Public Preferences, Gender, and Foreign Support for Armed Movements
P10-S255-2
Presented by: Caglayan Baser
Female combatants are often central to rebel groups’ outreach strategies, however their effect on foreign support remains unclear. Through survey experiments in the US and Tunisia, and analysis of observational data on foreign support towards rebel groups, this research argues that female combatants signal humane treatment and liberal values within rebel groups, attracting international support. Findings show that foreign audiences are more likely to endorse government sponsorship when female combatants are present. This support is driven by perceptions of these groups as more gender-equal, democratic, moral, and less likely to harm civilians. Testing whether these favorable views translate into state support, cross-national evidence suggests that gender-diverse groups are more likely to attract democratic support. In addition to establishing gender composition as a factor attracting external conflict support, this study contributes to broader debates on the gender equality-peace nexus, humanitarian aid, rebel legitimacy, and gender stereotypes in nontraditional political spheres.
Keywords: rebel groups, female combatants, civil wars, external support, conflict