“Never Do We Return to the Hill”: Army Membership as a Struggle for the Future of Young Women in Contemporary Rural Rwanda

This presentation clarifies how young women in contemporary rural Rwandan society look towards and seek their future while making social adjustments within their communities. In particular, the choices made by women who volunteered for the military, and the resulting hesitations and conflicts, are depicted as events occurring at the intersection of ethnicity and gender differences, as well as the nature of the contemporary “youth.”
The choice to volunteer for the army is usually done for financial remuneration and the opportunities that come up with it, with their refusal to remain in rural areas where neither land nor employment is available. Being in an army provides respect to an individual living in rural areas where employment is scarce. This became possible in the context of the growing militarization of society, which accompanied the need to maintain order in post-genocide Rwanda. Today, the Rwandan military is positioned as an entity that transcends gender and ethnic differences.
However, women’s choices to join the military are sometimes accompanied by rejection and acceptance by family and friends. Sometimes their choice is respected as “a job to protect the country,” while sometimes, it is opposed by those in their community since “she is a girl.” Women also respond cautiously to the gaze of their romantic partners. Here, we see the struggles of women in present-day Rwanda. They want to be identified as a “submissive woman” but also “an attractive woman with the ability to earn money.”
Their choice to volunteer in the army, supported by their multilayered thoughts, reflects contemporary Rwandan society. It is shared with those closest to them by adjusting their narratives according to their partners, which is sometimes accepted and sometimes opposed; however, all of these culminate in a future for these women.