Women under LTTE: 'Cannon fodder' or women's liberation?

BY N MALATHY-26 JULY 2013

Standing during peak hour in 2004, on the main road that runs through Kilinochchi, which was the last administrative capital of the LTTE, all visitors experienced a feeling that they are witnessing something very different - no one on the road was obese; the dominant mode of transport, bicycles and motorcycles; the fifty percent women among the peak traffic; both sexes equally distributed among the riders; female traffic police directing the peak traffic; and of course the LTTE women in their striking uniform. It is indeed this high visibility of women in the public space that was most striking. If the visitor had delved a little deeper into this feature of women in the public space, they would have found a unique kind of feminism that had developed in Vanni. This article will explore this unique feature and the two decades long multi-faceted social process that created this.

Vanni

Women Under LTTE 'Cannon Fodder' or Women's Liberation by nelvely