Women and warfare in Ethiopia

The presence research work is an outcome of the Research Competition Grant on Gender Issues and a workshop held at Sodere in May 1996 under the auspices of the Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA). It was undertaken between 1996-97. The research work deals with the role of women in war in the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. The research was undertaken in Addis Ababa, Aksum and Adwa,. Questionnaires on the topic under study were sent to administrative zones such as Gondar, Gojam,Shoa, Hararge, Bale and Sidamo. The questionnaires were filled in by senior summer students of history at Kotebe College of Teacher Education. More than half of the questionnaires were sent back. This research work is hence based on the information gathered from different types of primary and secondary sources. This research has treated the following major issues: - the status of women in the history of warfare in Ethiopia - the social attitude towards women's involvement in war and how the women see war. - the role of women in military mobilization, in inciting and ending wars, in combat and non-combat activities, etc. - the war time contribution of women at the home front, particularly in the field of production, distribution and home care and family leadership - the impact of war on the life of women, in terms of the division of labour, social. economic and political privileges. Based on the above-stated issues, this paper is organized under four parts. The first is an historical investigation of the contribution of Ethiopian women to war efforts from early times to the 19th century. The second part of the paper deals with the role of women during the campaign of Adwa. This is followed by the multi-dimensional contribution of the Ethiopian women to war against the Italian invasion and occupation of 1935-41. The last part of the paper is concerned with the impact of successive wars on the life of the Ethiopian women.