The revolution in Mozambique began in 1975 and lasted until 1992. Attitudes of Frelimo, or the Mozambique Liberation Front, toward women in the beginning of the revolution against Renamo, or the Mozambican National Resistance Movement, were more of a traditional standpoint. Until they were officially allowed to be militarily trained, women were the cooks, farmers, laundresses and supporters of the fighting men. Guerrilla training in the beginning was off limits for women, and some men in Frelimo resisted early on of the inclusion of women in combat during the revolution. In retaliation, women explained that to win the revolution, women should learn how to fight, to keep going if the men were all gone. Not all women were part of the first trained female fighting squad.
Training Women for War
The first women who received the guerrilla training were officially called the Female Detachment, or DF. The DF was put in charge of educating, and defending the untrained women, as well as fight as well and along-side the men of Frelimo. Women held all matters of occupation during the Revolution in Mozambique. Shortly after Frelimo began, it established Lifemo (The League of Mozambican Women), and was touted as a movement to bring women into the struggle. Their goal was to unite and promote wellbeing all Mozambican women and children during the revolution, and to combat illiteracy. Lifemo and the DF began in earnest, but as soon as women began to receive guerrilla training, the movements declined. A new movement was put into place, the OMM or Organization of Mozambican Women.
Gender Wars During Revolution
Young women joined Frelimo with their families. The presence of girls in Frelimo was thought to attract young boys into the movement. All during the revolution, women who were trained fighters were used more in supply missions then in fighting positions. If they were needed in fighting, they were able to fill in the spots needed. These women in combat roles would then return to the base, and be once more trapped within the roles of the domestics. In essence, they once more had double duty. Many women were pulled out of dangerous zones and placed into orphanages to care for the children left behind. At these posts, women acted as nurses and guards. Women, who were not in combat positions, were left to care for families and were expected to grow and make food for the fighters. OMM was a part of Frelimo, and therefore had to answer to the party. OMM was for women, but it was more for the control of women, as well as for them to be given restricted rights.
During the revolution, there was an emphasis on adult education under the direction of Frelimo. Frelimo also organized the allowance for women to be educated at adult education centers. Some women wanted better wages for their work, because it was believed that all industrialized nations had given women better chances for wage paying occupations. As women learned to read, they demanded more from Frelimo during the revolution. After women complained about not having leadership roles, few women were nominated as leaders for the army. Issues were not brought up regularly, and when they where, the issues centered on marriage practices.
For more information, please read, Janet Mondlane: American Made African Formed, and Movements of Liberation in Mozambique.
Sources:
- Sheldon, Kathleen E. (1989). Pounders of Grain: a History of Women, Work, and Politics in Mozambique. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Monthly Review Press.
- Stewart, Julie and Alice Armstron, ed. (1990). The Legal Situation of Women in Southern Africa. Harare, Zimbabwe: University of Zimbabwe Publications.
- Urdang, Stephanie. (1989). They Dance: Women, War, and the Struggle for the Change in Mozambique. New York, New York: Monthly Review Press.
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