Women in the war: towards a new gender identity

In his opening address to the first conference of the Mozambique Women's Organisation (OMM) in 1973, Samora Machel, President of Frelimo, affirmed that women's emancipation was an integral aspect of revolutionary struggle. In 1973 Frelimo was still a liberation front engaged in armed struggle against colonial rule. The northern part of Mozambique was a battle ground and the first OMM conference had to be held in the Frelimo camp at Tunduru in southern Tanzania. A photograph of the participants of this first conference can be seen In the OMM's national secretariat in Maputo. Peasant women and women guerrillas are pictured lining up outside the meeting hut, with Samora Machel in battledress amongst them. The non-hierarchical atmosphere depicted in this photograph is in marked contrast to the more formal arrangements on similar later occasions (Photo 1.1).

The participation of women in the war was massive. In 1967, at the request of the women themselves, a women's detachment of the guerilla army – Destacamento Feminino – had been formed. Part of its task was to inform and mobilize the peasant population. To support this work, a broader non-military organization of women was needed. This was how the the OMM originated in 1973. Between 1981 and 1984 I worked as a sociological consultant of the OMM.