“Neither Man nor Woman”: DDR Program Design and the Stigmatization of Female Ex-Combatants

Sammanfattning

Upon demobilization, female ex-combatants face stigmatization across most post-conflict contexts. Existing literature has primarily documented this phenomenon within single case studies of their broader reintegration experiences, leaving its causes underexplored. While scholars have identified Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programs’ overall gender-blindness as a stigma-enhancing factor, little attention has been paid to whether specific program components can mitigate it. Hence, this study investigates under what conditions DDR programs can reduce female ex-combatants’ stigmatization. Drawing on social identity and intergroup contact theories, it argues that female ex-combatants’ participation in joint livelihood initiatives – activities in which they cooperate with civilian community members – reduces their stigmatization by introducing a sense of common fate between the two groups, which gradually decreases the salience of the ex-combatant identity and fosters community members’ perception of a common humanity with them. This hypothesis is tested through a structured focused comparison of female ex-combatants in the Liberian (2003-2009) and Burundian (2009-2013) DDR processes, employing secondary sources. The analysis gives preliminary support to the hypothesis, suggesting that DDR design can either mitigate stigma by embedding female ex-combatants within a community’s social fabric, or entrench it by placing the burden of acceptance on their own personal reform.