This research paper proposes new approaches to considering the female combatant experience. Focusing on the participation of women in non-state armed groups after the Second World War, with particular emphasis on the Latin American experience, the paper discusses two aspects of the subject. First, it formulates the hypothesis of emancipation through armed struggle, examines the various aspects of women’s engagement in armed insurrections in a context of the break-up of colonial empires and the emergence of movements of “national liberation,” and shows that this participation by women is influenced by the emergence of feminist theories during the same period. Second, the paper examines the consequences of the engagement of women in armed conflicts for their overall life journey, posing the question of their reinsertion in civilian life. Generally, the end of conflict is accompanied by the injunction to female combatants to return to their traditional role in the domestic sphere. Finally, the paper situates the analysis of female combatant experience in the context of the study of contemporary armed conflicts.
