Do Local Norms Affect Women Ex-Combatants Reintegration in the Postwar Era?

Abstract This paper examines local gender norms and their effects on the reintegration of women ex-combatants after they returned from active conflict in Nepal. The paper points out specific local gender norms that affect women ex-combatants in a particular way. Further, the paper argues how these local norms shape and reshape women’s postwar lives and gender roles. The paper’s findings demonstrate that local gender norms associated with women’s appearance, morality, dress, appropriateness, and behavior affected women’s reintegration in a particular way compared to male combatants. It also argues that the empowerment of women ex-combatants was largely restricted to the wartime period. Women were pressured to adhere to traditional gender norms in postwar times. The study’s findings are based on forty-one qualitative interviews and four focus-group discussions with Nepali Maoist women ex-combatants. The paper contributes to the fields of DDR, local norms, feminist security studies, peace and conflict studies, and feminist international relations.