TheSri Lankan civil war between 1983 and 2009 had a significant impact on women.[1]
TheSri Lankan civil war was acivil war fought inSri Lanka between 1983 and 2009. The war principally opposed theSinhalese-dominatedGovernment of Sri Lanka against theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an internationally designated terrorist group that aimed to create an independentTamil state calledTamil Eelam in northern Sri Lanka. Sparked by theBlack July anti-Tamil pogrom in 1983, the war would end with the Sri Lankan government victorious after a2009 offensive that militarily defeated the LTTE. Between 1987 and 1990, the Indian government was also involved in the conflict, through theIndian Peace Keeping Force.
A significant number of women fought with theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the Sri Lankan Civil War, constituting 20-to-30% of LTTE combattants over the course of the war.[2][3][4][5][6][7] According to Kara Joyce ofGeorgetown University, the LTTE "were unique in many ways, one of which being their inclusion of women in combat roles during the Sri Lankan Civil War," saying that the LTTE "included women in all aspects of their organization, from combat to naval expeditions to logistics."[8] According to journalistsKim Wall andMansi Choksi, the LTTE "boasted the world's fiercest army of women, even as Tamil society imposed a culture of subservience. In the early years of the war, women were assigned roles in recruitment, propaganda, medical care, and fundraising. But slowly, women made up a large contingent of commandants, especially in suicide squads."[9]
According to Reed Wood of theUniversity of Essex and Lindsey Allemang of theUniversity of Iowa, the "combination of a permissive gender ideology and acute resource pressures contributed to the large-scale recruitment of female combatants" by the LTTE.[10]
Malathi was the first female LTTE fighter to die during the war, being killed in action in 1987 in a battle with theIndian Peace Keeping Force. A brigade of the LTTE was later named after her, theMalathi Brigade.[11]Maria Vasanthi Michael, known under thenom de guerre Major Sothiya, commanded the first women-only unit of the LTTE, theSothiya Brigade, formed in 1989.[12] TheGonagala massacre in 1999, where 54 civilian villagers were murdered by the LTTE, gained notoriety for being perpetrated by a mostly female LTTE force.[13]
Women also participated in the LTTEBlack Tigers suicide attacks, including theAssassination of Rajiv Gandhi, carried out byKalaivani Rajaratnam.[14] According to Josh Roose of theAustralian Catholic University, the LTTE "are widely credited with mainstreaming the use of the suicide vest as a force multiplier," instilling "an increased sense of horror and terror among the wider population that anyone—man or woman—might be the next bomber."[15]
In February 1998, theSri Lanka Air Force reported that it had received over 800 applications from women to enlist to fly transport planes in the war zone after launching its first recruitment advertising campaign aimed at women.[16]
Post-war, many women who fought with the LTTE faced difficulties in transitioning to civilian life, particularly as they were often expected to occupy less equal roles than they had as combatants.[17]
Around half of theHALO Trust staff working on demining operations in Sri Lanka are women.[18][19]
JournalistRohini Mohan 2014 non-fiction bookThe Seasons of Trouble includes the story of a female combattant in the LTTE.[20]
V. V. Ganeshananthan's 2023 novelBrotherless Night follows the coming-of-age story of a teenage girl who wishes to become a doctor but gets swept up in the civil war.[21]
In 1998, Indian directorSantosh Sivan released the filmThe Terrorist, based on LTTE suicide bomberKalaivani Rajaratnam.[22]
