1.1 “To be a soldier is a male quality, being a woman is being a coward”

2In Oromo groups, women do not belong to the gadaa grades, but they evolved through their husbands’ careers. Only men are engaged in warfare. Different myths are told to justify this social order. One story recounts the failure of women to participate in warfare in ancient times to justify their role in being restricted to only helping with the necessary preparations.

3In the same manner, in the Christian kingdom in the highlands, a coward was insulted and regarded as a woman. Many examples are found in Ethiopian sources over time.

4In more recent times, Gebru Tareke, dealing with the Second Wayane movement (1975–1991), indicates that the fighters in the First Wayane movement were all men and were “quite chauvinistic” saying that “it was common to dress prisoners of war, spies, and collaborators in women’s garments, and parade them on market days, the implication being that they were as weak as women.”

1.2 Findings regarding women’s active participation

5In medieval and modern times, it was not uncommon for women to carry weapons. In the 17th century, women of the aristocracy were reported to be “mounted mule or horse, spears in their hands with their belts tightened and their shämas or togas draped over their heads.” King Iyasu issued a decree against the practice in 1691.

6In the highlands, a šaläqa, the owner of a special type of land known as dämbägna, was expected to register for damb, or “military” service. These lands became hereditary and subject to custom. It is generally accepted that women could not inherit them, but exceptions can be found. Until the mid-19th century, daughters could inherit war material in the absence of a male successor. In addition, when a male šaläqa died (or was ill) and had a young son, women acted as his guardians and therefore had to come to the forefront, even if they did not always wield weapons in battle.

7There are examples of women who had acquired dämbägna and were therefore expected to fulfill the duties associated with their land. They usually used a proxy (or male intermediary), but had to raise soldiers and to follow their troops on marches. Ethiopia’s first written constitution in 1931 affected women’s right to inherit land, including military land. However, examples of women patriots taking on military roles after the death of their father or husband are well known.

8On the contrary, certain war decrees ordered women to take part in military expeditions, such as in 1771, when ras Mika’el Sehul declared that female fief holders should actually lead their soldiers into battle. Similarly, in the first quarter of the 19th century, ras Gugsa issued a decree stating: “One who does not join the army of Gugsa, man and woman, will lose his genitals and her breasts, respectively.” Wars affected women in many ways but women always responded to a mobilization order as soon as they heard it.

1.3 The case of pregnant women

9Pregnant women were generally not allowed to join military expeditions, but some are reported to have joined military expeditions by hiding their pregnancy. In Somali communities, pregnant wives of war leaders are said to have participated in wars because they were seen as a rallying force if their husbands fell. It was also believed that a son born in battle would be very brave. Dəl Wämbära, the wife of Imam Aḥmad in the 16th century, also gave birth during warfare. Despite these exceptions, pregnant women were generally not allowed because of the difficulties of the long marches. However, pregnancy could not be completely avoided, especially during prolonged campaigns, as is reported to have been common during the Italo-Ethiopian war of 1936–41.

2.1 Motivating to fight

12Many sources, from medieval to more recent times, report that women encouraged men to join military expeditions before the outbreak of war. Once mobilized, they followed the army, “singing, laughing and frolicking as if they were at a party,” thus providing a moral force behind the troops. During the war against the Italians in 1936, the role of women as propagandists inspiring patriotism, even as composers of songs was recognized, such as Shäwareged Gädlä, Käbbädächch Seyyum Mängäsha (ከበደች ሥዩም መንገሻ), Sənəddu Gäbru (usually written Shewareged Gedle, Kebedech Seyum and Senedu Gebru), among many others.

13The same traditional role is reported in Oromo societies. A custom related to the wife anointing her husband with butter when he goes to war, and blessing him, “Waaqni nagaan si galchu,” meaning “Waaqa bring you back home safely,” while handing him the spear, testifies to this role.

2.2 Preparing, carrying, and collecting food, supplies and weapons

14During mobilisation and the march, women performed many tasks depending on their rank. Elite women had supervisory roles. In the military camps, women prepared food and drink, so they had the arduous task of transporting food and goods including various utensils such as pots for making tej (hydromel), tella (local beer), wot (stew), baking pans for making bread, mills for grinding flour, jars of honey, horns for drinks, baskets, grinding stones etc.

15Women had to fetch water and collect firewood. Some were in charge of preparing the campsite by digging trenches and clearing the camp and the roads. Women also had to stay awake at night as they were responsible for looking after property, ammunition, prisoners and animals. After the battles, women were responsible for collecting booty and ammunition from captives, the dead and wounded.

16In August 1935, Princess Tsehay, the daughter of the king, founded the Ethiopian Women’s Welfare Association (EWWA) under the patronage of Ǝtege Mänän. With the help of Lady Barton, the wife of the British Ambassador, they supervised the preparation of clothes, mattresses, gas masks, bandages and rations for the troops. They also raised money for the association and the Red Cross. Some women, like wäyzäro* Shewareged Gedle, sold their property to buy clothes, medicine, bullets and rifles and gave financial support to the Red Cross.

2.3 Informers and active participation

17Women also served the army by misleading the enemy and acting as correspondents between the scattered or divided army units. During the Battle of Adwa in 1896, the women of Adigrat are said to have attacked the Italians and cut off telegraph lines. In 1936, women are also remembered for sending avalanches of stones from hilltops and setting fire to the Italian camps. Women gathered information and participated in the intelligence services as they were less suspicious. They demonstrated this talent at the Battle of Adwa, during the resistance against the Italians (1936–1941) or within the Central Committee of Wust Arbegnoch (Inner Patriots). Reports and oral sources highlight the role of Ethiopian women who married Italians (or who were their concubines) and who shared with the patriots the military secrets revealed by their husbands. Domestic servants of the Italians, sellers who had access to military camps and residences, and women who ran drinking houses in the towns also played the same role. Conversely, they also supplied the enemy with false information.

2.4 Nurses

18Women facilitated burials and are well documented for caring for the wounded from the 16th century sources relating to the conflict against ‘Adal to 20th century sources. For example, against the Italians, women assisted members of the Red Cross in carrying the wounded, providing first aid or full nursing services, using traditional medicines made from the roots, barks, fruits and leaves of various trees. Women like wäyzäro* Kebedech Seyum are remembered for caring for the wounded, and Senedu Gebru for learning the techniques of modern nursing. The latter joined the Holäta Military Academy (ሆለታ የጦር ትምህርት ቤት) with her sister Desta Gebru and wäyzäro* Tsege Mengesha. Wearing uniforms and hats with Red Cross insignia, they served the cadets, nursing both combatants and civilians suffering from gunshot wounds, burns and poison gas. They worked with ras Imru in the Wälläga, Illubabor and the Gibe regions.

2.5 Peacemakers

19Another role of women during the wars was attributed to the widows as peacemakers. Acting between two camps, women were the privileged mediators for the signing of peace treaties. For example, in 1865, a mourner from Bulga nicknamed “Ǝnnat Awaju” (literally ‘mother of a proclamation’), tried to stop the war between Mǝnǝlik and Bǝzabeh.

20In Oromo societies, women have also traditionally acted as peacemakers, as seen in the conflicts that arose between the Guji and the Boräna. While the former wanted peace, they sent a lichoo, a female peace envoy, to the hayyu, the judge of the opposing group. The custom commands respect for a lichoo and protects her from any harm. Some cases are known of men being sent as lichoo in minor conflicts, but women were usually chosen for serious conflicts. The lichoo prepares the ground for major peace talks, determines the venue for the meeting and reports back to her respective hayyus. In Garri and Boräna (two pastoralist communities), women taught their children the importance of peace and advised their husbands. In Arsi and Sidaama, women intervene to prevent conflicts. When women notice that a fight is about to break out, they untie their waistbands, tie them together in long strips and hold the ends to form a line. As soon as the men see that line, they retreat to their respective regions. Women are also used to avoid conflict by being given as wives to a leader of the opposing group in order to prevent further conflict and ensure lasting peace. This practice is widespread in both the Amhara and Təgray cultures. Historically, it has been widely used by the elite since medieval times, as it was the case of Queen Ǝleni in the 15th century to prevent conflict with the Hadiyya. At the community or village level, older women usually settle disputes and reconcile individuals or groups when they come into conflict.

21Women have also played an important role in returning to peace after war. For example, EWWA’s contribution to peaceful life continued after the conflict with the Italians and the liberation. Members of the association who had been in exile returned and re-established EWWA by uniting the two women associations (EWWA and the Ethiopian Patriots Women’s Association). The association primarily dealt with the aftermath of the war by providing food and temporary shelter for orphans and homeless widows. In addition, Princess Tsehay, who had returned as a trained nurse, provided medical services in the capital through the association.

3.1 Known medieval warrior queens

23According to M. Herman in 2020, there are references to the role of women as war leaders since the Aksumite period. The first was a semi-legendary queen from the 10th century known as Gudit /Yodit. Described in many sources as a cruel woman who brought destruction and ended the Aksumite kingdom, she is remembered as a great military leader. In the late 15th century, Queen Ǝleni, a former Muslim who became the wife of King Zär’a Ya‘ǝqob (1434–1468) and remained at court until her death in 1524, is remembered for her involvement in the Muslim-Christian conflicts. Initially, she pursued a policy of reconciliation with the kingdom’s Muslim neighbours. However, in the early 16th century, as the conflicts intensified, she instigated a diplomatic mission to Portugal in 1512–1513, asking King Emmanuel to form a military alliance against the Muslims. Although nothing happened with the first Portuguese mission at the court in 1520, she paved the way for the later Portuguese military action that arrived in Massäwa in 1541. At that time, two other women presented below are remembered in local and external sources for their participation as military leaders as shown in the article by Herman (2020).

3.2 Ǝtege Ṭaytu and the road to Adwa (1885/1896)

24According to Minale Adugna (2001), some famous queens played a military role in the 19th century. Harold Marcus, for example, documents the story of Queen Worqitu of Wällo as the queen who helped Mǝnǝlik to gain his crown, and who granted him a safe route through her territory in 1865 after he escaped from King Tewodros’ prison. Ǝtege* Mänän (usually spelled Menen in secondary sources) is also remembered for her participation in battles during the ‘Era of the Princes.’ For example, against the Egyptian invasion, she is said to have had 20,000 soldiers under her command.

25Ǝtege Ṭaytu, the wife of King Mǝnǝlik II, is the most famous queen of the century, also remembered as a decisive player in the Adwa campaign of 1896. Following the publication of the Italian version of Article XVII of the Wuchale Treaty (signed on 2 May 1889), which reduced Ethiopia to the status of an Italian colony, she rebuked the Ethiopian translator of the treaty, grazmach Yosef, and refused to compromise with the Italians, leading to the abrogation of the treaty in February 1893 and making war inevitable.

26In September 1895, at the beginning of the mobilisation, she gathered her weavers and potters, sent messages to her estates and ordered them to organise provisions and supplies along the routes of the expedition. Besides her own troops, of about 5,000 infantry and 600 cavalrymen, she had at her disposal about 3,000 rifles, 600 horses and 4 guns. She was accompanied by thousands of female camp followers, whose roles have already been mentioned.

27The queen camped with her husband at the reserve position. She took part in the long siege and final surrender of the fortified position of the Italians at Mǝqǝle on 21 January 1896. She strategically advised controlling the water supply to the Italians. On 9 January 1896, 900 men from the Queen’s contingent built a barricade and they stayed there for two weeks, well supplied by the queen with food and drink. The plan worked and the Italians suffering from shortage of water were forced to surrender on 21 January 1896. Both Italian and Ethiopian sources attest the various activities of the Ethiopian women at Adwa.

28After the victory at Adwa, the Italians had to leave the Tigrean region, but kept their colony in Eritrea, against Ṭaytu’s wish. From there, they launched their invasion of Ethiopia on 3 October 1935.

3.3 Women at war during the Italo-Ethiopian War (1935–1936) and during the resistance (1936–1941)

29Several writers and scholars have devoted themselves to the study of the Italo-Ethiopian war of 1935–36 and the Ethiopian resistance movement that followed it until 1941. While some have only made passing reference to the role of women during this period, others such as Minale Adugna and Tsehai Berhane Selassie have studied it in detail. Women in the royal family acted mainly through fundraising and international advocacy, as mentioned previously. Only a few princesses took part in the fight. Romana Warq Haile Selassie, the wife of the Governor of Bale, accompanied her husband on the southern fronts until his death in February 1937. She, then, followed ras Desta Damtew until she herself was captured by the people of Adami Tulu when the Italians deported her to Italy. Wäyzäro* Lakech Demisew, a great granddaughter of King Śahlä Śǝllase of Šäwa, also accompanied her husband the däğğazmač Mengesha Aboye to the northern front with a rifle and in men’s uniform.

30After the massacre of February 1937, following the failed assassination attempt on the Italian viceroy Marshal Rodolfo Grazziani, in which 30,000 Ethiopians of all ages, classes and genders were killed in three days, women’s involvement increased significantly. They participated in the patriotic resistance at all levels: as nurses, informers or combatants. Women include fief-holders of a military type (dämbägna) who led their own contingent. An official document of the Ministry of Defence mentions about 277 women who were included in the list of the patriots who received medals from King Ḫaylä Śǝllase on 20 January 1945. The number of women active in the resistance was in fact much higher. Both written and oral sources agree that the main contribution of women was in the underground work, which was not rewarded with a medal. Women kept the households going, but also undertook production and trade to supply provisions to the fighters. Tsehai Berhane Selassie’s article “Women Guerrilla Fighters” is one of the few published works that deals exclusively with the experiences of women fighters during the occupation. Her article focuses specifically on four women leaders: Lekyelesh Beyan, Shewareged Gedle, Shewanesh Abreha, and Kelemwarq Tiruneh.

Figure 17. Kebedech Seyoum, a female patriot, c. 1935

3.4 Women at war in the post 1941 period

31In the post-1941 period, Ethiopia faced a number of rural rebellions and armed struggles. However, little attention has been paid to women’s participation in these movements. In his review of literary work, Belete Bizuneh (2002) pointed out that Gebru Tareke, who studied three of the peasant rebellions between 1941 and 1973, only presents women in connection with the “First Wäyanä” (ቀዳማይ ወያነ) stating that women were “conspicuously absent in (…) leadership, although they sometimes served as intermediaries, messengers, and spies.”

32Relatively more attention seems to have been paid by journalists and historians to the role of women in the regional separatist movements that developed from the 1960s onwards. Kuwee Kumsa, for example, notes the important role of women both as fighters in the OLF (Oromo Liberation Front) and as providers of material support, but argues that women were not involved in decision-making. For Belete Bizuneh (2002), Kuwee’s work is important because it draws attention to gender bias found not only within the OLF but also in a number of other political movements in the country. However, he also pointed out that this work also presents a biased version of the diverse experiences of Oromo women found in different parts of the country, as attention is mainly focused on a small group of educated Oromo from a particular part of the country and their relationship with the OLF leadership, leaving out a number of other “Oromo women.”

33During the resistance of the Tigrean People Liberation Front (TPLF) against the Därg (from 1974 to 1991), women also took part in armed conflicts, such as Kahsu Martha and Aregash Adane, an early TPLF fighter and the only woman to serve on the TPLF Central Committee. Armed women fought on both sides, participating in the war directly by fighting on the battlefield and indirectly by supplying the combatants, singing heroic songs, providing intelligence services, and acting as messengers between the combatants and the political elite in the city. They also suffered imprisonment and torture, a story that starts to be uncovered since the last decade.