ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the female Maoist fighters. With a focus on the divergent impacts of war on women, it explores the experiences of female Maoist ex-combatants in Nepal to uncover the nature and extent of their participation. For rural women who hoped to overcome patriarchy, the People's War was like 'the opening of the prison gates'. The war officially ended on 21 November 2006 when the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) was signed by the government of Nepal, represented by the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and the CPN party. The People's War was unable to transform the patriarchal norms of the Nepali society and as a result, female ex-combatants returned to status quo ante bellum. A core area of focus of the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) is the representation and participation of women in peace negotiations. Nearly 700 marriage cases had been filed in the All-Nepal Women's Union, a Nepali women's political organization that is aligned with the UCPN.
