TY - JOUR
T1 - A Luta Kontinua (The Struggle Continues)
T2 - The marginalization of east timorese women within the Veterans' Valorization scheme
AU - Kent, Lia
AU - Kinsella, Naomi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Taylor & Francis.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - This article examines how East Timorese women's contributions to the resistance against the twenty-four-year Indonesian occupation ("the Resistance") have been marginalized within the veteran's valorization scheme (veterans' scheme) established in the post-conflict period. Drawing on interviews with politicians, veterans and members of women's organizations, we show that although women played significant roles within the Armed, Clandestine and Diplomatic fronts, for the most part they have not been recognized as veterans within the veterans' scheme. Instead, the scheme has reinforced perceptions of women's roles as wives, mothers, homemakers and widows, rather than as political actors, suggesting that the return to "peace" in Timor-Leste has been accompanied by the strengthening of patriarchal traditions and the expectation that women return to "traditional" roles. We argue that the failure to recognize women as veterans is problematic both for East Timorese women and society as a whole. It represents a lost opportunity to recognize women's agency and potentially to improve their social status in society. It also narrows the way in which the independence struggle is remembered and represented and further promotes a culture of "militarized masculinity" that elevates and rewards men who show the capacity to use violence.
AB - This article examines how East Timorese women's contributions to the resistance against the twenty-four-year Indonesian occupation ("the Resistance") have been marginalized within the veteran's valorization scheme (veterans' scheme) established in the post-conflict period. Drawing on interviews with politicians, veterans and members of women's organizations, we show that although women played significant roles within the Armed, Clandestine and Diplomatic fronts, for the most part they have not been recognized as veterans within the veterans' scheme. Instead, the scheme has reinforced perceptions of women's roles as wives, mothers, homemakers and widows, rather than as political actors, suggesting that the return to "peace" in Timor-Leste has been accompanied by the strengthening of patriarchal traditions and the expectation that women return to "traditional" roles. We argue that the failure to recognize women as veterans is problematic both for East Timorese women and society as a whole. It represents a lost opportunity to recognize women's agency and potentially to improve their social status in society. It also narrows the way in which the independence struggle is remembered and represented and further promotes a culture of "militarized masculinity" that elevates and rewards men who show the capacity to use violence.
KW - Militarized masculinity
KW - Post-conflict
KW - Resistance
KW - Timor-Leste
KW - Veterans
KW - Women's recognition
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84954379409&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14616742.2014.913383
DO - 10.1080/14616742.2014.913383
M3 - Article
SN - 1461-6742
VL - 17
SP - 473
EP - 494
JO - International Feminist Journal of Politics
JF - International Feminist Journal of Politics
IS - 3
ER -