate the maternal sacrifice and pain presented in accounts of female former combatants from FARC:
Quote: Rebel fighter Margot became pregnant four years ago and gave birth to a son, Andres, in a guerrilla jungle camp. "To hand over your child is very difficult. You cry for your child," said Margot, who left her son with her mother-in-law to look after when he was a month old. (Reuters 5)
Quote: “Éramos niñas y nos llevaron a combatir, pero también a quitarnos el derecho a ser mamás”. (El Tiempo, 9)
Translation: “We were girls and they took us to fight but also to take away our right to be mothers”
The end to this ‘maternal pain’ experienced by female combatants is presented as the end of their soldiering, the return to the private sphere and the introduction or reintroduction to their roles as mothers. The following quote illustrates this portrayal:
Quote: “Marlin Velazquez remembers following the peace dialogues for four years as a sort of countdown to motherhood."Being a guerrilla and having the desire to have a child, you say, 'When will the conflict end, so that I can create my home, have my children?" said Velazquez, 20, who gave birth in February. (AP 3)
That female combatants’ time in the armed group is described as a “countdown to motherhood” portray their soldiering as a time they must endure and that returning to, or entering, the role as mothers is what they actually want and long for. This also echoes the Maternal Element which imply that women’s soldiering is only a phase and that their return to the private sphere means going back to how things should be, and to ‘the place where they belong’ (Sjoberg, 2010; 57). Likewise, in AFP (3) female former combatant, Maritzal
Gonzales, is described to have “cooked and cleaned for her fellow guerrillas, and has stood guard with gun in hand” but now she “smiles as she plans to return to the family she left behind”.
In the process of demobilization, motherhood is once again a common theme in accounts of female former combatants, but now in relation to the newborns in the zones of reintegration
(El Tiempo 2; 11; 13; Reuters 3; 5; 8; AP 3). Even this episode contains a clear gender
difference as almost all accounts of parenthood refer exclusively to the mothers. For example, demobilization is presented as a chance for the female combatants “to become mothers”, but there is no remark regarding the same opportunity for male combatants (Reuters 3). In El Tiempo (11), which reports on conditions of the zones of reintegration, issues as security and education are discussed for the male former combatants while the only matter presented as a concern for female former combatants is the lack of kindergartens. Much alike, AP 3 refers to the women's opinions about the conditions of the camps solely from their viewpoint as
mothers: “women speak of both the arduous conditions in which they have begun their new lives as mothers and their hopes for raising their children in a time of peace”.
Other, more subtle, assumptions are for example, that diapers and creams are delivered “to the new mothers” and not to the parents or that in the guerrilla “maternity was always a hot topic of discussion” and not parenthood (AP 3). Regarding the children born in guerrilla camps and then raised by families outside of the armed group, there are, once again only references to the mothers. The question is whether female former combatants will “pick up”
their child or if there is any other way that their son or daughter could get to know “who their mother is” (Reuters 8). The pattern of motherhood being emphasised rather than parenthood is observable in both news spheres, with perhaps a slightly more balanced depiction in El Tiempo. In the newspaper some articles briefly mention the father former combatants in addition to the mothers, as in the following quotes:
Quote: "...Para ellos (los padres) también era la primera vez que podían desarrollar su paternidad. Ya no estaban corriendo en el monte". (El Tiempo 2)
Translation: “For them (the fathers) this was also the first time they could develop their fatherhood. They were no longer running in the mountains” . 2
2 “They were no longer running in the mountains” is the literal translation of “Ya no estaban corriendo en el monte”. However, this phrase comes form of the Colombian expression “Irse para el monte” (English: Go to the mountains) which actually means ‘To take up arms’. Thus,
“They were no longer running in the mountains is here understood as “No longer fighting in
