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AN EXAMINATION OF FACTORS INFLUENCING MOZAMBICAN
WOMEN’S ATTAINMENT OF POST-WAR WELL-BEING

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AN EXAMINATION OF FACTORS INFLUENCING MOZAMBICAN WOMEN’S
ATTAINMENT OF POST-WAR WELL-BEING

By

Zermarie Deacon

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulﬁllment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Psychology

2007

ABSTRACT

AN EXAMINATION OF FACTORS INFLUENCING MOZAMBICAN WOMEN’S
ATTAINMENT OF POST-WAR WELL-BEING

By
Zermarie Deacon

If civilian women’s capacity to recover aﬁer war is to be encouraged, it is
necessary to not only take into consideration the negative impacts of warfare upon them,
but also the ways in which they recover from the impact war. In order to evaluate the
ways in which women in one developing nation, namely Mozambique, have sought to
recover from war, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 47 women living
in rural areas of Northern Mozambique. Findings revealed that factors facilitating
women’s attainment of post-war well-being existed at all levels of the social system.
These included individual-level factors such as the determination to recover; micro-
level factors such as access to familial support; meso-level factors such as the
community’s response to women recovering from war, access to social support,
culturally appropriate resources for health and healing, educational resources, and
economic resources; and macro-level factors such as changes to the larger social system
that have altered women’s social status. These factors additionally interacted in order to
give rise to women’s capacity to attain well-being aﬁer war. These ﬁndings are
signiﬁcant as previous studies have allowed for the identiﬁcation of discrete variables
that are potentially important to women’s attainment of post-war well-being, but have
not provided a comprehensive picture of this process and the multiple variables that are
potentially signiﬁcant to it. In addition, while multiple previous investigations have

identiﬁed implications of warfare for women in developing nations, these studies have

not examined the ways in which they have sought to recover from these impacts. This
investigation thus represents a contribution to the literature on warfare and women as it
not only examined the ways in which women in a developing nation have sought
recover ﬁom the impact of war, but it also provided a comprehensive analysis of this
process, taking into consideration multiple variables at all levels of the social system.

Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research would not have been possible without the support and guidance of my
dissertation chair, Prof. Cris Sullivan and the members of my dissertation committee,
Profs. Gallin, Campbell, and Foster-Fishman. In addition, I would like to thank Brad for
his constant and supportive presence. Without him this project may never have been
completed. I would also like to acknowledge the assistance I received from CARE
Nampula, in particular the help of Tim Russell and the Meconta District extension
workers. Their willingness to introduce me to community members and to facilitate my
understanding of the local context in Mozambique was invaluable to the completion of
this research project. The multiple women who worked with me as translators and
research assistants and the participants who were willing to give of their time to be
interviewed were also essential to the successful completion of this project, and they
deserve special mention. Finally, I would like to acknowledge that a US Department of

State Fulbright Student Fellowship supported my dissertation research.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................... vii
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................... 1
CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................ 3
Women and Warfare ........................................................... 3
Women and Post-War Society ........................................ 5
Mozambican Women’s Experiences of Warfare ............................ 7
Understanding Mozambican Women’s Experiences of Post-War
Adjustment ............................................ . ........................... 11
Theoretical Justiﬁcation ......................................................... l6
Empowerment and the Attainment of Well-Being ................. 18
Conclusion ........................................................................ 19
Current Study ...................................... . .............................. 20
CHAPTER 2
METHOD .................................................................................. 21
Methodological Justiﬁcation .................... .' .............................. 21
Preliminary Research Activities ................................................ 23
Location ........................................... . .............................. 26
Sample ............................................................................. 26
Procedures ........................................................................ 27
Measurement Construction ............................................ 31
Recruitment and Training of Translators ............................ 33
Transcription of Interviews ............................................ 37
Data Analysis ............................................................ 37
CHAPTER 3
RESULTS ................................................................................. 43
Mozambique Today ............................................................. 43
The Context in Meconta ................................................ 45
Well-Being in Mozambique .................................................... 48
Factors Impacting Mozambican Women’s Attainment of Well-
Being ..................................................................... 50
Women’s Experiences During Warfare ....................................... 54
The Post-War Context ........................................................... 58
Consequences of Wartime Experiences for Mozambican Women ........ 59
Post-War Well- -Being ........................................................... 63
Facilitators of Mozambican Women’s Post-War Well-Being ............. 65
Facilitators of Mozambican Women’s Well- -Being at the
Individual- Level ........................................................ 66

Facilitators of Mozambican Women’s W ell-being at the Micro-

Level ...................................................................... 67
Facilitators of Mozambican Women’s Well-Being at the Meso-

Level ...................................................................... 70
Facilitators of Mozambican Women’s Well-Being at the Macro-
Level ........................................................................ 75
Inhibitors of Mozambican Women’s Attainment of Post-War Well-being 77
Conclusion ........................................................ . ................ 79
CHAPTER 4
DISCUSSION .............................................................................. 81
Limitations to the Current Study ................................................ 92
Implications for Policy and Practice .............................. . ............. 94
Areas of Future Inquiry ........................................................... 97
Conclusion ........................................................ . ................ 98
APPENDIX A
KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEW GUIDE ............................................. 101
APPENDIX B

AN EXAMINATION OF FACTORS INFLUENCING MOZAMBICAN
WOMEN’S ATTAINMENT OF POST-WAR WELL-BEIN G: FINAL

INTERVIEW GUIDE .................................................................... 104
APPENDIX C
SUMMARY OF ANALYTIC TABLE GUIDING DATA COLLECTION ........ 108
APPENDIX D

AN EXAMINATION OF FACTORS INFLUENCING MOZAMBICAN
WOMEN’S ATTAINMENT OF POST-WAR WELL-BEING: CODING

FRAMEWORK ............................................................................. 117
APPENDIX E

PROTECTION OF RIGOR DURING DATA COLLECTION AND

ANALYSIS ................................................................................. 119
APPENDIX F

GLOSARY OF TERMS .................................................................. 122
REFERENCES .............................................................................. 124

vi

LIST OF TABLES

Facilitators of Women’s Attainment of Post-War Well-Being ...................... 65

vii

Introduction

It is essential to consider civilian women’s experiences during and after periods
of armed conﬂict as, during times of war, these women are not only oﬁen targeted for
gender-based violence, but they also experience the deprivation of war differently than
do men. Women’s experiences during times of war have signiﬁcant public health
consequences for those communities involved in conﬂict. However, these experiences
and their consequences have only recently received much attention (Watts &
Zimmerman, 2002). Understanding women’s experiences of post-war adjustment and
their attainment of well—being in post-war societies is thus an area of inquiry that
warrants investigation and from which women worldwide can derive beneﬁt. This is
also consistent with the increasing emphasis within psychology on understanding
factors that contribute to individuals’ capacity to attain well-being in the face of
signiﬁcant adversity (Masten, 2001; Sheldon & King, 2001).

To date, women’s socially determined experiences of psychological well-being
and distress have been routinely pathologized in contrast to the experiences and needs
of men that have been held up as the norm (Cosgrove & McHugh, 2000; Worrell, 2001 ).
This includes women’s experiences of post-war adjustment. Responses to survivors of
warfare usually favor a male-centered paradigm that does not take into consideration
women’s differential, gendered experiences of warfare (Sideris, 2003). Hence, this
investigation focused attention on Mozambican women’s experiences of warfare and
their process of post-war adjustment. This investigation not only elucidated the ways in
which warfare has impacted Mozambican women, but also allowed for an

understanding of factors that have impacted their lives postwar, including characteristics

of their environments that have facilitated and inhibited their attainment of postwar
well-being, to be obtained. This investigation represents a contribution to the literature
on women and warfare as it casts light on a previously overlooked area of inquiry,
namely the understanding of women’s postwar adjustment, and it allows for the
foundation to be laid for future interventions aimed at assisting women who have
survived war.

Mozambique represented an ideal site within which to examine civilian
women’s experiences of post-war adjustment. Not only have Mozambican women
survived a particularly brutal war (Igreja, 2003; Sideris, 2003), but the 14 years that
elapsed since the end of the war when this investigation was conducted ensured that
these women had a period of post-war adjustment upon which to reﬂect. In addition,
obtaining insight into these women’s experiences of warfare and post-war adjustment
will inform an understanding of the experiences of women in other African nations that
have more recently emerged from or are currently experiencing civil war (e. g., Rwanda,

Angola, and Uganda).

Chapter 1
Women and Warfare

In recent wars as many as 90% of all casualties were civilians, of which the
majority are estimated to have been women and children (McKay, 1995; Okazawa-Rey,
2002). This is the result of relationships of gender inequality that exist between men and
women and that govern societies worldwide. These relationships exist on a continuum
ranging from sometimes-violent relationships between men and women within the home
to the construction of social policy and cultural norms that serve to exclude women
from equal participation in social life. During times of war, women’s gender roles and
their bodies are imbued with a signiﬁcance that affects their experiences of warfare. In
addition, women’s needs often go unmet both because their devalued social status
provides them with access to fewer resources than men as well as because their speciﬁc
biological needs are often overlooked by service providers (Cockburn, 2001; Colson,
1999; Indira, 1999; Lentin, 1997; Moser, 2001).

The targeting of civilians has thus become a common characteristic of modern
warfare. In addition to physical violence, the destruction of infrastructure such as health
care clinics and power lines as well as the damaging of resources such as agricultural
land and water sources are powerful ways in which civilians are targeted during war.
This induces fear and has both physical and psychological implications for civilians
affected by war (McKay, 2005). Given their gender roles as caretakers and providers for
their families, women are often disproportionately targeted for or affected by these
forms of violence.

In developing nations in particular, women’s roles as caretakers of their families

and as agricultural producers cause them undue duress during times of warfare.
Women’s ability to care for themselves is compromised by their need to care for others
as well. This encumbrance places them under particular threat as they are rendered less
mobile than men and are thus less able to leave areas of danger, exposing them to the
threat and reality of violence. In addition, women’s and girls’ roles as agricultural
laborers and food producers for their families cause them to spend much of their time in
agricultural ﬁelds that may be land mined or frequented by enemy soldiers, exposing
them to increased threat of violence or injury.

The social consequences of rape can also be signiﬁcant, and enemy combatants
often capitalize upon its disruptive force during times of war (Arcel, 2000; Cockburn,
2001; McKay, 1998; Turshen, 2000). For example, in recent years deliberate and
calculated attacks on women have been central to two especially high proﬁle genocidal
wars fought in Rwanda and Bosnia (Human Rights Watch, 2000; Salzman, 2000). In
addition, a recently released report by Amnesty International (2004) documents the
large-scale violence perpetrated against and deprivation suffered by women in the war
zone of Darfur in the Sudan. Finally, women’s loss of male breadwinners if their
husbands die during war may also result in their loss of access to economic resources;
this may force many women into prostitution as their only means of survival (Cockburn,
2001; Lentin, 1997; McKay, 1998).

Women’s gender roles, gender-speciﬁc experiences during times of war, and
their unique biological needs thus interact with the resources available to them within
their environments in order to give rise to their post-war experiences and needs (Ben-

Zur & Zeidner, 1996; Sideris, 2003). As a result, women’s reactions to the trauma of

war are different ﬁ'om those of men (Berberich, 1998).

Women and post-war society. Women’s experiences during times of war have
post-war consequences both for individual survivors as well as for their families and
larger communities. At the same time, the larger social consequences of warfare have
implications for individual women’s ability to attain post-war well-being. Women’s
experiences of warfare, therefore, have multiple, interwoven, contextually determined
implications for their experiences of post-war adjustment.

The generalized social devastation wrought by war has particular consequences
for women. First, levels of social violence are often elevated in the wake of war,
rendering daily life more dangerous for women and girls than for men as they live with
the ever-present threat of sexual assault. Second, the destruction of the natural
environment that occurs during times of war disproportionately affects women and girls
who are primarily responsible for agricultural labor in many communities. This is
especially problematic when landmines buried in agricultural land remain unexploded
and continue causing injury to civilians after a war is over. Finally, violence can erode
reciprocal relationships between community members that women often rely upon for
access to resources, thus further reducing their access to resources important to their
survival (Cockburn, 2001; Moser, 2001).

The experience of rape may also have signiﬁcant social implications for
individual survivors of warfare. In many societies, women who have been raped are
ostracized from their families and communities, they may not be eligible for marriage,
and their communities may likewise reject any children that result from rape. Women

who are thus isolated from their communities may also lose their access to economic

resources and consequently face threats to their survival, forcing some into prostitution
(Amnesty International, 2004; Arcel, 2000; McKay, 1998; Turshen, 2000; Watts &
Zimmerman, 2002).

Finally, the experience of all forms of wartime violence can give rise to long-
term physical and psychological consequences for survivors. These may include
somatic complaints, intrusive thoughts, sexually transmitted diseases, infertility, and
long-term physical damage resulting both from rape and related pregnancies (Liebling
& Kiziri-Mayengo, 2002; McKay, 1998). In fact, it was found that Ugandan women still
experienced psychological symptoms of trauma up to 13 years after the end of the war
(Liebling & Kiziri-Mayengo, 2002). In addition, as a result of girls’ and women’s
unequal access to resources, those who have lost limbs due to landmines and other
forms of mutilation are less likely to be ﬁtted for prostheses than men and boys and thus
face a lifetime of limited productivity (McKay, 1998). This also inhibits their chances of
marriage or causes them to be abandoned by their husbands, thus limiting their access to
economic resources (McKay, 1998). These consequences of war may be further
exasperated by women’s lack of access to adequate or even marginal health services in
many nations (Turshen, 2000).

The social contexts within which women reside after war thus have signiﬁcant
implications for their experiences during and after war. Not only are women’s
experiences of post-war adjustment determined by their gendered experiences of
warfare, but the gendered contexts within which they seek to survive post-war also have
signiﬁcant implications for their capacity to achieve well-being. Accordingly, social

contexts that do not support the recognition of women’s particular post-war needs are

not conducive to their capacity to achieve well-being in the wake of war. It is important,
therefore, to understand the ways in which women have sought to navigate these
contexts and the ways in which they have worked to achieve well-being after living
through war.
Mozambican Women ’s Experiences of Warfare

Mozambique has witnessed approximately 30 years of almost continuous
warfare. A war of independence against Portuguese colonizers was fought from 1964 to
1974. This was followed by a civil war between the socialist Frelimo government and
the South African-supported Renamo that lasted from 1976 to 1992. During the latter
war, civilians often lived side-by-side with soldiers from opposing sides and much of
the war was fought in areas frequented by civilians. An estimated 8 million
Mozambicans were affected by this war, of whom approximately 600 000 were killed,
1.7 million ﬂed to neighboring countries, and 4.5 million became internally displaced
(Peltzer & Chogo, 1996). It is estimated that virtually every Mozambican family had at
least one member killed, mutilated, or who went missing (DeAbreu, 1998; Turshen
2001). In addition, while it is not known exactly how many women were raped during
the war, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands were injured (DeAbreu, 1998).
Finally, it is believed that at the end of the war approximately 2 million landmines
remained unexploded throughout the country, mostly along roads (Peltzer & Chogo,
1996)

This recent civil war was characterized by extreme social disruption, during
which women in particular were targeted for violence. Renamo deliberately destroyed

social relationships that give meaning to daily life and employed tactics aimed at

sowing fear and economic destruction amongst civilians. War tactics included the
murder and abduction of civilians (primarily women and girls), the throwing of dead
bodies into wells in order to contaminate water sources, forcing civilians to ﬂee their
homes as a result of ﬁghting, mutilation, torture, or the enforced witnessing of the
torture of others, stealth attacks upon villagers during the night, and the rape of girls and
women in ﬁ'ont of family members and others (Cliff, 1991; Magaia, 1989; Peltzer &
Chongo, 1996; Sideris, 2003; Summerﬁeld, 1999).

The abduction of women and girls was a particularly brutal aspect of this war.
These women and girls were often forced to act as sex slaves and laborers for Renamo
soldiers. They were kept by soldiers for extended periods of time before being
abandoned in unfamiliar locations, making it difﬁcult, if not impossible, for them to ﬁnd
their way back to their villages. In some cases, women had no choice but to remain with
their abductors as their wives after the end of the war. Another signiﬁcantly brutal
aspect of the civil war in Mozambique was the deliberate, large-scale mutilation of
women, children, and the elderly in order to reduce their productivity (DeAbreu, 1998;
Igreja, 2003; Magaia, 1989; Peltzer & Chogo, 1996; Turshen, 2001).

The consequences of war for Mozambican women were multiple and resulted
both from their individual experiences of warfare as well as from the socio-cultural
meaning attached to these experiences by their larger community (Sideris, 2003).
Various authors, including DeAbreu (1998), Igreja (2003; 2004), Nordstrom (1997),
Sideris (2003), and Turshen (2001) have documented the impacts on civilian women of
the recent war in Mozambique. During the time immediately following the war,

survivors were found to suffer psychological, physical, and socio-cultural symptoms of

trauma such as intrusive thoughts, nightmares, poor appetite, somatic complaints, and
general feelings of malaise and depression described as an injury to the spirit (DeAbreu,
1998; Igreja, 2004; Nordstrom, 1997; Sideris, 2003). In addition, multiple authors have
noted that many women who had been raped, particularly those who became pregnant
by enemy soldiers, were ostracized from their families and rejected by their husbands
(Igreja, 2003; Peltzer & Chogo, 1996; Turshen, 2001).

Sideris (2003) conducted interviews with Mozambican refugee women living in
South Africa in order to understand their gendered experiences of war-related distress.
What was particularly notable about these women’s experiences of distress was that
these were closely related to their loss of social connection to their communities and
their loss of access to their land. For these women, their ability to farm their land and to
provide for the sustenance of their families was an integral component of their sense of
self-worth. In addition, these Mozambican women acutely felt the loss of their kinship
networks that provide them with support and access to resources. The latter was of
particular signiﬁcance as women often lost access to economic resources through
displacement and war and could not depend upon their families and larger community
for support (Sideris, 2003).

Mozambican women have also exhibited notable strength in the face of post-war
adversity. Some women have drawn upon the informal economy and other sources of
sustenance in the face of the economic devastation wrought by the war. In fact, for some
women, the independence that came along with the capacity to earn their own living
was perceived as a beneﬁt of war (Sideris, 2003). In addition, communities in different

areas of the nation have sought to rebuild social structures and relationships that have

been destroyed in the recent war (Igreja, 2004). The use of indigenous methods of
healing is one key way in which communities have sought to recover from the war.
Ceremonies in which victims of war violence were symbolically cleansed of their
wartime experiences and restored to their pre-war identities allowed individuals and
their larger communities to begin the process of post-war recovery. These ceremonies
allowed families and community members to accept back individuals who experienced
war-related violence and to allow them to once again participate in the activities and
ceremonies of their communities (Honwana, 1998; Green & Honwana, 1999).

However, it is important to note that this process of post-war recovery has
occurred within a context where civilians have had inadequate, if any, access to physical
and mental health resources. Speciﬁcally, Mozambicans have limited access to medical
services, which are particularly limited for inhabitants of rural areas. Similarly, few
resources for the psychological and psychiatric care of war survivors exist. Mental
health resources are only available to a select few who reside in urban areas (Igreja,
2004; Peltzer & Chongo, 1996), and the majority of these services are provided by
foreign Non-Governmental Organizations (N GO’s) whose services are not necessarily
appropriate to the local cultural context, but rather are shaped by Western interpretations
of well-being (Igreja, 2004). Mozambican war survivors thus have largely needed to
rely upon traditional resources for healing, including local spiritual leaders and healers
(Igreja, 2004; Peltzer & Chongo, 1996).

This situation was further exacerbated by economic reforms forced by structural
adjustment policies imposed upon Mozambique as it makes its transition from a

socialist to a capitalist economy. These reforms have led to reduced government social

10

spending, which has further limited women’s access to formal health resources,
economic support services, education, and supportive services such as childcare (Cliff,
1991; Marshall, 1990; Sheldon, 2002; Roesch, 1994). This is signiﬁcant as such reforms
not only place a heavy burden upon women who have to perform additional labor in
order to care for their families in the absence of health and other resources (Cliff, 1991;
Roesh, 1994), but may also limit women’s access to resources necessary for their
attainment of post-war well-being and economic self-sufficiency.

Mozambican women thus have signiﬁcant gendered post-war needs that result
both from their gendered experiences of warfare and the existence of a post-war context
that does not necessarily support all of their particular needs. Understanding the ways in
which these women have sought to adjust to life after war will shed light on the ways in
which they have compensated for their lack of access to many of the resources that are
often considered to be essential for post-war recovery. In particular, this investigation
contributes to the literature on women, war, and Mozambique by providing a
comprehensive picture of the way in which women in a developing nation recovered
after war and factors that impacted this process. Previous research has primarily focused
on the negative and long-lasting effects of war on women, rather than on the ways in
which women recover from these effects. This investigation aimed to ﬁll this gap in the
existing literature.

Understanding Mozambican Women ’s Experiences of Post- War Adjustment

Women’s gendered experiences of well-being and distress have not been

adequately considered and are often pathologized (Cosgrove & McHugh, 2000; Worrell,

2001). Women’s voices are therefore not often heard when the effect of the violence of

11

war on civilians is considered (Sideris, 2003). This is further complicated by the current
dearth of information that exists regarding the processes of post-war adjustment
employed by individuals in developing nations (Igreja, 2003; 2004).

An examination of well-being acknowledges the fact that communities
worldwide ﬁnd ways to put their lives and communities back together after war (Last,
2000). Accordingly, well-being can be deﬁned as an individual’s ability to withstand
and recover from difﬁculties and strive towards health (Lorion, 2000). However, well-
being is not just a function of individual characteristics, but consists of individuals’
interaction with their environments (Kelly, 2000; Lorion, 2000).

The attainment of well-being, therefore, results from a combination of individual
characteristics and ecological contexts that support thriving (Davis, 2002; Masten, 2001;
Poonnan, 2002; Shalev, Tuval-Mashiac, & Hadar, 2004). In other words, when
individuals striving to be well are embedded within contexts that support their ability to
thrive, they are able to attain well-being. In order to adequately examine whether
Mozambican women attained well-being after war, and to clarify the process through
which such well-being was obtained, it was, therefore, important to understand which
characteristics of the ecological context both facilitated and inhibited their post-war
adjustment while elucidating individual variables that also contributed to this process.
Potentially important factors identiﬁed through prior studies existed at multiple levels of
the social system (i.e., individual to macro-level) and included factors such as social
support, access to community-based resources, and access to resources for spiritual
health. These factors are elucidated below.

Various authors (e.g., Davis, 2002; DeVries, 1996; Hiegel, 1994; King, King,

12

Fairbank, Keane, & Adams, 1998; Shalev, Tuval-Mashiac, & Hadar, 2004) have found
that women’s access to social support networks is essential to their ability to
successfully survive conditions of physical and psychological duress. Poorman (2002)
additionally found that reciprocal social support relationships were important to
women’s ability to thrive in the face of adversity. Social support networks may both
protect individuals ﬁ'om harm when they encounter conditions of stress and may be
essential to their attainment of well-being (Cohen & Ashby, 1985). Accordingly,
Mozambican women’s access to social support networks, both within the micro-level
contexts of their families and the meso-level contexts of their larger communities, may
have helped to mitigate the impact of the war upon them, and their ability to reconstruct
their networks of support may have been an important component of their ability to
attain postwar well-being.

Second, Davis (2002) and Shalev, Tuval-Mashiac, and Hadar (2004) found that
the post-trauma adjustment of individuals who have experienced disturbing events is
strengthened through their access to meso-level, community-based resources that
support their attaimnent of well—being through the provision of mental health resources
such as counseling. This has been reinforced by multiple ﬁndings regarding the
importance of survivors of wars’ access to high quality and appropriate resources for
mental health such as traditional healers, self-help groups, and religious leaders for their
attainment of post-war well-being (e.g., DeVries, 1996; Hiegel, 1994; Turner,
McFarlane, & van der Kolk, 1996). Accordingly, access to resources that help women
meet psychological needs that result from their experiences of violence is important to

their ability to successfully adjust to life in the wake of trauma. It was, therefore,

13

important to understand the kinds of meso-level resources supporting their mental
health that Mozambican women have found or would have found helpful in meeting
their post-war needs and to understand the ways in which they have compensated for
any lack of access to such resources.

Third, given the signiﬁcance and the complexity of local spiritual beliefs
(Englund, 1998; Igreja, 2003), it was important to examine the signiﬁcance of these
beliefs to women’s process of post-war adjustment. Speciﬁcally, it was important to
examine the impacts that Mozambican women’s spiritual beliefs and access to meso-
level resources for spiritual health have had upon their process of postwar adjustment.

Fourth, given that women often lose access to meso-level economic resources
during times of war (DeAbreu, 1998), it was important to examine the ways in which
participants in this investigation had sought to survive economically after the war. It
was thus important to not only understand Mozambican women’s particular post-war
economic needs, but also to understand the ways in which they had responded to the
economic realities of living in a post-war society.

Fifth, the impact of post-war changes on the meso and macro-levels of social
systems sometimes led to increased violence against women (Cockburn, 2001; Moser,
2001). This was explored with participants in this investigation. They were asked about
their exposure to post-war violence and the forms that this violence has taken.

Sixth, individual demographic variables that were hypothesized to be potentially
signiﬁcant to women’s experiences of post-war adjustment included, but were not
limited to, their age, marital status, and whether they lost their partners during the war.

Where relevant, women were asked to speak about the importance of these variables to

14

their experiences during and after war in order to ensure that the relative signiﬁcance of
each variable to their attainment of post-war well-being was understood.

Seventh, women were asked to speak about factors signiﬁcant to their post-war
well-being that were not identiﬁed prior to the start of data collection. These factors that
may have impacted their post-war well-being were examined, including ways that they
have sought to survive despite these concerns.

Finally, it was important to understand contextual and other variables important
to women’s post-war adjustment from their perspective, rather than imposing upon them
Western perceptions of well-being. It was thus important to allow women to attribute
meaning to those factors that have affected their lives in a post-war society and to
explicate the signiﬁcance of the social contexts within which they lived. This allowed
for an understanding to be obtained of the ways in which women have navigated the
post-war context in Mozambique, which resources were most signiﬁcant to their post-
war attainment of well-being, and the ways in which these various variables interacted
in order to give rise to their particular post-war experiences.

Various previous studies have thus pointed to factors at different levels of the
social system that are potentially signiﬁcant to women’s attainment of post-war well-
being. However, these previous investigations have not provided a comprehensive
picture of women’s attainment of post-war well-being, but have rather allowed for the
identiﬁcation of a variety of discrete variables that are potentially signiﬁcant to their
post-war adjustment. This investigation sought to make a further contribution to the
literature on women and war by simultaneously examining the effect of a combination

of these previously identiﬁed variables as well as other factors at all levels of the

15

ecological system upon women’s attainment of well-being after war. The goal of this
investigation was, therefore, to obtain a more complete picture of the process through
which women in a developing nation attain well-being after war.

Given the increasing emphasis in the psychological literature on a need to
identify factors that contribute to human well-being and adj ustment to adversity and the
need to not deﬁne well-being as the simple absence of adverse symptoms, but rather as
an active process of adjustment (Masten, 2001; Sheldon & King, 2001), this research
represents a unique contribution to the scientiﬁc literature. This is especially true as this
work elucidates the perspectives and experiences of women who have survived warfare
in a developing nation, a population that is routinely overlooked when research on well-
being and adjustment is conducted. In addition, elucidating contextual variables
important to Mozambican women’s attainment of well-being will allow for the
development of successful interventions aimed at women adjusting after war. This is
signiﬁcant as intervening at a level above that which one intends to impact (e.g.,
intervening at the meso-level if one intends to impact families) increases the likelihood
that ensuing interventions will be successﬁll (Bubolz & Sontag, 1993). Finally,
understanding factors that women consider to be important to their attainment of post-
war well-being lays the foundation for the development of appropriate quantitative
measures of post-war well-being in women.

Theoretical Justification

This investigation draws upon empowerment theory as a way to understand

women’s post-war recovery. Empowerment is recognized as a potentially powerful path

to wellness within unjust social settings (Cowen, 1991; Rappaport, 1981). It is argued

l6

that wellness and well-being are inextricably bound up with empowerment insomuch as
the capacity to make choices about the kind of life one wants to live and to have access
to resources that support such choices are key to individuals’ attainment of well-being.
A body of research conﬁrms the contribution of such capacity for choice to the
attainment of well-being. The simple sense of control, even if it is perceived rather than
actual, has been shown to contribute signiﬁcantly to well-being. Conversely, groups that
disproportionately lack control and face conditions of oppression and diminished social
status tend to face increased risks of developing mental health and social problems
(Moane, 2003; Prilleltensky, 1994; Spacpan & Thompson, 1991). An individual’s
attainment of well-being is, therefore, impacted by their membership in groups that may
have differential access to rights and/or resources necessary for empowerment and well-
being (Perkins & Zimmerman, 1995; Mays, Bullock, Rosenzweig, & Wessells, 1998).
The above model of well-being also recognizes that factors impacting individual
well-being and sense of personal power exist at all levels of the social system (Nelson,
Lord, & Ochoka, 2001; Prilleltensky & Prilleltensky, 2003; Zimmerman, 2001). This is
particularly appropriate to this investigation given the multi-leveled impact of warfare
upon civilian women and the fact that factors at various levels of the social system have
implications for women’s post-war recovery (e.g., the post-war political context and
women’s access to economic resources; Anckermann, et al, 2005; Hernandez, 2002;
Mays, et al., 1998). An individualized, medical-model is thus not necessarily
appropriate to understanding women’s experiences during and after war, but rather it is
necessary to understand their post-war attainment of well-being within the social

contexts created by war and its aftermath.

l7

Finally, drawing upon the work of Martin-Bard (1994) many authors argue that
during times of war those who are in positions of power are able to victimize those who,
by virtue of their membership in various groups, are disempowered. It is also argued
that this damage extends to all levels of the social system and encompasses much more
than just the direct effect it has on impacted individuals. The damage of war is thus
damage to society at large. Subsequently, in post-war social contexts, if the realities of
the disempowered are not examined and some redress of power does not occur, those
who were victimized during the war will continue to suffer injustices that render it
difﬁcult for them to achieve post-war well-being (Comas-Dia, Lykes, & Alarcon, 1998;
Hernandez, 2002). Hence, it is necessary to listen to the voices of those individuals who
were victimized during war and to obtain an understanding of their realities in order to
ensure that they have access to resources at all levels of the social system that would
allow them to obtain well-being after the war.

Empowerment and the attainment of well-being. The principal goal of
empowerment is to increase the power of those who lack it as one way of reducing
domination. Empowerment is thus both a process as well as an outcome (Prilleltensky,
1997; Rappaport, 1994; Zimmerman, 2000; 2001). Hence, individuals are empowered
and have access to well-being if they exist within relatively just and egalitarian social
contexts that allow them to exercise control over their daily lives and to make choices
accordingly.

Factors supporting empowerment at different levels of the ecosystem include
individual-level factors such as personal motivation and self-efficacy, access to

supportive relationships within the family as well as the larger community, access to

18

resources (economic and other), effective integration into supportive community
settings, and a just social and political climate. When favorable, these factors increase
individuals’ access to resources necessary for them to be able to exercise control over
their lives and the choices they make in order to experience self-determination (Nelson,
Lord, & Ochocka, 2001; Prilleltensky, Nelson, & Pierson, 2001; Zimmerman, 2001). It
is additionally important to note that these factors that exist at different levels of the
ecosystem interact in order to increase empowering processes as well as empowering
outcomes (Zimmerman, 2001) for individuals.

Hence, if empowerment is a route to well-being in the face of oppression and
deprivation, it is necessary to consider the ways in which war, which is ultimately a
form of oppression for those victimized by it, affects individuals at different levels of
the ecological system. It is also essential to elucidate the ways in which their recovery
from war and related attainment of empowerment can be supported at all levels of the
ecosystem, rather than just at the individual level (Moane, 2003; Watts & Serano-
Garcia, 2003).

Conclusion

Gendered social structures serve to prevent women’s particular post-war needs
from receiving adequate consideration in post-conﬂict societies and in scholarly
literature. This is true in spite of the fact that the extent of many women’s post-war
needs constitutes a signiﬁcant public health concern in nations emerging from war
(McKay, 1998; Sideris, 2003). Women’s attainment of well-being in the face of
adversity has also not been adequately examined. Models of well-being have focused on

the absence of illness rather than the presence of well-being, and have been deﬁned with

19

predominantly male samples focusing on masculine indicators of health. This renders it
difﬁcult to understand the ways in which women achieve well-being in the face of
adversity. Finally, prior research conducted on human health and well-being in the face
of adversity has been based upon a priori assmnptions about health and have not
allowed for women’s voices to be heard on this topic (Poorman, 2002). There thus
exists a dearth of information on women’s particular experiences of post-war
adjustment and attainment of well-being.
Current Stuajz
The current investigation focused attention on the ways in which Mozambican

women have sought to adjust to life after war. It sought to elucidate the ways in which
Mozambican women perceive their process of post—war adjustment and factors that are
signiﬁcant to this process. The following research questions framed the investigation:

0 Have Mozambican women attained post-war well-being?

o How have Mozambican women achieved post-war well-being?

o What factors have facilitated and/or inhibited Mozambican

women’s attainment of post-war well-being?

20

Chapter 2
Method
Methodological Justiﬁcation

Perhaps more than any other method, in-depth qualitative interviews have the
potential to expose the meaning behind participants’ lived experiences and related
actions. This method permits research participants to speak in their own words about
their experiences and the meaning they attach to these. In-depth qualitative interviews
thus minimize the likelihood that investigators will make incorrect assumptions about
and attach inaccurate meaning to participants’ actions and experiences (Banyard &
Miller, 1998; Camic, Rhodes, & Yardley, 2003). This is particularly important when
insight is sought into the subjective interpretation of the experiences of populations who
have been previously excluded from investigation. In addition, qualitative methods
allow for the exploration of the impact of context upon participants’ experiences
(Banyard & Miller, 1998; Suzuki, Prendes-Lintel, Wertlieb, & Stallings, 1999). The use
of qualitative methods thus allowed the investigator to explore the aspects of
Mozambican women’s social contexts that were signiﬁcant to their process of post-war
adjustment and attainment of well-being.

In addition, qualitative methods can be empowering to participants. The ability
to make one’s voice heard and to have the ensuing information shared with those in
power may be particularly empowering to those who are not conventionally heard. It
may therefore be empowering to marginalized members of a particular society to tell
their stories in their own words and to have their needs taken into consideration. In-

depth qualitative interviews are one such forum through which marginalized voices can

21

be ampliﬁed (Banyard & Miller, 1998; Rappaport, 1995, 2000). In addition, consistent
with an empowerment approach, this research was conducted in collaboration with
participants (Cosgrove & McHugh, 2000; Riger, 1993). Speciﬁcally, participants were
provided with the opportunity to voice issues that were of concern to them that had not
been identiﬁed by the investigator and were provided with the opportunity to be
involved in the process of interpreting ﬁndings.

In contrast, quantitative methods are not always ideally suited to the
investigation of cross-cultural phenomenon. Forced response items used with
quantitative measures can be perceived as silencing by non-Westem participants (Zea,
Reisen, & Diaz, 2003) who may ﬁnd such items frustrating and difﬁcult to respond to
(Goodkind & Deacon, 2004). These items may consequently yield less useful data than
would the use of qualitative methods. In addition, many quantitative measures of
disorders commonly associated with the survival of warfare, such as Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder, were developed and validated with populations in developed, Western
nations and are thus not necessarily appropriate to the realities and experiences of
individuals ﬁom developing nations. This is true with regard to the ontology of these
disorders, the assumption that a universalistic approach to psychological processes is
appropriate, the symptoms and concerns that are assumed to be paramount to
participants in differing contexts, and the inappropriate medicalization of human
responses to suffering caused by political circumstances (Rosner, 2003). In order to
obtain accurate data from participants in this investigation, it was thus important to
examine participants’ perspectives without making undue a priori assumptions

regarding their experiences and post-war adjustment processes. The use of qualitative

22

methods was particularly well-suited to this task.

Finally, prior to the start of data collection, the investigator conducted informal
interviews with Mozambican employees at CARE Nampula in order to obtain their
input with regard to the appropriateness of the data collection methods that were used.
All interviewees agreed that enough time has passed since the end of the war for women
to feel comfortable discussing their experiences and that participants would respond
well to being interviewed. It is for these reasons that in-depth, semi-structured
qualitative interviews were selected for this research. This allowed participants to freely
express themselves without the constraint of often inappropriate force-response
quantitative items while providing the investigator with insight into their interpretations
of their lived experiences and the contexts within which these have occurred.
Preliminary Research Activities

During the summer of 2004, one year prior to the start of this investigation, the
investigator spent one month in Mozambique conducting a pre-dissertation visit
designed to lay the foundation for this research. She visited various potential research
sites and conducted informal interviews with service providers and Mozambican women
in order to assess the feasibility and appropriateness of the investigation. In addition to
conﬁrming the appropriateness of the research methods to be used, the investigator was
able to identify Meconta District as the research site. Not only was it a site of Renamo
occupation during the war, but it was also a location within which the investigator was
able to receive the support needed ﬁom CARE staff in order to render the investigation
feasible.

In addition, before beginning data collection it was important to ensure that the

23

researcher’s understanding of “well-being” was appropriate within the Mozambican
context. Key informant interviews were, therefore, ﬁrst conducted with ten diverse
stakeholders, aged 18 and older. Key informants who represented a cross-section of
Mozambican society were recruited in order to ensure that an accurate understanding of
well-being in Mozambique could be obtained. These key informants were able to speak
to interpretations of well-being as these relate to women residing in various socio-
cultural contexts (e. g., the difference between rural and urban residents’ interpretations
of well-being).

Key informants included three men and seven women and represented both
academic and non-academic perspectives on well-being. Two informants were
undergraduate college students, one was a medical doctor working for the provincial
Health Department, two were women employed in the informal industry, one was a
clerical worker, and four were employed in various capacities at non-govemmental
organizations. Key informants were thus knowledgeable about the experiences of rural
as well as urban women as well as women from different socioeconomic groups.

Key informants were recruited by the investigator who approached individuals
with whom she was acquainted both at the Catholic University of Mozambique (UCM)
and at various NGOs in Nampula. NGO staff members were also asked to recommend
colleagues who would potentially be open to being interviewed. In addition, the
investigator made announcements at student meetings at UCM asking students if they
would be interested in participating in a brief interview. Finally, the investigator
approached members of the larger Nampula community through the local Catholic

Church. She asked the local priest to make an announcement to members of his parish

24

telling them about the investigation and asking them to let the investigator know if they
were interested in participating.

In order to obtain a deﬁnition of well-being appropriate to Mozambique,
commonalities across key informants’ deﬁnitions of well-being were identiﬁed. Key
informants were asked to provide their own deﬁnition of well-being, and then discussed
what factors they believed inﬂuenced individuals’ attainment of well-being (see
Interview Guide in Appendix A). Overall, there was agreement across informants with
regard to what it meant to be well in the Mozambican context. In short, they agreed that
“well-being” was the ability to achieve one’s goals and aspirations. Informants agreed
that because individual perceptions of what it means to be well may vary, it is necessary
for individuals to have access to rights and resources that allow them to attain their
particular versions of the “good life.” This both includes access to resources that meet
their basic needs (such as water, food, and housing) as well as resources such as
education that assist them in achieving their larger goals (e.g., obtaining better
employment). In addition, informants agreed that access to equal rights for men and
women is essential to women’s capacity to attain well-being as this ensures their access
to resources (such as education and employment) that support their attainment of well-
being.

The achievement of well-being for Mozambican women was thus seen by the
key informants as both a process and an outcome. According to key informants, in order
for Mozambican women to be considered to be well it is necessary for the conditions

that facilitate the achievement of their personal goals and aspirations to be present.

25

Location

Data collection took place in Meconta District in rural Nampula Province.
Nampula Province was selected as the research site for this investigation because it was
a site of active Renamo occupation (Jacobson, 1999), and little research has been
conducted in this province. Meconta is an impoverished rural district of Nampula.
However, it is within a day’s travel of an urban area. In addition, Renamo was active in
Meconta during the recent war.

A group of six similar farmers’ associations within this district were identiﬁed in
collaboration with extension workers at CARE Nampula. All of the farmers’
associations were located close to one another (within ﬁve to ten miles from one
another) and shared resources (e.g., health posts, schools, and NGO-based resources).
Members of the different associations knew one another and sometimes participated in
joint activities. Each association consisted of approximately twenty families who lived
in close proximity to one another. These were relatively stable communities, and many
of these families lived close to one another and knew one another during the war.
Families farmed their own macharnbasl and sold their produce according to their needs.
Members often sold their produce in bulk and were able to demand better prices for
their goods as they had collective bargaining power. Farmers’ associations had
governing bodies to which members were elected. Both men and women make up these
governing bodies.

Sample

Participants who were 25 and older were purposively selected for participation

 

' Plots of land farmed by individuals and/or family groups.

26

as these women would have been teenagers or older during the war. It was expected that
they would be able to remember their experiences during and after the war, and would
be able to reﬂect on the impact that the war has had upon their lives. Only women who
remained within their communities during the war were recruited for participation as it
is likely that those women who were refugees or who migrated to other communities in
order to escape the war had experiences that were qualitatively different from those
women who remained within their home communities. Finally, both women who were
married and unmarried and women who did and did not have children during the war
were recruited for participation.
Procedures

CARE extension workers ﬁrst introduced the investigator to key female
stakeholders, known as community Animators, in the targeted communities. Animators
fulﬁll important leadership roles in their communities and, for example, organize
women’s groups, conduct nutritional education, and keep track of infants’ development.
They also serve as gatekeepers to their communities. The fact that the investigator was
introduced to these key stakeholders by extension workers with whom they were
familiar and whom they trusted assisted in her acceptance within the targeted
communities. Finally, through her association with the community Animators, the
investigator then obtained legitimacy with other members of the targeted communities.
This facilitated the process of data collection.

Data were collected using semi-structured, in-depth qualitative interviews. All
interviews were audio taped and transcribed for analysis. Detailed analytic notes were

also taken during the interviews. These notes, in addition to the preliminary analyses

27

conducted during the course of data collection, guided the data collection process. A
modiﬁed grounded theory approach, similar to that proposed by Glaser & Strauss
(1967), was used to inform this process. Accordingly, as data collection proceeded and
theoretical categories of interest were elucidated through initial analysis, areas of further
inquiry were identiﬁed and data collection efforts were focused on expanding
understanding of these categories. Different dimensions of these categories of interest
were explored until no new information emerged and a category was considered to be
saturated. Data collection was thus guided by the investigator’s emergent understanding
of participants’ interpretations of their experiences of post-war adjustment.

All participants were verbally informed of the purpose of the investigation and
were provided with the opportunity to participate. An oral consent procedure was used
as 43% of Mozambican women have no education (DHS, 1997) rendering it unlikely
that they are literate. In addition, the investigator’s discussions with other researchers
who have worked in Mozambique revealed that literacy is particularly limited in rural
areas. The consent process was audio taped, and a log of all participants who were
approached for an interview~ and their related participation decisions was maintained.
Only two of the 49 women who were invited to participate in the study declined. One
cited a heavy workload as a reason for not being able to participate. The reason why the
other woman declined to participate is unknown. Those who consented to participate in
the investigation were provided with a written copy of the consent form. The various
components of the consent form were explained to participants so that, even if they
were not literate, they could ask someone to read the form to them if they so desired.

In addition, participants were interviewed in locations where they felt

28

comfortable and had privacy. Potential locations that would meet these criteria were
identiﬁed at the research sites prior to the start of data collection. It was not possible to
assume that women would have a reasonable expectation of privacy at home and it was,
therefore, necessary to identify other locations that would be appropriate for interviews.
Interviews were usually conducted in the meeting spaces of the various associations.
These varied from outdoor clearings located a small distance ﬁ'om the nearest homes to
rough structures located within walking distance from participants’ homes. These
locations were central enough to be convenient for participants, while simultaneously
providing them with a private space a distance away from their neighbors. It was also
not possible for other community members to approach these spaces without being seen,
rendering it possible for participants’ privacy to be protected.

All interviews were conducted either in Portuguese or, when necessary, in
Macua (the primary indigenous language spoken in Nampula province) with the
assistance of a Portuguese-Macua translator. Less educated women, who made up the
majority of participants, were not able to speak Portuguese; in order to not exclude them
from participation it was necessary to interview them using a translator. In cases where
a translator was used, the investigator conducted all interviews and the translator
translated all questions and participants’ responses. Ten interviews were conducted in
Portuguese and 35 interviews were conducted in Macua with the aid of a translator. In
addition, two participants spoke some Portuguese and only drew upon the services of a
translator when they had difficulty expressing themselves in Portuguese. The translator
was present during these interviews to assist when needed. All participants were

assigned neutral identiﬁcation numbers to which only the investigator had access.

29

Prior to the start of data collection at each farmer’s association, the investigator
would visit the site in order to meet with members the association and to let them know
about her data collection activities. In each case, the investigator met with varying
numbers of women, the community Animator, and in some cases other key members of
the association. During these visits she explained the purpose of her work, telling
women that she wanted to speak to them about their experiences during and after the
war. The investigator also asked women who were present at these initial meetings to
tell others who were not there about what she would be doing. The community
Animator, in particular, was asked to share this information with other women in the
association. The investigator ended these meetings by asking women to let the
community Animator know if they were interested in being interviewed. She also told
them that they could approach her personally upon her return to the community if they
wanted to be interviewed and wanted to come to her directly. In this way the
investigator was able to inform as many women as possible about the interviews that
she would be conducting, giving women an opportunity to volunteer to be interviewed if
they were interested in doing so.

Each week the investigator arranged for days and times that she would return to
the community when the Animator was available and participants’ daily work activities
would not be too disrupted. The Animator was asked to let adult women in the
community know when the investigator would be around to conduct interviews.
Animators informed women who were not at the initial meetings that the interviews
would focus on their experiences during and alter the war. If women wanted to know

the purpose of the interviews, they were told that the investigator was interested in

30

understanding factors that helped women recover from the impact of the war. If women
were potentially interested in being interviewed they often let the Animator know in
advance, or they would approach the investigator when she came to their association.
Sometimes as many as three or four women were waiting for the investigator to arrive
as they were interested in being interviewed, while at other times the investigator
arrived at the farmers’ associations to ﬁnd no interested participants.

Incentives for participation were not offered to participants, following
discussions with other researchers already working in Mozambique. These researchers
indicated that offering incentives to participants would render sampling difficult as
ineligible individuals would volunteer to be interviewed in order to obtain the incentive.
In addition, discussions with staff at CARE revealed that providing some members of
the community with a reward for participating in the investigation may have placed
them in a difficult position as others would question the fact that they received
something not available to others.

Interviews were conducted over a period of six months, until redundancy was
achieved (Patton, 2002). In other words, when new information ceased to be obtained
from participants, data collection was considered complete. The ﬁnal sample consisted
of 47 women aged 25 to 61 (M = 40). All participants were farmers, 45 were married
and 2 were widowed. The husbands of those participants who were widowed died ﬁ'om
causes other than the war. All except one of the participants had between one and nine
children, with an average of ﬁve living children per family.

Measurement construction. The semi-structured interview guide consisted of

open-ended items designed to elicit new information from participants. Items to be

31

asked of all participants were constructed based upon the investigator’s review of the
literature and discussions with local service providers and Mozambican women. In
addition, as data collection progressed, questions designed to elucidate previously
overlooked areas of inquiry were also included. A list of potentially relevant probes was
included with all questions.

After the ﬁrst few interviews were completed, it became apparent that
participants had some difﬁculties responding to questions regarding the impact of the
war upon them. Participants were not able to readily identify impacts and consequences
of the war for their lives when they were asked direct questions in this regard. However,
through their discussions of their experiences during and after war it was possible to
identify impacts of the war upon them. The interview protocol was then revised in order
to minimize these difﬁculties for participants. Interview questions were revised in order
to allow for a discussion that ﬂowed naturally from women’s experiences during the
war to their lives after the war. This allowed participants to become grounded in their
memories of the war, making it easier for them to reﬂect on factors that were signiﬁcant
to their post-war recovery. Participants were asked about their recovery after the war,
whether or not the war has changed their lives, their attainment of well-being after war,
and factors that were potentially signiﬁcant to their post-war recovery. These questions
allowed participants to reﬂect upon various periods of their lives during and after the
war while follow-up probes allowed the investigator to explore speciﬁc aspects of these
experiences with women in more detail.

When new, systematic areas of inquiry were identiﬁed during initial interviews,

items related to these areas of inquiry were added to the protocol and were asked of the

32

remaining participants. This is consistent with a modiﬁed Grounded Theory approach
(Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Additional areas of inquiry did not deviate signiﬁcantly from
those already identiﬁed, but rather allowed for the reﬁnement and expansion of
categories. Emergent categories of interest centered upon the investigator’s improved
understanding of women’s experiences during and after war. As her understanding of
women’s experiences during war, their interpretations of these experiences, and her
understanding of the post-war context in Meconta deepened, she was able to ask
questions that were more relevant to women’s experiences. For example, during data
collection the importance of curandeiros2 to women’s post-war attainment of well-being
became apparent to the investigator and speciﬁc probes around this topic were included.
The ﬁnal interview guide can be found in Appendix B.

Recruitment and training of translators. Given the multi-lingual nature of this
investigation it was necessary to recruit translators to assist both with the translation of
interview documents as well as with the translation of interviews in the ﬁeld. First, a
student at UCM was recruited in order to ensure the accuracy of the investigator’s
translation of English versions of interview documents into Portuguese. This student
was ﬁnancially compensated for her work.

Second, it was necessary to ensure that all Portuguese interview protocols could
be effectively orally translated into Macua and that all Portuguese-Macua-Portuguese
translations of interviews in the ﬁeld were accurate. It was not possible to use university
students for Macua translations as the majority of these students came from regions of

Mozambique other than Nampula and did not speak or were not ﬂuent in Macua.

 

2 Traditional healers

33

Therefore, two women living in the City of Nampula were recruited to assist with this
task. A local priest referred two women with some education who were literate and
ﬂuent in both Portuguese and Macua to the investigator. These Portuguese-Macua
research assistants were trained by the investigator with regard to the need for accuracy
in all translation. They were ﬁnancially compensated for each document and interview
that they either translated or veriﬁed was accurately translated. The research assistants
met individually with the investigator on a weekly basis while translation was

underway. The interview guide was considered ﬁnal only after they reached agreement
regarding the ease with which the protocol could be used in Macua.

Third, given the signiﬁcant logistical problems inherent in reaching targeted
communities, it was not possible to bring outside individuals along to act as translators
during interviews. Hence, ﬁve community Animators at the targeted farmers’
associations were recruited in order to act as translators in the ﬁeld, as they were some
of the only women in these communities who were ﬂuent in both Portuguese and
Macua. In addition, discussions with service providers revealed that women in the
targeted communities would be uncomfortable and perhaps unwilling to be interviewed
if an outside translator was used. However, it is possible that participants were not
entirely comfortable discussing their experiences during alter the war in front of
someone with whom they were familiar. While participants did not express overt
discomfort at being interviewed in the presence of another community member, it is
possible that they were uncomfortable in this context.

One Animator acted as a translator for two closely related associations that she

was the Animator for; otherwise, each association had their own Animator who was

34

employed as a translator. It was not possible to use one Animator as a translator for all
the associations as the distances between associations was too difﬁcult for women to
travel on foot (the primary form of transportation available to rural women) on the
regular basis necessary for interviews to be conducted. Upon the recommendation of
staff at CARE, these women were compensated for their work with gifts of food and
household necessities (e.g., ﬂour, sugar, and soap).

Every attempt was made to ensure that the primary concerns associated with
translation, namely ensuring that translators understood the importance of accurately
translating all questions and responses and ensuring that colloquial words and phrases
were accurately translated, were addressed through the thorough training of all
translators (Patton, 2002). All Animators were individually trained by the investigator in
basic research methods, including the importance of accurately translating all research
materials and all interview content, the maintenance of participant conﬁdentiality, and
the use of empathic listening skills. The investigator met with all the Animators one-on-
one before they started work in order to instruct them.

The Animators also had their accuracy and competency as translators assessed
before the start of data collection. Prior to the start of interviews the Animators
independently translated at least one mock interview conducted by the investigator from
Portuguese into Macua and from Macua into Portuguese. These interviews were tape
recorded and listened to by the Portuguese-Macua research assistants who provided
their feedback on the accuracy of the Animators’ work to the investigator. This allowed
for the Animators to receive speciﬁc feedback regarding their work. When necessary,

the Animators received further instruction in order to improve their work. Feedback

35

generally centered on the need to translate responses completely and on the need to
accurately translate all questions.

In addition, the importance of maintaining participant conﬁdentiality was
impressed upon all research team members. All team members were not only educated
about manners in which participants’ conﬁdentiality was to be maintained, but they
were also required to sign a conﬁdentiality agreement indicating their understanding of
the fact that their employment would be immediately terminated if they committed any
breach of conﬁdentiality.

Finally, in order to ensure the quality of all translators’ and research assistants’
work, their compensation was dependent upon their successful completion of all of their
work and time commitments. In order to ensure the continued accuracy of the
Animators’ work, all interview tapes were reviewed on a weekly basis by one of the two
Portuguese-Macua research assistants under the supervision of the investigator.
Animators could thus be provided with immediate feedback intended to ensure the
accuracy of their future work. Translation was generally accurate. However, in some
cases the Animators had trouble accurately translating individual words (e. g., they were
not sure of the correct Macua word for a corresponding Portuguese term). In these
cases, the research assistants provided the investigator with the correct translations and
she conveyed these to the Animators. In the rare event that Animators left information
out when translating participants’ responses, the research assistants provided this
missing data to the investigator who then instructed the Animators in the importance of
not committing such omissions. This allowed for the continued accuracy of translation

during data collection to be assessed.

36

Transcription of interviews. All interviews were tape recorded and transcribed
for analysis. The Portuguese portions of all interviews were transcribed by the
investigator and by one UCM student recruited to assist with this process. This student
was trained with regard to the importance of accuracy in transcription and the
maintenance of conﬁdentiality when transcribing interview documents. Once the
student’s competency as a transcriber was established, the investigator veriﬁed the
accuracy of a randomly selected subset of all transcribed interviews. The student was
ﬁnancially compensated and also received a bonus at the end of her tenure as a
transcriber because her transcription was consistently accurate. A subset of these
interview transcripts were translated into English and shared with the investigator’s
dissertation advisor.

Data analysis. Drawing upon a modiﬁed grounded theory approach (Glaser &
Strauss, 1967), the investigator’s emergent understanding of the data that resulted from
the continual review of all interview notes was used in order to guide data collection.
The investigator constructed an analytic table by which to organize her emergent
understanding of the data. Accordingly, after each day of interviewing, she listened to
all interviews conducted that day while reviewing and supplementing her notes taken
during interviews. Data were then organized, by interview question and participant, into
an analytic table. Each week, the investigator reviewed all analytic tables and generated
an aggregate table that summarized the information that emerged across participants by
interview question. She used this opportunity to identify and make note of emergent
themes. These allowed the investigator to document and organize her emergent

understanding of the data. This process also guided data collection as it allowed the

37

investigator to identify potentially interesting areas of inquiry that had not been
adequately explored. Necessary changes were then made to the interview guide in order
for these new areas of inquiry to be ﬁrrther explored (See Appendix C for a table
summarizing the data that emerged from these 135 pages of notes).

A number of emergent areas of inquiry were pursued with participants. First,
after initial interviews were completed it became apparent that curandeiros (traditional
healers) played a signiﬁcant role in women’s recovery from their experiences during
war and their reintegration into their communities when they returned from being
kidnapped. Second, it appeared that, contrary to expectations, women were accepted
back into their communities after they returned from being kidnapped. Third, it was
surprising that women’s discussions of their experiences during the war focused largely
on the disruptive force that the war was in their lives, including the deaths of family
members and their loss of economic resources, rather than on their own personal
experiences of violence. Fourth, another surprising and emergent ﬁnding was that
virtually all of the women in this investigation indicated that, despite their experiences
during and after the war, they believed they had attained well-being since the war. Fifth,
many participants discussed the importance of being able to obtain an education on their
recovery from the impact of the war. Sixth, when discussing their post-war needs
women largely identiﬁed a need for access to economic resources in order to facilitate
their recovery after war. Seventh, participants mentioned the importance of changes to
their societal rights as women to their ability to recover from the impact of the war.
Eighth, participants often noted the impact of the extended dry season on their lives.

Ninth, participants noted increased post-war crime levels. Finally, participants

38

mentioned the fact that members of their communities sold one another out to soldiers
during the war, betraying either community leaders sought by combatants or wealthier
individuals who could be robbed.

Multiple participants mentioned these issues without prompting. F ollow-up
probes revealed that these factors were potentially signiﬁcant to women’s post-war
experiences and needed to be explored further. In subsequent interviews, the
signiﬁcance of these areas of inquiry was explored with participants. Not all emergent
areas of inquiry were found to be signiﬁcant, but in some cases valuable and previously
unanticipated information emerged.

Final data analysis was conducted using Atlas.ti and using a modiﬁed grounded
theory approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Data analysis consisted of an inductive
thematic content analysis (Patton, 2002). Accordingly, drawing upon Glaser and Strauss
(1967)’s suggestions, a subset of interview transcripts were read and emergent themes
were identiﬁed. As each transcript was analyzed, and new themes were identiﬁed, these
were compared to previously identiﬁed themes in order for overarching analytic
categories to be generated. These categories were used in order to construct a coding
framework that was used to deductively analyze all data. The initial emergent themes
that were identiﬁed by the investigator earlier during the process of data collection were
incorporated into this new coding framework. All transcripts were then deductively
coded using this framework. This allowed for the identiﬁcation of commonalities across
participants. Convergent and disconﬁnning evidence for the ﬁnal framework was
sought ﬁ'om each transcript (Corbin & Strauss, 1990). This process ensured that the

coding framework used reﬂected an emergent understanding of the data and

39

participants’ perspectives.

The coding framework included codes identifying participants’ experiences
during the war, their deﬁnitions of well-being, factors contributing to their attainment of
well-being at various levels of the ecosystem, factors inhibiting their attainment of well-
being, and characteristics of post-war society as described by participants. This allowed
for the identiﬁcation of the process whereby women attained well-being after war as
well as inhibitors of this process. A grounded theory reﬂecting factors impacting
women’s attainment of post-war well-being at multiple levels of the ecosystem was
developed. See Appendix D for the ﬁnal coding framework.

Multiple sources of data triangulation were incorporated into the process of data
analysis. First, the bulk of data analysis occurred while the investigator was still in
Mozambique, allowing for participant input to be obtained with regard to emergent
ﬁndings. This member check took the form of three informal discussion groups
conducted after the completion of initial data analysis. The investigator convened three
informal groups of participants in three different farming associations in order to share
with them her emergent ﬁndings and to present them with questions regarding her
interpretations of the data These groups consisted of four to ten women (depending
upon participant availability) who had participated in interviews, as well as a translator.
This ensured that the investigator had the opportunity to discuss her initial ﬁndings with
participants and to obtain their input with regard to the appropriateness of various
analytic categories and the ways in which she interpreted these. No information that
could be linked to any particular individual was shared. The investigator’s

interpretations of the data were validated through these conversations. Finally, all data

40

analysis and interpretation occurred in conjunction with the investigator’s dissertation
chair, who represented an impartial third party involved in the analysis.

Additional methods to improve the trustworthiness of qualitative inquiry
outlined by Guba and Lincoln (1989) were also followed. First, credibility was
established using various techniques. The investigator spent a number of months within
the research site, thereby engaging in prolonged engagement. She also engaged in
persistent observation in order to identify potential characteristics of the communities in
question most relevant to the investigation (e.g., women’s roles within their
communities). In addition, the investigator engaged in peer debrieﬁngs. She regularly
discussed with her committee chair, and occasionally, where relevant, with other
members of their cormnittee, her emerging understanding of the data, including her
ﬁndings and conclusions. Progressive subjectivity was also engaged in. Prior to the start
of the inquiry, the investigator provided her committee chair with a written version of
her construction of the research and what she believed that she would ﬁnd. At regular
three month intervals during the process of data collection and analysis (and sometimes
more frequently), the investigator reiterated her construction of the data and allowed her
committee chair to assess the degree to which she was open to the emerging
constructions of the data offered by participants. Her committee chair alerted her to any
concerns that emerged regarding her attachment to her original construction of the data
and any related lack of openness to participants’ interpretations of their experiences.

Second, transferability was increased through the provision of thick description
of the phenomenon under investigation. Finally, dependability and conﬁrrnability of the

investigation were ensured through the maintenance of an audit trail of all data

41

collection and analysis procedures, related decisions that were made, and justiﬁcations
of these decisions. See Appendix E for a complete description for all methods used to

protect the rigor of all data and data collection and analytic methods.

42

Chapter 3
Results

The goal of this examination was to elucidate those factors that have contributed
to Mozambican women’s attainment of post-war well-being as well as factors that have
inhibited this process. In addition to a discussion of participants’ experiences during war
and the consequences of these experiences for their lives post-war, factors impacting
women’s attainment of well-being at the various levels of the social system were
examined.
Mozambique today

First, in order to understand well-being within the Mozambican context, it is
necessary to understand what the Mozambican context is like. Mozambique was a
Portuguese colony until the mid-1970’s when it obtained independence. Until their
independence, Mozambicans did not have much in the way of rights and liberties. As is
the case with most colonized people in Aﬁica, their movements were restricted and their
life choices were limited. However, soon after independence one of the most brutal wars
in African history erupted. This war was particularly destructive as it had destabilization
as its goal. During the war, Renamo deliberately destroyed Mozambique’s
infrastructure, including roads, bridges, clinics, and schools. The legacy of the war was
thus all the greater and the destruction it wrought more all encompassing. It is within the
context of this legacy that data were collected for this investigation.

Since the end of the war in 1992 Mozambique has been governed by a
parliamentary democracy with F relimo as the ruling party. There have been multiple

peaceful elections over the course of the past 15 years. The new government has shown

43

concern for the rights of women and has legally mandated gender equality. In addition,
there are many organizations and agencies, governmental and other, whose stated goal
is the improvement of the position of women. While data from this investigation do not
reﬂect on the work of these organizations, they do form part of the social context within
which data were collected.

For the ﬁrst time in its history, Mozambique is now a self-goveming nation in
which women have legal rights and social opportunities that were not previously
available to them. However, as will be discussed in ensuing sections, this does not
necessarily guarantee that women and girls are able to exercise these rights and take
advantage of these opportunities. In addition, most adult Mozambicans grew up either
under colonial rule or during time of war. Hence, for many Mozambicans, the past 15
years have been the ﬁrst ones of relative peace and ﬁeedom that they have ever
experienced.

During the 14 years that had passed between the end of the war and data
collection for this investigation, many Mozambican development efforts were initiated.
However, Mozambique still remains a desperately poor country. Many roads are still
unpaved, goods and services are not always readily available, especially outside of
urban areas, and water shortages are a standard occurrence. Many families have no
running water in their homes, and some lack both water and power. Rural families in
particular have no access to modern amenities. The majority of families have little in the
way of material belongings and many live on less than US$1 a day, including what they
produce. Access to health care is limited, and outside of urban areas health facilities are

either non-existent or provide signiﬁcantly limited services. In addition, access to

44

education is limited for many Mozambican families. This is particularly true of rural
inhabitants who may have to walk long distances to attend school, if a school is even
available. For example, there are few secondary schools in the province of Nampula,
and parents often have to send their children out of town to stay with relatives if they
want them to ﬁnish their schooling. However, in spite of this, many adults are attending
school at night in order to develop their literacy and improve their employment
opportunities.

In the following section the investigator relays her observations of the context in
Meconta, District where data were collected 14 years after the war ended. The north of
Mozambique, where data for this investigation were collected, is signiﬁcantly less
developed than the south. In addition, the rural areas that were targeted for this
investigation are severely under-resourced compared to urban areas.

The context in Meconta. Meconta District in Nampula Province is a largely rural
district dotted with a handful of small villages and other settlements. The rural areas
where data were collected surrounded the villages of Meconta and Narnialo. These
small settlements consisted of clusters of mud and brick houses with a mixture of reed
and corrugated iron roofs, some district government offices, and a few extension ofﬁces
for aid agencies and the Department of Agriculture. In addition, there were two bare-
bones restaurants primarily serving roast chicken and beer, a gas station, a guesthouse
with no nmning water, a number of small general stores, and an open-air market.
Rudimentary health posts staffed by nurses and other employees, a few schools, and a
Catholic mission were also scattered around the area. Participants in this investigation

were able to reach Namialo, by foot, within a few hours to a day.

45

The main road running through the district was paved within the year before
data were collected and is a major thoroughfare for transportation and industry in the
area. However, no secondary roads in the area were paved. The main road also served
the many local inhabitants who moved around either by foot or on bicycles, carrying
their belongings on their heads. At any given time clusters of barefoot women and girls
wearing brightly colored capulanasl or men dressed in what would pass for rags in any
Western country could be seen walking on the side of the road en route to their
destinations.

Rural settlements were clustered along this major road, known as the Corridor,
although many were located some distance away from the road and could only be
reached via a network of footpaths. Parcels of farmland (macharnbas) also dotted the
side of the road, and men, women, and children could often be seen working in these,
bent double over their hoes. During the dry season the area was covered in red clay dust
and termite mounds, some as tall as a person, pointing to the sky. The occasional palm
tree reminded one that one was in the tropics. However, once it rained the vegetation

became so thick it was almost impossible to see beyond the road.

The dominant religions in the area were Christianity and Islam. However, local
inhabitants also drew upon their indigenous spiritual beliefs and often combined these
with their mainstream religious beliefs. As such, individuals regularly. drew upon
traditional healers known as curandeiros for their medical and spiritual needs.
Indigenous approaches to healing were also combined with Western medicine. The

latter was often sought out ﬁrst, when available, and if it did not prove effective, a

 

' Capulanas are a sarong-style wraps which make up traditional dress for many Mozambican women.

46

spiritual cause for an individual’s illness was assumed and a curandeiro was consulted.

A distinction between psychological and physical health concerns was not
necessarily drawn, rather a person was perceived to be a holistic entity in which
physical and psychological health is connected. Treatment by a doctor or a curandeiro
was thus aimed at resolving both physical and psychological ailments. In some cases
where an affliction was believed to have a clearly spiritual origin, the assistance of a
curandeiro was exclusively sought rather than that of a medical doctor. Curandeiros thus
played an important role in the provision of health care to Mozambicans in general and
the residents of Meconta District in particular.

The farmers’ associations targeted for data collection consisted of loose
gatherings of clay houses, located varying distances from one another, linked by
footpaths, and interspersed with machambas. Houses were constructed using hand-made
clay bricks and had thatched reed roofs. The ﬂoors were made from clay and some had
small verandas where the inhabitants could sit in the shade. Wealthier families could
afford corrugated iron roofs and wooden doors for their homes, although these did not
usually look. The houses varied in size and had one or more rooms. Inside, open
doorways connected rooms, and most houses had few small, uncovered windows.
Furniture was limited, with only wealthier families being able to afford rough-hewn
tables, chairs, and beds. Otherwise, woven reed mats served as a place for inhabitants to
sit and sleep. Most families had few eating utensils and often used clay pots they made
themselves for storing food and water. There was no power and cooking was done over
open ﬁres. Macharnbas and ﬂocks of chickens surrounded most homes. Some families

also farmed goats and other livestock, and many owned a cashew tree.

47

All of the participants in this investigation were subsistence farmers; however,
they did sell their surplus crops and livestock in order to obtain cash to purchase that
which they could not produce themselves. Entire families were usually involved with
agricultural production. However, women were often responsible for the bulk of the
agricultural labor, and women and girls were also responsible for fetching water, caring
for children, and processing and preparing food. Water was obtained from communal
wells and rivers that were often located long distances away from the settlements. As a
result, women and girls often walked entire days carrying one heavy bucket of water on
their heads and another in their hands, often with an infant strapped to their backs. In
addition, processing and preparing food is extremely time consuming and labor
intensive in the absence of any modern conveniences. Rural women thus had very little
time for themselves and they spent most of their time caring for the needs of their
families. These women’s attainment of post-war well-being thus needs to be understood
within this context.

Well-being in Mozambique

In order to understand women’s attainment of post-war well-being in
' Mozambique, it is necessary to ﬁrst understand the way in which well-being is deﬁned
within the Mozambican context. Thus, prior to the start of data collection, key-
inforrnant interviews were conducted in order to obtain a deﬁnition of well-being
appropriate to Mozambique.

Key informants noted that deﬁnitions of well-being vary across individuals and
settings, and that individuals in rural and urban areas may have differing, context-

speciﬁc interpretations of what it means to be well. However, they concurred that in

48

order for someone to be well in Mozambique it is necessary for them to be able to
achieve their own personal goals and aspirations. They also agreed that well-being is
facilitated by individuals’ access to rights and resources that can assist them in attaining
their particular versions of the “good life.” Inforrnants indicated that well-being for
women in Mozambique is impacted, in part, by their access to democratic rights. Access
to such rights removes gendered restrictions to women’s well-being as it allows them to
pursue goals previously closed to them. For example, the right to attend school or to
receive equal consideration in the workplace opens opportunities for women and
removes restrictions to their capacity to achieve that which they want in life.

Informants also agreed that women require access to basic resources necessary
for human survival in order for them to be considered to be well (e.g., water, food, and
housing). Accordingly, if it is necessary for women to channel their daily energy into
maintaining the survival of themselves and their families it is not necessarily possible
for them to achieve those goals that would contribute to their achievement of well-
being. In addition, access to resources such as education provides individuals with the
tools they need in order to achieve their personal goals and aspirations.

Finally, key informants indicated that women’s capacity to achieve well-being
might be impacted by various socio-cultural variables. Inforrnants recognized that an
intersection between gender and variables such as rural and urban residence exists
which might signiﬁcantly impact individuals’ capacity to attain well-being. It was also
noted that, as a result of their socially deﬁned gender roles, and in spite of their legal
rights, women may not have access to all the rights and resources that are available to

men. This has implications for their attainment of well-being.

49

There was considerable agreement across informants with regard to the meaning
of well-being in Mozambique. All of the key informants noted that well-being includes
the capacity to achieve one’s personal goals and aspirations. However, there was not
complete agreement across informants with regard to those factors that impact
individuals’ attainment of well-being. Overall, key informants agreed that the
attainment of well-being is supported by individuals’ access to various rights and
resources. In addition, given both the signiﬁcance of the differences that exist across
rural and urban areas in Mozambique and the prominence of recent changes to women’s
access to rights and resources, the importance of these factors to women’s attainment of
well-being were raised by all key informants. However, not all informants discussed
gendered limitations to Mozambican women’s access to rights and resources. Seven
informants noted the signiﬁcance of this factor to women’s attainment of well-being.
Those informants who did not discuss these gendered limitations recognized the
importance of women’s access to rights and resources to their attainment of well-being;
however, they did not perceive signiﬁcant gendered limitations to these rights and
resources (e. g., the fact that not all women are able to exercise their rights) nor did they
consider these limitations to be signiﬁcant to women’s attainment of post-war well-
being.

The attainment of well-being for Mozambican women is thus not a
straightforward process, but is rather context-speciﬁc and is inﬂuenced by a number of
socio-cultural variables. These factors inﬂuencing Mozambican women’s well-being
will be discussed in more detail in ensuing sections.

Factors impacting Mozambican women’s attainment of well-being. Mozambican

50

women’s rights have only recently been enshrined in law. This has opened many new
opportunities for women in Mozambique, including the opportunity to attend school,
obtain employment, and participate in political processes. As a result, Mozambican
women not only have access to more ways to achieve their goals and aspirations, but
they can aspire to more than they were able to aspire to before. However, the fact that
women have access to legal rights does not necessarily ensure that their socially
determined roles and responsibilities reﬂect these rights. In reality, many Mozambican
women are disproportionately responsible for arduous household responsibilities and
have access to fewer ﬁnancial and educational resources than do men. This is often
particularly pronounced in rural areas. As a result, Mozambican women often lack
universal access to the rights and resources that facilitate their achievement of well-
being. As the following informant notes:

“ Women have achieved emancipation, but they are still in the process of

obtaining well-being...those women who study...those who haven ’t studied still

live in rural areas and they still experience deprivation, they still have not

achieved well-being...she is ﬁ‘ee, Mozambique is 19%, but fundamentally, she
does not have well-being...she does not have resources.... ”2

The limitations to women’s access to rights and resources necessary for their
attainment of their goals and aspirations are often centered within the family. Women
and girls may be denied educational opportunities open to male members of their

families and their husbands and male relatives may control all household ﬁnances,

 

2 Quotes have been translated either from Portuguese to English or from Macua to Portugese to English.
When a translator was present during an interview, quotes are in the third person as this is how the
translator presented the information to the investigator. In order to maintain the authenticity of the data
and to minimize the loss of meaning that occurs with translation, quotes that were translated from Macua
into Portuguese were left in the third person. Quotes from interviews conducted in Portuguese are

presented in the first person.

51

providing them with limited access to ﬁnancial resources. Hence, in the absence of
familial support for their goals and aspirations, Mozambican women may not be able to
achieve their hopes and dreams, and they may not have well-being. As the following
informant notes:

“It doesn’t help if a family has many resources, but the woman is deprived of
her rights, in this case we would not consider it well-being... ”

These gendered dimensions of well-being are also impacted by factors such as
urban and rural residence. Inforrnants agreed that not only do rural and urban women
have differing social roles, but they also have access to different resources. As a result,
rural women’s perceptions of their own well-being may differ from those of urban
women. Overall, rural women have access to fewer resources than do urban women and
their social roles may be more restrictive and their daily responsibilities greater relative
to those of their husbands. As the following key informant states:

“ What is happening for example in the rural areas, women are deprived of their

rights...s0 for her to be well, she needs to be able to express herself within her

home, and when she is able to be more or less equal to a man, this also makes
up part of well-being... ”

Rural women may also have more limited access to education than urban women
because there are fewer schools in rural areas, and girls may be more likely to be kept
home from school in order to perform household tasks, while boys are not. For example,
the following informant spoke about the fact that girls and boys may not have equal
access to education:

“When this is the case, we cannot say that someone is developing well-
being... well-being has its source in equality between people. ”

Finally, rural women may require assistance in meeting their basic survival needs (e.g.,

access to food and clean water) in order to ensure that they have the capacity to pursue

52

their versions of the “good life.” In contrast, urban women may have more ready access
to these resources. As a result, rural women may have more limited access to resources
that support their attainment of well-being than do urban women.

The achievement of well-being for Mozambican women is thus not a state, but
rather a process. According to key informants in this investigation, in order for
Mozambican women to be considered to be well it is necessary for the conditions that
facilitate the achievement of their personal goals and aspirations to be present. Well-
being for women in Mozambique is thus intricately tied up with the changes to the
socio-political system that have occurred in Mozambique in recent years awarding all
citizens, and women in particular, access to greater social and political freedom. This
has not only altered women’s capacity to attain well-being, but it has also changed the
ways in which they think about their own well-being. In addition, according to key
informants, women’s attainment of post-war well-being cannot be understood in the
absence of an examination of their socio-cultural contexts. These contexts not only have
implications for the ways in which women perceive their own well-being, but they also
both support and/or inhibit their attainment of well-being. Finally, it is important to note
that women’s attainment of well-being is supported by the interaction of variables that
exist all levels of the social system. For example, the interaction between women’s
access to political freedoms supported by changes occurring at the macro level of the
social system as well as their access to micro level resources such as familial support for
their endeavors are both signiﬁcant to their attainment of well-being. These factors will

be explored in more detail in ensuing sections.

53

Women’s Experiences During Warfare

In order to obtain insight into Mozambican women’s attainment of post-war
well-being it is necessary to ﬁrst understand what they are recovering from and what it
means to them to attain well-being in the wake of war. Hence, in order to understand
Mozambican women’s attainment of post-war well-being, it is necessary to ﬁrst
understand their experiences during the war, as well as their and their communities’
interpretation of these experiences. These interpretations may have determined the ways
in which community members reacted to women after war as well as the implications of
their wartime experiences for women.

All of the 47 women interviewed during the course of this investigation had
some direct experience of the war, ranging from the theft and destruction of their
property to having been beaten or kidnapped. All but two participants lost their homes
and all participants had some of their property stolen by combatants (this included farm
animals, produce, and household implements). While only six of the women
interviewed reported being kidnapped themselves, another twenty-four participants
reported that members of their families or larger communities had been kidnapped. Not
all kidnapped family and/or community members returned. In addition, while none of
the participants in this investigation reported injuries beyond being beaten (two women
were beaten by combatants and two reported that they were stripped and left naked by
soldiers) and none admitted to being raped, participants reported that kidnapped women
from their community were routinely forced to “marry” combatants and that members
of their communities, including members of their families, were mutilated and/or killed

during the war. In two cases women were kidnapped along with their husbands, but both

54

returned. Women thus had signiﬁcant experiences of violence during the war, both
individually and collectively.

Participants described their daily experiences of wartime violence in the
following ways:

“[The war] chose no-one, all the families suffered because of the war. ”
Participants also discussed the generalized fear, loss, and violence generated by the war:

“...the soliders burnt down our houses, they also took our goats, our chickens,
they took our household belongings. They also killed people. ”

“...she said that during that time she always ﬂed into the bush...and some of her

family members also lost their lives because of the war...and houses of hers
were destroyed during the war... ”

“Some people they killed, others they took with them. ”

Another participant who was beaten by combatants said the following:
“...it wasn ’t just her they beat...they also beat other people who lived in the

region in the same way...some they took into the bush, there were others they
beat, killed, and left there. ”

Finally, participants also discussed the deprivation created by the war:

“She said that they didn’t have clothes to wear...they just wrapped bags around
themselves... ”

In addition to the experience of violence, when participants were asked to
describe their lives during the war, they reported that its constant presence rendered it
difficult for them to engage in many of the activities that usually deﬁne their
experiences of daily living (e.g., sitting down to a meal with their family or simply
engaging in household chores). Women often found these daily disruptions traumatic as
it leached their lives of order and meaning. The following participant described her day-

to-day life during the war:

55

“During the time of the war, all the people slept in the bush, there was no time
to farm, there was no time to bathe, there was no time to fetch water, there was
no time to play or to sit and braid hair, there was no time. All the time we just
ﬂed into the bush, all the time we just ﬂed... ”

Another participant noted:

“...for example, we were not able to walk to visit our neighbour or to go from
here to Nampula. ”

Another participant said the following about her life during the war:

“...during the war we didn ’t have, we didn ’t have the ability to do anything, yes,
we were limited, for example, I was limited, I couldn ’t do anything else, all there
was was thinking about the war. ”

Women also described their daily experiences during the war as that of “living
like an animal”. Not being able to perform tasks that give meaning to daily living while
having to sleep in the bush with animals each night served to erode women’s sense of
their own humanity. The boundaries between the natural world and the human world
thus became indistinct and reduced participants, in their minds, to animals running for
their lives, rather than people living meaningful lives. For example, the following
participant described her experience of ﬂeeing her home each night during the war:

“...we left naked, without capulanas, without anything, we were only interested

in removing our hearts into the bush. During that time, we weren’t people, we
were only animals. ”

Another participant echoed this sentiment:

“Yes...we resembled animals when we were not animals... ”

Finally, those women who were kidnapped experienced the war in a particularly
traumatic manner. These women were often taken in order to perform domestic,
agricultural, and sexual labor for combatants. One participant described this

phenomenon in the following manner:

56

“She said that when the soldiers arrived in this community, they started burning
houses, killing people; she also said that when they arrived here they always
took the crops, clothes, animals like chickens and goats, and they also took
people to help them carry these things to where they lived... ”

One participant who had been kidnapped, but escaped, said the following:
“She was kidnapped, but she escaped. They captured her...they captured her

with a child on her back, afterwards, they took of all of her clothes, she was
naked, and she hid... ”

Other participants said the following about women’s experiences of sexual assault
during kidnapping:

“...the women were always raped there [ in the bush]; sometimes the men were
killed... ”

“Our greatest injury was domestic violence...women were forced to marry
soldiers in the bush... ”

“They took the women, they only wanted the women to enter there [into the
bush], when they arrived there they were forced to marry, one soldier had five
or six wives. ”

What is particularly notable about women’s experience of violence during kidnapping is
that while women who were not kidnapped discussed the fact that kidnapped women
were often raped, those women who were kidnapped themselves denied that they or
anyone else was raped during this time. It is thus evident that while gendered violence
was a signiﬁcant occurrence during the war, women who were potentially victimized
remain unwilling to discuss this experience.

Some participants also described the psychological toll being kidnapped took
upon members of their communities:

“She said that, these people, because they were there in the bush, when they got

back here to their home, they didn ’t want people to see their faces, they hid their
faces, they lived like that, they hid their faces, and they had injuries. ”

57

Finally, participants often spoke about the physical toll kidnappings took upon them and
other members of their families who were forced to perform hard labor and were
deprived of food. The following participant described her experiences of being
kidnapped during which she was forced to perform agricultural labor for combatants:

“We were like slaves, we worked in the machambas, and we suffered a lot...we
had nothing to eat... ”

Another participant additionally described the nutrional deﬁcits she experienced while
she was kidnapped:

“...she said that there in the bush they suﬂered a lot because there was not salt,
there was nothing to eat, other people died... ”

The recent war in Mozambique was disruptive to individual women as well as
their larger communities. It destroyed the daily fabric of life and left a trail of physical,
psychological, and social destruction in its wake. In addition to the daily experience of
violence and loss, the war robbed women of their sense of humanity and the ability to
live meaningful lives.

The Post- War Context

In addition to examining what women experienced during the war as a means of
understanding their post-war adjustment, it is also necessary to consider the post-war
context within which they resided. Participants in this investigation lived on a narrow
economic margin. Discussions with staff at CARE revealed that members of the
targeted communities were living on less than one US Dollar a day, including
everything that they produced. As a result, they were particularly vulnerable to
economic setbacks. In addition, participants lived in a rural area where they walked long

distances to attend school and relied on a local catholic mission or scattered health posts

58

staffed by nurses for their health care. Finally, in order to reach the nearest town women
walked many hours, even as much as a day. Hence, in order to purchase staples such as

rice and other products, women often had to walk long distances carrying heavy bags.

All participants were subsistence farmers who also sold their surplus produce to
wholesale vendors. As members of farmers’ associations they beneﬁted from collective
bargaining power and coordinated services from non-governmental organizations.
However, families were entirely dependent for their living upon what they produced to
eat and sell. In the absence of sufﬁcient income from what they produced, families were
not able to purchase additional staples (e.g., rice and salt), or to attend school.
Consequently, a recent water shortage that resulted from insufﬁcient rainfall had a
signiﬁcant impact upon women’s overall access to economic resources and basic
resources such as adequate food (the rainy season did eventually start towards the end of
data collection, thus alleviating this concern). Women were also responsible for
carrying water from nearby wells and rivers each day (sometimes walking as far as four
and a half miles each way), caring for young children, and preparing food for their
families. Finally, residents of post-war Meconta were plagued by thieves who stole both
their personal belongings and their produce.

Consequences of Wartime Experiences for Mozambican Women

The recent war in Mozambique took a physical, social, and psychological toll
upon civilian women. However, as a general rule, participants in this investigation
indicated that they did not feel that the war had had signiﬁcant negative consequences
for their health and their lives today. In fact, some participants indicated that they had

started to forget about the war. As the following participant noted:

59

“No, the war didn’t have many consequences... I am already starting to
forget...1 don ’t forget, but...noboay can forget the time that has already passed
but I am already starting to recover a bit. ”

Another participant said the following:

“She said that during this time, now, it [the war] does not have consequences
because she is able to enter into her machamba, to farm without looking over
her shoulder, without seeing anyone approaching with guns, yes, they are

farming freely... ”

Nevertheless, while participants did not identify lingering consequences of the
war, they did indicate that in the months immediately following the war they
experienced signiﬁcant levels of economic suffering as a result of the destruction
wrought by the war. The majority of participants lost their homes, many if not all of
their belongings, and their agricultural resources such as seeds and produce.
Consequently, at the end of the war, many women were left with the need to rebuild
signiﬁcant components of their economic lives. The majority of women interviewed
indicated that their most signiﬁcant needs at the end of the war were survival needs
(e.g., access to machambas, seeds for food production, and household and farming
implements). For example, the following participant responded when she was asked

what her most signiﬁcant needs were at the end of the war:

“...what she really needed to recover was...was to open machambas. Yes, she
thought ‘if I don’t open machambas, if not, I will die ofhunger ”

In addition, some participants identiﬁed persistent physical and psychological
impacts of the war. However, these impacts were not signiﬁcant enough to interfere
with their daily lives. A small number of women indicated that they still suffered from

bodily aches and pains related to their experiences during the war (e.g., one participant

60

indicated that her legs still sometimes ache as a result of having to walk over mountains
during her kidnapping). However, women were more likely to face psychological rather
than physical consequences as a result of their wartime experiences. These included
thoughts about the war and fears related to their wartime experiences. For example, the
following participant spoke about her lingering fear after the war:

“She said that she still doesn ’t believe it [that the war has ended] in her heart,
she is still scared and thinks ‘when are they going to come back and kill me?

The war also appears to have had an impact upon the ways in which individuals
relate to one another. Women indicated that post-war levels of crime and related social
violence have increased. One participant described this post-war criminal activity:

“They [thieves] take people ’s belongings from their homes, sometimes they find

a child there that was leﬁ to stay with the door, and they kill the child and take
the belongings. ”

Another participant talked about her sister’s experiences with thieves:

“Her little sister suﬂers because of thieves... when she goes to her machamba
the thieves sit there hiding along the way waiting for her to pass, then they
follow her, similarly when she goes to get water, they are there, and in her house
she suﬂers. ”

While participants did not directly attribute this increase in crime to the war,
they did attribute it to post-war changes in individuals’ attitudes and to economic
challenges present in post-war society. Participants noted that many people now have
less respect for the social norms that govern interaction between community members.
In addition, the lack of economic opportunities available in the postwar society was also
blamed for increases in crime. One participant gave the following explanation for the
increasing levels of crime:

“...during that time [before and during the war] people had fear, today they

61

don ’t have fear, the people break everything, they don ’t want to attend meetings,
and today there are a lot of things... ”

What is notable, however, is that in spite of their experiences during the war and
the impacts that the war has had upon women, their families, and their communities, all
but two of the women interviewed indicated that they have achieved well-being in the
wake of the war. The two participants who indicated that they had not achieved well-
being were experiencing signiﬁcant and recent personal setbacks. One woman was
recently widowed, having lost her husband to illness. The other woman was suffering
from illness that was causing her signiﬁcant problems. These factors were signiﬁcant
enough to overshadow all other aspects of their lives that may have contributed to their
well-being.

Finally, variables such as age and marital status did not appear to account for
differences across participants’ post-war experiences. Of those women who were
married during the war, none lost their husbands. Since the end of the war, all
participants either remained or became married. Age also did not account for differences
across participants, including differences in their access to education. Education
emerged as a variable of interest when data collection was already underway. Hence,
not all women were asked about their schooling. However, while all of the women in
their 20’s who were asked about attending school were doing so, women aged 30 and
above were equally likely to not be attending school, no matter what their age. Those
women who were not attending school all listed similar obstacles to school attendance.
These obstacles included that the school was too far to walk to, that the period of hunger
made it hard for them to have the energy to attend school, and that their eyes were not

good enough for them to be able read.

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Age did appear to account for some differences across participants’ with regard
to their awareness of socio-political matters. Women who were younger than 40 were
generally more likely to speak about their personal access to political rights and related
new opportunities than were older women. While older women noted changes in
women’s rights and the resources that they have access to, they were less likely to speak
about the manner in which these changes related to the ways in which they lived their
own lives. For example, an older woman may have noted that women can now fulfill
roles that were previously closed to them without necessarily discussing in a detailed
manner the ways in which these changes affected them personally. In contrast, younger
women were more likely to express a desire to obtain employment or spoke in a more
concrete manner about the ways in which their lives have changed as a result of the
changing socio—political climate (e.g., having access to human rights). It is possible that
younger women were more comfortable with and aware of these changes and thus more
likely to take advantage of them than were older women. However, given the relatively
small size of the sample it is not possible to draw any ﬁrm conclusions from these data.

Finally, given that participants in this investigation considered themselves to
have recovered from the war in spite of its impacts upon them and their families, it is
important to understand the way in which they deﬁned well-being as well as those
factors that have facilitated their recovery and their attainment of post-war well-being.
Post- War Well-Being

As was noted above, as a general rule, participants in this investigation
considered themselves to have achieved well-being after the war. When they were asked

whether they considered themselves to be well, participants responded in the following

63

ways:

“She has already managed to be well today. ”

“Yes, after the war ended, we are ﬂee, we sleep outside, we leave our doors... ”

Other participants described the fact that they had attained well-being after war in the

following ways, emphasizing their capacity to freely engage in their daily activities:

“She said yes, she sits at home, takes her hoe, goes to her machamba, she comes
back from her machamba, she gets her water bucket, goes to the river, farms
without seeing any enemies, that is how she has well-being... ”

“...she defined well-being for herself she said that when the war ended she
started living well, she is able to sleep without hearing guns, she is able to see
the house of her family...she has managed to obtain food. ”

Other participants described their well-being with a speciﬁc emphasis on their

newfound social and political freedom:

“After the war ended...see...the world is free, we go to the village, and we buy
chickens there, capulanas, sugar, there are cars there, we go to Nampula, hepa,
it ’s a marvel... ”

“We are ﬁee...we are not scared of doing our daily tasks... ”

“...we alreaay have machambas, when we wake we are able to go to our
machambas, at night, we are able to sleep without any doubts, we only wait for
the illnesses that God sends our way. ”

When asked about her postwar attainment of well-being, another participant responded:

“We are ﬁee. ”

For participants in this investigation, well-being was thus deﬁned by their

capacity to live lives of their choosing. Participants spoke about their access to

resources, their freedom to come and go as they wished, and a general absence of

political and other upheaval. Participants thus felt that they were well as the socio-

political climate supported their capacity to be well. This is reﬂective of the changes

64

that have occurred in Mozambique in recent years and the fact that, for all of the
participants in this investigation, the 14 years that passed prior to data collection were
likely an exceptional period of peace and freedom for them. Their capacity to attain
these relatively peaceful and meaningful lives was facilitated by various individual and
contextual factors present within the post-war context. These are examined in more
detail below.
Facilitators of Mozambican Women’s Post- War Well-Being

Participants’ attainment of post-war well-being was supported by the manner in
which they and other members of their larger community dealt with the war and
responded to those women who experienced the violence of war. This deﬁned the social
context within which women recovered from war and had signiﬁcant implications for
their capacity to attain well—being after the war. Factors that have supported women’s
attainment of well-being exist at all levels of the ecological system. Please see Table 1
for a complete breakdown of factors impacting women’s attainment of well-being at
various levels of the social system.
Table 1.

Facilitators of Women ’s Attainment of Post- War Well-Being

 

 

Individual-level Micro-level Meso-level Macro-level
facilitators facilitators facilitators facilitators
> Personal > Economic and > Community > Changes to the
determination nutritional acceptance of larger socio-
support received victims of war political
> Personal ﬁom family context that
strength members > Availability of have provided
culturally women with
> Familial support appropriate access to
and acceptance resources for increasing
of wartime the treatment of rights and

65

Table 1 (cont’d)

victims victims of war resources
> Arrangements > Access to

made by family resources such

members for as farmers’

victims of war associations

to receive and schooling

appropriate

treatment, when

necessary

Facilitators of Mozambican women ’s well-being at the individual-level. The
primary individual level facilitator of Mozambican women’s well-being was the
determination expressed by so many women to recover after the war. These women
recognized that at the end of the war it was necessary for them to work hard in order to
put back together their and their families’ lives.

Participants displayed a signiﬁcant amount of personal determination, strength,
and a sense of personal empowerment. This allowed them to work towards attaining
well-being after the war as it allowed them to achieve access to some of the resources
that facilitated their capacity to live the kinds of post-war lives they want to live. What
is particularly notable is the belief espoused by participants that, not only were they
capable of recovering from the war, but they were able to do so by drawing upon their
personal and collective resources without necessarily receiving any outside assistance.
The following participant described how when the war ended she went to work to regain

access to economic resources necessary for her and her farnily’s survival:

“She had the strength to make her machambas, that. . . after the war ended she
felt the need and the desire to work in her machamba, to make her machamba. ”

Another participant described the general individual determination that marked the

66

recovery process for women after the war:

“People worked hard, each person...there were people who worked in groups;
they made machambas because here there is a shortage of employment, there is
only farming. ”

Finally, a participant discussed the way in which some women worked together to
recover after the war:

“...women formed organizations for women...they were together with other

women, they worked together in a group...with other women... ”

This individual strength and determination allowed women to start the process of
economic recovery after the war and allowed them to put in place some of the factors
that have facilitated their capacity to achieve their post-war goals and aspirations and to
overcome the impacts of the war upon them and their families. Given women’s
responsibilities for the well-being of their families, it was also particularly important for
them to be able to have access to resources that would allow them to effectively care for
their families. Their sense of personal determination allowed them to fulﬁll this need. It
is ﬁnally notable that this personal determination was supported by a socio-cultural
context that supported women’s recovery.

Facilitators of Mozambican women’s well-being at the micro-level. At this level
of analysis, women’s attainment of post-war well-being was supported by the ways in
which their families responded to them and assisted them during and alter the war. This
support and assistance provided women with some of the physical and psychological
resources they needed in order to recover from their wartime experiences.

Not only did family members assist one another materially when necessary, but

family also supported women who were kidnapped or suffered violence in their

67

recovery. First, during and after the war, family members assisted one another in small
ways by sharing food and clothing when necessary. This allowed women to mitigate
some of the economic and nutritional health impacts of war. Given that women were
largely responsible for caring for their families’ nutritional and other needs, this
alleviated some of the pressure upon them. For example, the following participant
described how family members helped one another:

“She said that during that time those who had some food offered it to others,
they said ‘come help me in my machamba, and then I will give you some to eat. ”

Another participant described the assistance that she received from her family after her
house was burnt down:

“She said that when they burnt her house down she received help ﬁom her
family, they took beans and corn and gave it to her; she built her house and until
now she is living without problems in her life. ”

What is particularly notable about this support provided to one another by family
members is that families accepted back those individuals who were kidnapped during
the war, regardless of what happened to them while they were kidnapped, and provided
them with whatever support was available in order for them to recover from these
experiences. Given that the majority of kidnap victims were women who were often
raped as part of their kidnap experience, this was signiﬁcant as it provided these women
with a supportive context within which to recover from their experiences. In some
cases this was as simple as welcoming women and girls back and providing them with
food and clothing. In many cases women who were kidnapped for extended periods of
time, often years on end, may have lost their homes and personal belongings and often
returned home with nothing. In these cases, family members helped women get back on

their feet. For example, the following participant described the assistance family

68

members provided to one another:
“When those who were kidnapped returned home, they [the family members] took

some food and gave it to them...they came back ﬁ'om there and had nothing...their
family gave them what they purchased. ”

Family members also arranged for their wives, daughters, and mothers to receive
treatment for symptoms related to their kidnapping and experiences of violence during
the war. This was particularly signiﬁcant given the physical and psychological health
toll that kidnappings often took upon individuals. Family members both arranged for
war victims to receive medical care, as was available, as well as for them to receive
treatment from traditional healers known as curandeiros to address the physical and
psychological symptoms they suffered as a result of their experiences during war (this
treatment will be discussed in more detail in the next section on meso-level factors). For
example, the following participant described the medical care her mother arranged for
her to receive, in conjunction with nuns from a nearby mission, after she returned from
being kidnapped.

“When I returned after the war, I went to see a doctor...I went to the hospital

where they did tests and found nothing... it was my mother and the nuns who
helped me. ”

Another participant described how when she returned from being kidnapped, her family
arranged for her to be treated by a curandeiro in order for her to recover from her
experiences during kidnapping:

“When she arrived here...when they brought her back ﬁom there, her family

arranged for her to be treated by a curandeiro. She wasn ’t a compete person,
she was a like a ‘bandito’ ’ﬁom the bush ”

This participant indicated that after treatment she was a person again and managed to

 

3 Participants often referred to soldiers as ‘banditos’, or bandits

69

recover from her experiences during kidnapping.

This familial support for women who experienced war-related violence and loss
was signiﬁcant as it increased their access to resources necessary for their recovery.
However, this familial support also appeared to be in contrast to the experiences of
women in other war affected areas where victims of sexual assault were often ostracized
from their communities. When participants were asked whether, like in these other
areas, victims of kidnapping, who were often raped, were ostracized from their
communities, they indicated that this was not the case in their communities. They
indicated that families were glad to have their mothers and daughters return to them.
When asked whether, like in these other areas, women were ostracized from their
communities when they returned from being kidnapped, the following participant said:

“She said that it was not the same here like there, when these people came back
they were received by their families. ”

The large number of former kidnap victims who are living within the communities from
which they were kidnapped also evidences this. These women were married with
children and appeared to be fully integrated into the fabric of their communities.

The support that families provided to one another during and after the war thus
helped to mitigate the impact of the war upon women and assisted them in their post-
war recovery and attainment of well-being.

Facilitators of Mozambican women’s well-being at the meso-level. At this level
of the ecological system women’s attainment of post-war well-being was supported
through their interactions with other members of their larger community and their
access to community-level resources. The attitudes of community members towards

women who experienced violence during the war as well as women’s post-war access to

70

the resources necessary to support their recovery assisted participants in their attainment
of post-war well-being.

The ﬁrst meso-level facilitator of women’s well-being was the fact that
community members allowed those women who returned from being kidnapped to
maintain secrecy regarding their experiences. In this way, even though community
members knew about what was happening to kidnapped women, they provided
individuals in their communities with a method for disassociating themselves from what
happened to them during the war. This allowed communities to deal with the violence
of war by mitigating the impact this violence may have had upon them. In this way,
both women and their communities were spared some of the social consequences of
their experiences. For example, the following participant described her feelings
regarding the experiences of returned kidnap victims:

“She said that she is not going to go after those who entered into the bush so
that they don ’t have to speak about the taboos that Occurred there in the bush. ”

Second, the availability of culturally appropriate resources through which
women and their larger communities could make sense of their experiences during war
allowed these women to participate in the social structures of their communities without
suffering stigma as a result of violence they may have suffered or even participated in
during their kidnapping. Women who experienced violence during the war were treated
by curandeiros who cleansed them of their experiences and provided them with a
culturally appropriate manner through which to be reintegrated into their communities.

In addition to receiving treatment for their physical health concerns, women
were ritually washed by curandeiros. This was intended to break the link between what

happened to them and their current and future lives. This ritual washing was intended to

71

cleanse women of their experiences during the war and to allow them to once more
become part of their communities. As a previously quoted participant noted, the
cleansing restored her humanity after she returned from being kidnapped. This thus
served as a form of renewal for these women, symbolically breaking the connection
between them and their experiences and allowing them to be accepted back by their
communities.

By treating them, curandeiros provided victims of the war as well as other
members of their communities with a way in which to make sense of what happened to
them. This allowed community members to accept women who suffered violence, often
of a sexual nature, back while allowing them to recover from the war and to attain well-
being. The following participant described her feelings after being treated by a
curandeiro, referring to her freedom from the consequences of her kidnapping:

“After being treated by that doctor [curandeiro], she was ﬁ'ee. ”

Another participant said the following regarding the treatment returnees received from
curandeiros, emphasizing their acceptance by their communities and their return to their
former lives after being treated:

“...there weren ’t problems when these people came back here, at home they

arranged for them to see a curandeiro, they were treated, and they lived like

they lived before the war. ”

Other participants said the following about returnees’ recovery after being

treated by a curandeiro, also emphasizing the secrecy that surrounds these experiences:

“She said yes, these people who were captured felt better [after they were
treated]. ”

“She said that other people were ﬂee [after being treated], they just can 't talk
about what happened there [in the bush ]. ”

72

What is particularly notable is that all of the participants in this investigation
who had been kidnapped were subsequently married with children or remained married
upon their return. In addition, participants whose family members were kidnapped
during the war indicated that these individuals remained married or married upon their
return. These women also became part of farmers’ associations and participated in
related activities and institutions. Hence, these women were not ostracized from their
communities, but rather were allowed to participate in social institutions and community

events and activities.

Third, participants in this investigation had access to various meso-level
resources that contributed to their empowerment and their related capacity to pursue
their own versions of what it means to be well. These resources included access to
farmers’ associations, programs provided by non-govemmental organizations (e.g.,
women’s savings groups), and adult education programs.

Participants credited their memberships in farrners’ associations and women’s
savings groups with providing them with material resources that facilitated daily living
(e.g., seeds to plant and additional ﬁnancial resources). This is especially signiﬁcant
given that key informants identiﬁed access to resources as an important component of
Mozambican women’s attainment of well-being, particularly in the case of rural
women. For example, when asked what being in a farmers’ association meant to her, the
following participant responded:

“It is a good thing. She thinks that it is a good thing because of the seeds, these

associations bring seeds...the associations bring seeds and give them to
her...she plants these seeds in her machamba. ”

Another participant spoke about the women’s savings groups that have been started by
NGOs:

73

“Regarding the savings group, she likes it a lot because it will help us move
forwar ”

While the savings groups were more of a potential than a reality for many participants
their potential was deﬁnitely appreciated by these women. Participants indicated that in
the future when they had better harvest and more surplus produce to sell they would
certainly be contributing to these groups. Participants appreciated the fact that savings
groups would allow them to have more money to pay for their children’s health care and
to purchase additional material resources for their families. These savings groups thus
had the potential to facilitate their daily lives.

Meso-level resources provided by non-govemmental organizations thus
supported participants’ post-war attainment of well-being as it alleviated their work
burdens and increased their access to resources. These resources facilitated women’s
capacity to achieve life goals and to move beyond simply caring for their families.

In addition, participants identiﬁed the ability to obtain an education as a
facilitating factor in their attainment of post-war well-being. Participants spoke about
the fact that obtaining an education allowed them to strive for larger life goals and to
achieve goals that were previously closed to them. Participants also indicated that
schooling could potentially facilitate their ability to earn an income and to assist their
families in better meeting their needs. Educational opportunities thus contributed to
women’s attainment of well-being in two ways. It allowed them to attain their life goals
while simultaneously facilitating their access to economic resources.

Those participants who attended school clearly articulated the goals they wanted
to achieve (e.g., obtaining employment at the local health post) and the reasons why

they were attending school (e.g., to learn to write). These women indicated that they felt

74

that obtaining an education was a key facilitating factor when it came to achieving their
life goals. One participant made the following statement about her desire to attend
school:

“She thinks that today in order to achieve anything it is necessary to study... ”
Another participant explains that she hopes to be able to obtain employment if she
attends school:

“She goes to school so she can learn to write. These [aid] organizations are

always arriving, she wants employment, so she can also be in the group that they

will hire ﬁom, speaking Portuguese... ”

At the meso level of the ecological system participants thus received supports
from members of their larger communities and had access to resources such as farmers’
associations and adult education programs. These supports and resources assisted
participants in attaining well-being as it supported their capacity to attain their particular
life goals while facilitating their daily lives.

Facilitators of Mozambican women ’s well-being at the macro-level. At this level
of analysis, the primary facilitator of Mozambican women’s attainment of post-war
well-being was the recent post-war changes to the larger social system that have
allowed them to access rights and resources to which they did not previously have
access. Post-war changes to the government and the social system in Mozambique have
awarded women greater access to legal rights as well as increased access to liberties and
resources that were previously denied to them for gendered reasons. These changes
have given women increased access to resources such as education and access to rights

that have allowed them to achieve more than they were able to before.

Participants were aware of the rights that they now had access to and were able

75

to take advantage of some of these new opportunities. The following participant
discussed some of the changes to the social system that she has observed since the war:

“Because of democracy we are recovering, and men are feeling this difference.
They are discovering that they cannot treat their wives badly. We can also not

treat our husbands badly, we are equal. ”

She then goes on to say:
“We have human rights. ”

Another woman said the following about her perception of her changing rights:

“She always thinks ‘ﬁ'om where we came, eee, today is about moving forward,
we are moving forward. My rights are changing ”

Participants were also aware of the fact that their new rights provided them with
access to new resources, such as the opportunity to obtain an education and access to

opportunities for greater political participation. As the following participant noted:

“...we women were not able to go to school, but now we are already going to

school.”

Finally, another participant discussed some of the changes that she has noticed as a
result of these changes to the social system, including women’s increased access to

political power:

“She said that the dtﬁerence she noticed is that today women are stuaying and
have jobs, yes, because back then women didn’t work, only the men worked, but

today women work as well, like men; if someone says ‘that woman over there,
she is a minister’, she really is a minister, while before it wasn ’t like that... ”

In addition to other factors supporting women’s attainment of post-war well-
being, changes at the macro level of the social system have provided a context within

which women can strive to achieve their particular versions of what it means to be well.

76

Women’s increased access to rights and resources allows them to alleviate some of their
gendered labor and other burdens and facilitates their capacity to aspire to and achieve
new, larger life goals. These changes to the social system have broken down some of
the gendered barriers that women experienced to their attainment of well-being and
have provided a context within which they have achieved post-war well-being.
Inhibitors of Mozambican Women’s Attainment of Post- War Well-being

While participants did not identify signiﬁcant barriers to their attainment of
post-war well-being, two obstacles to women’s capacity to attain their post-war versions
of what it meant to be well did emerge. First, during the time that this investigation was
being conducted, participants were in the midst of a water shortage resulting from
insufficient rainfall. This gave rise to signiﬁcant hunger due to insufficient harvests and
additional hardship to women who had to walk longer distances than usual in order to
obtain water for their families. Hence, participants were not able to adequately meet
their survival needs and were not free to pursue other activities. In addition, this dry
period served to prevent women from obtaining extra cash from the sale of their
produce, rendering it more difficult for them to attend school and to pursue other
activities. Participants described the impact of this dry period in the following manner:

“She said that the diyference is that during the war they killed people like

animals, while today, if it wasn ’t for this hunger, we could sit and play without
any worries... ”

However, in spite of this hardship, participants still considered themselves to be
well. Participants acknowledged that the time of drought and hardship was a temporary
occurrence and once it has passed, they would continue to be well. For example, the

following participant noted:

77

“She said that this time is a good, the only bad is this hunger, if it wasn ’t for this
hunger she could sit there and say ‘now I am free ”

Another participant also indicated that while the period of drought did impact her well-
being, overall she considers herself to be well in spite of this. She acknowledged that
the period of drought is temporary:

“I am well, I am just not well during this time, we have a significant lack of
water in our area... ”

Similarly, the following participants noted:

“...her crops aren ’t coming out in her machamba, if she was working and her
crops came out, she would have no problems. "

Finally, another partcipant noted that she essentially considered herself to be well, but
the hunger did somewhat impact this state of being:

“She said that she has well-being, it is just this problem of hunger. ”

Participants thus felt that while their attainment of post-war well-being was
impeded by the period of hunger they were experiencing, it did not entirely limit their
access to post-war well-being. Participants were aware that the drought was a temporary
state and that once it has passed they would be able to resume their lives as before. It is
notable that the dry period did end during the course of data collection with the start of
the rainy season.

Participants additionally identiﬁed post-war crime levels as an impediment to
their capacity to live well after the war. This is signiﬁcant as women are often
particularly vulnerable to criminal activity. Their gender roles may expose them to
threats as they spend time in machambas or when they are walking to and from water

collection sites. Participants indicated that crime levels interfered with their daily

78

activities. They described this obstacle in the following way:
“...when the war ended we were ﬂee, we can sleep outdoors, we can leave our

doors...we sleep outdoors because of the heat, we felt...eee...we only have fear of
thieves. ”

Another participant described the presence of signiﬁcant criminal activity in the
Corridor (the road between two major cities where Meconta district is located) as a war:
“She said that the war is over, yes, but it is not over because of the thieves, the

war of the knives has ended, of the weapons, but the war still exists in the
‘Corridor. ’ ”

Another participant said the following:

“...at night she does not sleep well because of the thieves. ”

Post-war criminal activity thus inhibited participants’ capacity to live the kinds of lives
they wanted to live after the war. Participants’ activities were constrained by their fear
of being victimized by post-war crime.
Conclusion

Overall, Mozambican women participating in this study’s attainment of well-
being was supported at all levels of the ecological system. In addition to their individual
determination to recover after war, the support that they received from their families and
larger communities, coupled with a changing social system, supported their post-war
attainment of well-being. Women’s access to culturally appropriate resources that
assisted them in recovering ﬁom their experiences during war, as well as the supportive
community contexts within which they resided mitigated the negative impact of war
upon them. However, women did experience some barriers to their ability to attain post-
war welI-being. Speciﬁcally, the presence of high levels of post-war crime and the fact

that they did not have access to the resources necessary to buffer them against the

79

effects of natural phenomena such as water and food shortages impacted their post-war
capacity to attain well-being.

The gendered consequences of the war for women were thus mitigated by their
access to resources at multiple levels of the social system. As a result, participants not
only felt that they were able to live their daily lives in the ways that they saw ﬁt, but
they also felt that they were able to work towards better futures. As the following
participant said:

“...we are recovering, now, today, we are moving forward, we really are moving

forward; women are allready studying, because before the war, and during the

war, it was before we moved forward, but today women are studying and are
going to work ”

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Chapter 4
Discussion

While previous studies have documented the negative impacts of war upon
women, no previous research has documented the ways in which women gm from
the impacts of warfare. This study thus represents a signiﬁcant contribution to the
literature on women and warfare. Findings from this investigation can be used to inform
programming aimed at women recovering from warfare and can inform future inquiries
intended to further elucidate the ways in which women in developing nations recover
from warfare.

This investigation locates women’s experiences of post-war recovery within the
context of the gendered social systems present both during and after the recent war in
Mozambique. This is signiﬁcant given that women’s experiences during warfare are the
result of gendered social systems (Cockburn, 2001; Moser, 2001). In addition, authors
such as Martin-Bare (1994) have argued that it is essential to consider relationships of
power when considering individuals’ experiences during and after war. Hence, an
examination of women experiences of post-war recovery that situates their experiences
within the context of the larger social system within which they reside is essential.
Participants in this investigations’ attainment of post-war well-being was supported by
resources at all levels of the social system that mitigated the gendered impact of the war
upon them. In addition, changes to the larger social system have provided women with
increased access to rights and resources that have also contributed to their capacity to
attain post-war well-being.

Findings from this investigation also provide support for the assertion that well-

81

being is supported by individuals’ interactions with their environments (Davis, 2002;
Masten, 2001; Poorrnan, 2002; Shalev, Tuval-Mashiac, & Hadar, 2004). As such, the
ecological contexts within Mozambican women sought to recover from war was
signiﬁcant to their post-war recovery. The fact that participants in this investigation had
access to supportive contexts, from the micro to the macro levels, is thus particularly
signiﬁcant (Kelly, 2000; Lorion, 2000). Previous studies have documented the negative
impacts that unsupportive post-war contexts can have upon women. Speciﬁcally, other
researchers have noted cases in which women who had been raped during war were
rejected ﬁom their families and communities, resulting in their loss of social and
economic resources necessary for their post-war recovery (Igreja, 2003; Peltzer &
Chogo, 1996; Turshen, 2001). In addition, it has been argued that the absence of
resources that are conventionally thought to support post-war healing, such as
counseling and culturally appropriate treatments for trauma, can be detrimental to
individuals’ recovery after war (Igreja, 2004; Peltzer & Chongo, 1996). Finally,
researchers have argued that post-war contexts that do not support women’s attainment
of economic well-being exacerbate the economic difficulties generated by war (Cliff,
1991; Marshall, 1990; Sheldon, 2002; Roesch, 1994).

The current ﬁndings are consistent with the conclusions drawn from these prior
studies. Those women who participated in this investigation were able to recover from
their wartime experiences as a result of their access to resources supporting their
attainment of well-being at multiple levels of the ecosystem. First, because their
families and communities accepted women in the targeted communities, regardless of

their experiences during the war, they had access to social support networks that

82

supported their capacity to recover from the physical and psychological duress of war.
Access to such networks of support has been shown to mitigate the impact of negative
life events upon individuals (Davis, 2002; DeVries, 1996; Hiegel, 1994; King, King,
Fairbank, Keane, & Adams, 1998; Shalev, Tuval-Mashiac, Hadar, 2004).

Second, women’s access to culturally appropriate resources designed to
minimize the impact of their war-time experiences (i.e., treatment by curandeiros)
supported their capacity to recover from war. The importance of such post-war support
to individuals’ capacity to attain well-being after war has been well documented in the
literature on warfare (DeVries, 1996; Hiegel, 1994; Turner, McFarlane, & van der Kolk,
1996). For example, both Honwana (1998) and Green and Honwana (1999) argue that
receiving treatment from a traditional healer has signiﬁcant salubrious psychological
impacts upon Mozambicans recovering from the war. In fact, it is argued that such
treatment has the effect of bringing about a complete psychological recovery for war-
affected individuals.

Interestingly, women in this investigation did not have access to post-war
counseling services, a resource that has been shown to beneﬁt survivors of war and
violence (DeVries, 1996; Hiegel, 1994; Turner, McFarlane, & van der Kolk, 1996). In
addition, while authors such as Igreja (2003) have recognized the importance of
indigenous methods of healing for women in post-war Mozambique, limitations to such
treatments have also been noted. Speciﬁcally, in some parts of Mozambique these forms
of healing have proven to be insufficient to address the extensive psychological impact
that the war has had upon women (Igreja, 2003). It could, therefore, potentially be

argued that participants in this investigation may have beneﬁted from psychological

83

counseling were they to be aware of the existence of such services.

In contrast, Honwana (1998) and Green & Honwana (1999) argue that
counseling services are not only inappropriate to the Mozambican context, but do not
necessarily beneﬁt Mozambican recipients. Accordingly, traditional methods of healing
have been shown to have more beneﬁcial psychological results for Mozambicans who,
in many cases, believe that discussing negative past experiences may have a detrimental
effect upon the discussant. It is believed that discussing negative past experiences invite
evil spirits into one’s life. Having to discuss past negative experiences is thus both
inappropriate and potentially anxiety provoking for individuals who instead attempt to
make a clean break with these past events. Such breaks include a process whereby
family members and communities, with the assistance of a traditional healer, allow
individuals to face what happened to them and to then put this experience behind them.
This usually takes the form of a ritual cleansing that allows individuals to sever the
connections between themselves and their traumatic experiences. In this way, healing
allows individuals to reestablish their original identities and to resume their lives as they
did before their negative experience (Honwana, 1998; Green & Honwana, 1999).

In addition, Honwana (1998) argues that the individualistic nature of Western
approaches to healing after trauma also renders these inappropriate to the Mozambican
context. Accordingly, Mozambican approaches to health include an emphasis on entire
families and communities. This interpretation of health does not consider trauma as
something that happens to an individual, but rather, the traumatic event is thought to
include the individual’s family and community. A negative event affecting an individual

may consequently be perceived as polluting an entire community. As a result, healing

84

after trauma needs to focus on the social setting within which the affected individuals
reside rather than just on the affected individuals themselves. As such, ritual cleansings
allow families and communities to be relieved of the negative consequences they may
suffer as a result of an individual’s traumatic experience. In this way, individuals
affected by trauma can be effectively reintegrated into their communities (Honwana,

1993)

While ﬁndings from this investigation do not pretend to settle this debate in the
literature, they do provide support for the assertions made by Honwna (1998) and Green
and Honwana (1999). Participants in this investigation did indicate that after receiving
treatment by a curandeiro they were able to recover from the negative impacts of their
wartime experiences. In addition, participants’ assertions that the war no longer had
consequences for their lives today is consistent with Green and Honwana (l999)’s
ﬁndings that Mozambicans prefer to make a clean break with past negative experiences,
not thinking about or talking about these experiences once they have passed. Finally, the
effective reintegration of war-affected individuals into their communities and the
assertion by participants that families were willing to welcome back women who were
kidnapped also provide support for the ﬁndings by Honwana (1998) and Green and
Honwana (1999).

This is additionally signiﬁcant as Igreja, Schreuder, & Kleijn (2004) argue that
in Mozambique the ability to effectively participate in the daily routines and ceremonies
of living (e.g., marriages) is key to individual well-being. The capacity to be
reintegrated into their families and communities and to resume the functions of daily

living is thus important to the attainment of post-war well-being for Mozambican

85

women. This assertion is additionally supported by the fact that participants in this
investigation felt that their capacity to regain normalcy after the end of the war and to
resume the functions of daily living was important to their attainment of post-war well-
being. Practices designed to alleviate trauma and to allow women to reintegrate into

their communities were thus key to these women’s post-war attainment of well-being.

Finally, these ﬁndings also provide support for those of Sideris (2005) who
conducted research with Mozambican refugee women living in South Aﬁica. Sideris
(2005) noted that Mozambican refugee women living in South Aﬁica found their
separation ﬁ'om their families and communities to be particularly traumatic, as well as
their inability to fulﬁll their traditional roles as farmers and providers for their families.
Hence, it is signiﬁcant that women in this investigation were able to remain within their
communities and to fulﬁll their culturally deﬁned gender roles as farmers and providers
for their families. This contributed to their ability to attain normalcy in the wake of war
and thus to their post-war attainment of well-being.

Third, participants’ access to meso-level resources that supported their
attainment of economic well-being, combined with their individual determination to
recover from the impact of the war, allowed them to minimize the signiﬁcant and
detrimental economic impacts of warfare upon their lives post-war (DeAbreu, 1998).
However, these factors were not sufficient to allow participants to completely overcome
the economic toll taken upon them by the recent war in Mozambique. Women were still
vulnerable to economic setbacks as they did not have sufficient buffers (e. g., long-term
savings) in place to protect themselves against natural and other phenomena that

impacted their levels of agricultural production and related access to income. During the

86

 

 

time that this investigation was being conducted women’s savings groups were being
started in the targeted communities. It is possible that over time such savings groups
will serve to buffer women against events such as drought or crop blight; however, at
the time of this investigation it was not possible to effectively assess the impact of these
groups. Participants understood the potential importance of such groups and noted these
as a positive aspect of their membership in farmers’ associations, but they were not yet

able to speak about the potential long-term beneﬁts of such groups.

Fourth, factors at all levels of the social system served to increase participants’
access to resources necessary for their post-war empowerment, hence improving their
post-war well-being. In addition to individual women’s sense of personal empowerment
expressed through their belief that it was possible for them to recover from the war
through their own efforts, they had increased post-war access to resources that improved
their capacity to make choices about their lives, including increased economic,
educational, and political power. This not only contributed to the post-war redress of
power considered by many to be necessary for true post-war recovery and the
prevention of future wars (Comas-Dia, Lykes, & Alarcon, 1998; Hernandez, 2002;
Green & Honwana, 1999), but it also increased women’s capacity for self-determination
and well-being (Nelson, Lord, & Ochocka, 2001; Prilleltensky, Nelson, & Pierson,
2001; Zimmerman, 2001). This is particularly signiﬁcant given the established
connection between empowerment and well-being (Cowen, 1991; Rappaport, 1981).
This is additionally consistent with ﬁndings by other authors who have documented
individuals’ potentially increased awareness of their own rights resulting from post-war

reconstruction processes as well as the fact that individuals may take advantage of

87

 

 

changes to post-war social systems in order to expand their access to key resources
(e.g., women who use the social disruption that occurs after war to become
economically active where they were not able to do so before or during the war;
Chingono, 1996; Jacobson, 2005; Sideris, 2005; Thompson & Bade, 2004).

Findings from this investigation thus suggest that empowerment theory provides
a useful framework within which to examine women’s attainment of post-war well-
being. This is especially true if a deﬁnition of empowerment that focuses on
individuals’ capacity to exercise control over their lives and related choices as a route to
well-being is employed (Nelson, Lord, & Ochocka, 2001; Prilleltensky, Nelson, &
Pierson, 2001). Participants in this investigation equated well-being with the capacity to
live the lives of their choosing and credited their attainment of well-being to their access

to various rights and resources.

Of course, as was noted by key informants, as women in a society where
gendered inequality is still a daily reality and as residents of a rural area in a nation
where farmers have signiﬁcantly less access to resources than do residents of urban
areas, it is not possible to say that these women were already living within an egalitarian
society where their attainment of empowerment was completely supported. This is
especially true when these factors are considered in relation to the impact of Structural
Adjustment Policies (Cliff, 1991; Marshall, 1990; Sheldon, 2002; Roesch, 1994).
Nevertheless, as key informants and participants both discussed, changes to the post-
war social system provided these women with increased access to various rights and
resources that contributed to their empowerment. This access to rights and resources

corresponded with their perceptions of their attainment of post-war well-being, thus

88

 

 

 

 

providing support for the theory that individuals’ access to rights and resources is
important to their attainment of well-being. This is also consistent with ﬁndings by
other authors who have documented the power of individuals’ sense of empowerment,
even if this control is perceived rather than actual, to their attainment of well-being
(Moane, 2003; Prilleltensky, 1994; Spacpan & Thompson, 1991). Hence, while
women’s access to rights and resources necessary for empowerment was not complete,
this access was greater than before and during the war, increasing their capacity to attain
post-war well-being.

Thus, in addition to women’s individual characteristics such as their
determination to recover from the war, factors at various levels of the social system
provided them with access to resources and opportunities to work towards the
achievement of their post-war well-being. While this process was not without its
obstacles, the majority of women in this investigation did consider themselves to be
well. This is signiﬁcant as it highlights another contradiction in the literature on women
and warfare where ﬁndings from this investigation provide support for one side rather
than the other. Previous investigations conducted in other regions of Mozambique and
closer in time to the end of the war revealed that the post-war social context in
Mozambique was not always supportive of women’s attainment of well-being.
Accordingly, women in those regions who experienced the violence of war, especially
sexual assault, were not always allowed to return to their communities, thus limiting
their access to social and economic resources necessary for their attainment of post-war
well-being (Igreja, 2003; Peltzer & Chogo, 1996; Turshen, 2001).

In contrast to these ﬁndings, Green and Honwana (1999) found that in both

89

 

 

Mozambique and Angola child soldiers who committed atrocities, often against
members of their own communities, were accepted back into their communities after
being ritually cleansed. The ritual cleansings were intended to provide a clean break
between the soldiers’ past actions and their current and future lives. In addition, the
soldiers’ actions were perceived as an injury to an entire community and not just to the
involved individuals. As such, their cleansing provided their communities with a way to
recover from these impacts of the war. Ritual cleansings thus provided soldiers and their
communities with a way to make sense of their experiences and allowed soldiers to be
accepted back by their families and communities in order to begin the process of

recovery from their experiences (Green & Honwana, 1999).

Findings from this investigation revealed that women who were kidnapped
during the war and potentially raped as part of this experience were similarly
reintegrated into their communities. In these cases ritual cleansings also provided
communities with a way to make sense of women’s experiences and to heal themselves
of these experiences, providing women with a way to once again become part of their
communities and to derive related psychological and psychosocial beneﬁts. This likely
explains participants’ in this investigation’s reluctance to speak about being raped.
These women may have felt that discussing these negative past experiences would
potentially render them vulnerable to evil spirits or other negative experiences. In
addition, consistent with a cultural belief that a clean break needs to be made with
negative past life events in order to restore a person to their pre-trauma self, these
women may no longer acknowledge these traumatic experiences. This assertion is

further supported by the fact that two participants noted that individuals who returned

90

g
j.

 

from being kidnapped did not speak about what happened to them in the “bush”.
Participants in this investigation who were raped may thus have put this experience
behind them in order to be restored to their previous identities, allowing them to
participate in the lives of their communities and to draw upon the psychosocial beneﬁts
that come along with such participation. As one participant noted, when she returned
form being kidnapped she was a person of the bush, but after being cleansed she became

human again.

The gendered impact of war on women was thus mitigated by the ecological
contexts within which they were imbedded. The individual and social consequences of
sexual violence that women may have experienced after war were relieved by their
access to various important resources. In addition, the economic toll of the war on
women and the related burden of caring for their families after the war was alleviated by
their personal determination to recover from the war and their access to resources at
multiple levels of the social system. Women’s access to resources such as extension
services and schooling also facilitated their ability to attain post-war well-being. Finally,
their capacity to attain well-being was supported by changes to the gendered social

system that awarded them with greater access to rights and resources.

Findings from this investigation thus provide a framework within which
women’s post-war attainment of well-being can be understood. The particular
signiﬁcance of these ﬁndings lie in their synthesis of factors affecting women’s
attainment of post-war well-being at all levels of the social system. This allows for a
comprehensive understanding of women’s post-war attainment of well-being to be

developed and ensures that programming aimed at women in developing nations

91

 

 

._ul'

recovering from warfare can be rendered maximally effective. In this way, women’s
total recovery from warfare can be encouraged as interactions between factors
signiﬁcant to their recovery at all levels of the social system can be considered and
accounted for.
Limitations to the Current Study

The most signiﬁcant limitations to the current investigation relate to the
methodological obstacles inherent in conducting research in rural Mozambique. First,
the fact that not only was it necessary to use translators during the course of data
collection, but that the investigation was conducted in three languages limits the overall
quality of the data collected. While every effort was made to ensure the accuracy of
translation, some loss of meaning does occur across multiple translations. Second, the
fact that it was not possible to use translators from outside the targeted communities
may have impacted the quality of some of the information obtained from participants. It
is possible that participants were not comfortable revealing certain information in front
of members of their communities with whom they were familiar. However, interviews
conducted during the investigator’s pre-dissertation visit revealed that taking outsiders
along to act as translators may have been a greater obstacle to data collection than the
use of individuals familiar to participants. Some key informants indicated that women in
rural communities may not have been willing to be interviewed in the presence of
someone with whom they were unfamiliar. Hence, the fact that translators who were
familiar to participants were used may well have been as much of a facilitator of data
collection as it was a limitation to the quality of the data collected.

In addition, methodological decisions made as part of this investigation also

92

 

 

 

limited its generalizability. First, while participants who remained within their
communities were deliberately selected for participation in this inquiry, it is important
to note that this did not allow for the inclusion of the voices of those women who left
their communities for various reasons both during and after the war. Accordingly, it is
possible that women who experienced their communities as less than supportive of their
post-war attainment of well-being were not included in this investigation, thus limiting
the generalizability of these ﬁndings. In addition, given that women volunteered to be
interviewed, it is possible that women who did not feel that they had recovered from the
war did not volunteer for an interview. The data may thus not accurately represent the
experiences of all women in the targeted communities. However, as is noted by Wang
and Burris (1997), all methodologies hide while disclosing. Second, the cross-sectional
nature of this investigation limited the conclusions that could be drawn from these data.
Participants’ retrospective accounts of their experiences during and after war were relied
upon. Data were thus limited to participants’ recollections and the conclusions drawn
from these data were limited.

Finally, the signiﬁcant social, cultural, and racial differences that existed
between the investigator and the targeted communities represented another potential
limitation to the ﬁndings from this investigation. The investigator’s status as an outsider
was virtually impossible to overcome and may have impacted participants’ responses to
her. This outsider status also limited the investigator’s understanding of cultural norms
and nuances present within the targeted communities. As a result, it is possible that
participants did not feel comfortable sharing all of the details regarding their wartime

experiences with the investigator, thus limiting the quality of the data collected.

93

 

 

 

 

However, it is also possible that participants were not willing to discuss their
wartime experiences as a result of cultural norms rather than differences between them
and the investigator. For example, Igreja, Kleijn, and Richters (2006) note the fact that
in Mozambique there is a signiﬁcant taboo against admitting to rape. In addition,
ﬁndings by Green and Honwana (1999) indicate that Mozambicans may not be willing
to discuss past negative experiences for fear of opening themselves up to evil spirits and
because this is in violation of cultural norms that require an individual to put past
trauma completely aside once it is over. It is thus possible that what the investigator
perceived as a lack of reﬂexiveness on the part of participants and an unwillingness to
discuss some of the negative implications of their wartime experiences for their lives
simply reﬂected participants’ cultural norms. Participants may have been unwilling to
admit to their own rape as a result of cultural taboos against such admission, and
because this would violate the norm against speaking about past negative experiences.
In addition, participants may not have been reﬂexive regarding the impact of the war for
their lives today, as they sincerely did not perceive such impacts. The impact of the
investigator’s outsider status may thus have centered more upon her lack of awareness
of cultural norms that governed participants’ interpretations of their experiences
combined with a desire to impose a Western interpretation of trauma and well-being
upon them. It is thus possible that the investigator overlooked potential data relevant to
women’s post-war recovery as a result of her lack of understanding of these norms.
More time in the setting may have been necessary in order to overcome this limitation.
Implications for Policy and Practice

Various implications for policy and practice aimed at civilian women in

94

developing nations recovering from war emerged from this investigation. Speciﬁcally,
the importance of supporting civilian women’s post-war recovery over time and in

multiple ways was highlighted. Implications for practice are examined ﬁrst.

First, ﬁndings from this investigation suggest that it is important to listen to
women recovering from war and to design post-war interventions in ways that render
these appropriate to women’s interpretations of their experiences. For example,
participants’ in this investigation’s interpretations of trauma and recovery are different
from those of Western communities. It would thus be inappropriate to design services
aimed at these women without taking this into consideration. Rather, it would be
important to support their active recovery in a culturally appropriate manner and to
contribute to their capacity to work towards attaining well-being. As was noted by both
Honwana (1998) and Igreja (2006), Mozambican communities actively worked towards
recovering from the impact of the war. It would be important to support this recovery
process in an appropriate manner rather than hindering it through the application of
potentially inappropriate measures.

Second, it is important to support the reintegration of women who experienced
trauma into their communities. These women may derive signiﬁcant psychosocial
beneﬁts from such acceptance. One of the ways in which this can be done is by working
within communities in order to strengthen pre-existing support structures that assist
women and their communities to make sense of and recover from their experiences
during war (e.g., traditional healers). Such interventions should be designed in ways that
strengthen these support structures and address gaps in the capacities of these structures

to support women’s post-war recovery. This allows for interventions to draw upon

95

 

 

14'

indigenous interpretations of women’s wartime experiences while not imposing
Western interpretations of trauma and healing upon them. Post-war interventions
should, therefore, be designed in conjunction with targeted communities in order to
ensure that these are maximally appropriate.

Third, it is important to focus post-war interventions upon strengthening
women’s access to economic resources. Given the signiﬁcant economic impact of war
upon women, it is important to assist them in rebuilding their post-war economic
capacities. This not only allows them to recover from the impact of war, but it also
allows them to buffer against future economic setbacks, thus improving their capacity to
attain well-being. Economic setbacks may have signiﬁcant implications for women and
their families as they may negatively impact their physical health (e.g., malnutrition)
and remove their means for survival, increasing the risk that they will have to engage in
risky activities such as prostitution in order to survive. In addition, if women are
continuously preoccupied with their and their farnilies’ survival needs they are not able
to pursue activities that may further improve their post-war well-being (e.g., attending
school). Supporting women’s attainment of post-war economic well-being thus has
long-term implications for their continued well-being.

Finally, interventions that capitalize on post-war changes to social systems can
support women’s increased empowerment after war. Given that various authors
consider the empowerment of those victimized by war to be essential to the post-war
recovery process and the ﬁrture prevention of warfare (e.g., Comas-Dia, Lykes, &
Alarcon, 1998; Hernandez, 2002) such post-war development would almost be

essential. Participants in this investigation identiﬁed the ways in which post-war

96

 

 

changes to the social system contributed to their empowerment. Such contributions
could be strengthened through effective interventions that further allow women to draw
upon resources for their empowerment (e. g., education and economic independence).

Policy implications from this investigation center upon the need to not only
focus upon women’s individual needs after war, but to also consider the impact of the
larger social system upon their recovery. Policies aimed at women recovering from war
should take into consideration the fact that much of their experiences during war are the
result their relative lack of gendered social power (Cockburn, 2001; Colson, 1999;
Indira, 1999; Lentin, 1997; Moser, 2001). Hence, within a post-war context it is
important to support women’s access to rights and resources that improve their capacity
for empowerment and their concurrent attainment of well-being. Policies should,
therefore, focus on improving women’s access to economic resources, educational
resources, and human rights. Such policies would also support the implementation of
the interventions discussed above, allowing for the development of supportive contexts
within which women can recover from war.
Areas of Future Inquiry

Multiple areas of future inquiry were identiﬁed as a result of this investigation.
First, the signiﬁcance of the post-war social context to women’s attainment of well-
being after war highlights the need for a future investigation that combines
observational analysis with interview data. Such an investigation would allow for an
improved understanding of the post-war context within which women reside and the
impact of this context upon their attainment of well-being after war to be obtained.

Second, the signiﬁcance of the contexts within which women reside to their

97

 

 

 

interpretations of well-being highlights the need to further investigate the differential
experiences of post-war recovery of women residing in rural and urban areas. This
would allow for interventions to be rendered context-speciﬁc and therefore more
appropriate to women’s post-war experiences. Third, differences in ﬁndings between
this investigation and a small number of other studies conducted in other regions of
Mozambique and closer to the end of the war reveal the need for a future longitudinal
investigation of the process through which women attain well-being after war. Factors
impacting women’s attainment of post-war well-being could be examined over time,
thus elucidating variables signiﬁcant to this process at various time points after the end
of a war. Finally, future inquiries should include girls as well as women in order to shed
light on the implications of age and developmental factors for girls and women’s
experiences during and after war.
Conclusion

In conclusion, the signiﬁcance of this investigation lies in its synthesis of factors
impacting civilian women in developing nations’ attainment of post-war well-being
across different levels of the ecosystem. These ﬁndings provide support for the assertion
that individuals who experience adverse events do actively seek to recover from these
events (Masten, 2001; Sheldon & King, 2001) and provide a framework within which
this process can be ﬁrrther supported. In addition, while previous studies have identiﬁed
discrete variables that may be important to individuals’ capacity to recover after war, a
comprehensive evaluation of factors at all levels of the ecosystem signiﬁcant to
women’s attainment of post-war well-being had not yet been conducted. Thus, in

addition to validating previous ﬁndings regarding women’s attainment of post-war well-

98

 

 

being, this investigation contributed to the literature on gender and warfare. Findings
from this investigation can both be used to shore up the efforts already made by many
civilian women to assist their communities in recovering from war (e.g., Nordstrom,

2005) while simultaneously mitigating the gendered impact of warfare upon women.

99

 

V'ul AP.

 

APPENDECIES

100

 

APPENDIX A
Key Informant Interview Guide

Thank you for your willingness to speak to me today. Like I mentioned before, our
conversation today should last about an hour.

I am interested in understanding your perspective on what its means for someone in
Mozambique to be healthy and happy. I would like to know how you think people in
Mozambique deﬁne well-being and what Mozambican women who have achieved post-
war well-being would look like.

Do you have any questions before we start?

Questions are followed by probes. Probes indicate areas for ﬁtrther exploration and
are denoted with check marks.

First, what is your deﬁnition of well-being?

/ How do you think someone who has achieved well-being would look like — what
characteristics would they have? What would they have achieved during their lives?
/ Which of these characteristics do you think are the most important to the

achievement of well-being? Why?
1/ Do you think that well-being would look different for men than for women? Why?
What would well-being look like for women?

What roles, if any, do family and friends, play in someone’s ability to achieve well-

How important are friends?

In what ways do family and friends help someone achieve well—being?
What kinds of supports do friends and family provide that help contribute to
someone’s achievement of well-being?

/
/ How important are family members?
I
r/

/ Which do you think is most important to someone’s achievement of well-being,
ﬁiends or family? Why?

101

 

 

 

V Is this different for men than for women? How?
V What roles, if any, do you think family and ﬁiends have played in helping
Mozambican women achieve well-being after war?

What role, if any, does someone’s relationship with the spiritual world play in their
achievement of well-being?

V In what ways is someone’s relationship with the spiritual world important to their
achievement of well-being?

V Is this different for men than for women? How?

V Do you think that the spiritual world has been important to Mozambican women’s
attainment of well-being after the war? In what ways?

What role, if any, do you think access to economic resources plays in someone’s
achievement of well-being?

V In what ways are economic resources important to the achievement of well-being?

V What kinds of economic resources are important for someone to achieve well-
being?

V Is this different for men than for women? How?

V Do you think that access to economic resources has been important to Mozambican
women’s attainment of post-war well-being? In what ways?

What impact do you think the war has had on Mozambican women’s well-being?

V What aspects of the war do you think have had the biggest impact upon women’s
well-being?

Finally, do you think that Mozambican women have managed to reestablish well-being
after the war?

V In what ways?/Why not?

V Other than what we have talked about already, what do you think has contributed to
Mozambican women’s ability to reestablish well-being after the war?

V What role do you think women’s access to resources such as counseling and medical
care has played in their achievement of post-war well-being?

102

T hank you for your time!

Demographics:

Sex:
Age:
Type of stakeholder (student, faculty member, or community member):

 

 

103

APPENDIX B

An Examination of the Factors Inﬂuencing
Mozambican Women's Attainment of Post-War Well-Being
Final Interview Guide

Thank you very much for your willingness to speak to me today. As I mentioned
before, I am interested in talking to you about your experiences during and after the
war. I would like to understand what effect the war has had upon your life and how you
have managed to recover from this impact.

Our discussion today should take about an hour. Please let me know if there are any
questions that you are not comfortable answering or if at any time you want to take a
break from our discussion. You should also not hesitate to let me know if you have any
questions while we are talking.

Do you have any questions before we start?

Note: Before the start of the formal interview questions, small talk will be engaged in
with the participant to make them feel comfortable.

Questions are followed by probes. Probes indicate areas for ﬁtrther exploration and
are denoted with check marks.

Can you tell me what day-to-day life was like during the war?

Probe around any loss of goods, their house, animals, etc.

Probe around their ability to maintain a machamba.

Probe around issues of loss of humanity — living like an animal during the war.
Probe around members of the community selling others out to the soldiers.

Probe around time people spent with families and friends during the war - impact of

\\'\'\\

the war on social relationships.
If kidnapped, what happened, what did they do while they were gone, how did they
get back home, etc.?

'\

I If kidnapped, what was it like returning to her family/community?
V If they lost family members, probe around the impact of this loss. Ask speciﬁc

104

 

 

questions based upon the type of family member that was lost (sister, mother, etc.)

V Probe around speciﬁc details of each person’s story in order to get details about their
lives during the war (ﬂeeing, kidnapped, loss of family members, etc.)

V What were relationships like during the war? Were people able to spend time with
their family and friends?

It’s been about 14 years since the end of the war - thinking back over these years, can
you tell me what your life has been like since the end of the war up until today?

V Probe around speciﬁc details of each woman’s story (e.g., recovery from its--
kidnapping, surviving with additional children to take care of because of the death
of a family member, etc.)

A Tr' .‘

Do you think that you have recovered from the war?

 

V How have they recovered from the war?

V What has helped them to recover from the war?

V If married — did their husband support their recovery from the war? How or how
not?

V Did they receive any support from their family and/or their community in recovering
ﬁ'om the war? If yes, what type of support?

V Did they see a Curandeiro after the war? If yes, did this help them? In what ways
did it help? If no, why not?

V Was it necessary to reestablish connections to their ancestors after the war? If yes,
how did they do this?

V Did the church assist them at all in recovering from the war? If yes, in what ways?

V What role, if any, did their machambas play in their recovery from the war?

V Were they part of a women’s association after the war? If yes, did this assist them

 

in recovering from the war? In what ways?
V Did being part of a farmers’ association help them in their recovery after the war? If

 

yes, in what ways?
V Did any organizations help them recover from the war? Which organizations? In
what ways?
' Was there any one organization that they found particularly helpful?
V Did the government provide them with any support in recovering from the war? If
yes, what support?

105

Do they feel like their rights have changed since the war? If yes, what changes have
they noticed? Has this made any difference in their lives? If yes, what kind of
difference?

What healthcare resources did they have access to after the war?

Did the community recover ﬁ'om the broken relationships with people who sold one
another out to the soldiers? How? If not, what has hindered this process?

Did they provide assistance to someone recovering from the war? If yes, what kind
of assistance?

Do they go to school? If not, why not?

If they go to school - why are they going to school? What beneﬁts do they think
they will derive from going to school?

Do their children go to school? If not, why not?

If they are not studying, do they want to go to school? Why or why not?

Does the government provide them with any educational supports? If yes, what
kinds? If not, what kinds of educational supports do they need?

Did they suffer from aches and pains after the war?

Did they suffer from insomnia after the war?

Did you pray to God to help you recover after the war? If yes, did you ﬁnd that this
helped you recover? If no, did they ask any spiritual being for help to recover after
the war?

Would you say that violence in relationships between men and women has gotten
worse since the war (e.g., domestic violence)? If yes, in what way? Why?

After the war, did people work together and help each other recover? How?

After the war, did people have a difﬁcult time putting back together their
relationships with their ﬁiends and community members (i.e., did people trust one
another again)?

Some people say they went to a Curandeiro, or that they took family members to a
Curandeiro to be cleansed, what does this entail? Why would they do this?

Do you know if women were raped during the war? If yes, can you tell me more about

V What impact did being rape have upon women’s lives — how did it change their

lives, if at all?

V How, if at all, did it change their relationships with their families?
V How if at all, did it change their relationships with their husbands?

106

 

 

 

V How, if at all, did it change their relationships with others in their communities?

What, if anything, has made it difficult for you to recover from the war?

V If people mention thieves, ask them if social violence has gotten worse since the

Wm O

V If people mention the drought, ask them if this hit them harder because they had not

yet recovered totally from the devastation of the war.
What were your most signiﬁcant needs right after the war? Were these met?
V What do you think women recovering from war need most?

Do you still think about the war? If yes, in what ways?

Would you say that your life is different today in any way because of the war, either in a

positive or a negative way?

V If you think about your life today, do you think that there are some things about

your life that would not have been that way if it wasn’t for the war?
I In what ways is their life different?
' How did the war bring about these changes?

Would you say that have achieved well-being since the war?

V Why/Why not?
V What do you think it means for you to have achieved well-being after the war?

Demographics:

Age (approximate is okay):

Marital status (unmarried, married, separated or divorced, or widowed):
Number of living children:

Widowed as a result of the war (yes or no):

Separated from husband as a result of the war (yes or no):

Lost any children as a result of the war (yes or no):

107

 

 

Appendix C

Summary of Analytic Table Guiding Data Collection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Experiences Factors Factors Post-war Post-war What
during war supporting inhibiting needs context (i. e., does
(own recovery aﬁer recovery aﬂer thoughts of well-
experiences war war the war and being
and that of life after war) mean?
others)
Women ﬂed Women Many women Women Women feel Women
into the bush received help did not needed like they are were able
with their from their identify machambas recovering to live
children, and family factors that in order to be after the war normal
sometimes members made it able to grow — theme: lives after
other family when they difﬁcult for food — both recovering the war —
members, needed it them to to eat and to they were
each night — during the recover after sell — theme: There are able to
they said that war — for the war — machambas thieves now, return to
they lived example, theme: no this causes their
like animals when the inhibitors of They needed some women normal
rather than soldiers took recovery to be able to to still routines
like people their earn money experience and daily
during that belongings or Loss of their through the fear — theme: activities
time - some when they sources of sale of post-war — theme:
participants returned from income and produce or crime as an normalcy
talked about being property other inhibitor of
sleeping with kidnapped during the products — women’s Women
lions and (clothing, war made it theme: recovery now have
snakes and food, etc.) — hard for some machambas after the war the
how this was theme: women to freedom
abnormal and material recover after They also The extended to come
how people support the war — needed seeds dry season and go as
weren’t received some women to grow in has made it they wish
supposed to during and indicated that their difficult for and they
live like after war they were machambas women to are able
animals in the poor as a as they often continue to
bush — theme: Macharnbas result of the lost these recovering achieve
dehumanizing were an war — theme: during the after the war what they
nature of the important economic war — theme: - theme: dry want in
war resource for impact of the seeds period as an life -
for women — war as an Women inhibitor of women
Everyone was both as food inhibitor of indicated women’s have
unable to and produce recovery that they recovery access to
perform to sell — this needed after the war post-war

 

 

108

 

 

Experiences Factors Factors Post-war Post-war What

during war supporting inhibiting needs context (i. e., does

(own recovery aﬂer recovery after thoughts of well-

experiences war war the war and being

and that of life after war) mean?

others)

normal daily facilitated Many women household Women were resources,

activities their post-war talked about goods and split as to including

(e.g., bathing recovery — the hunger farming whether they more

and eating theme: that they were implements are forgetting freedom,

together) — resources experiencing as they often about the war that allow

life was supporting as a result of lost these or still think them to

completely economic a post-war during the about it — achieve

disrupted - recovery after time of war—theme: some women more —

this seemed the war drought — household indicated that theme:

to be they lacked goods/theme: they have freedom

dehumanizing Right after the produce to eat farming started to

for end of the war as well as to implements forget about Women

participants — women sell -— making the war while are able

theme: war received some it difficult for others to move

disrupted food and them to buy indicated that forward

activities that sometimes some of what they still with their

make life farming they needed — think about lives—

mearringful equipment theme: dry the war and theme:
from the Red period as an that some of ability to

Women lost Cross — inhibitor of them are still move

their property theme: women’s scared that it forward

during the resources recovery after will return or

war — their supporting the war that they may

livestock was economic still be killed

stolen, their recovery after Many women by soldiers —

produce was the war indicated that theme:

stolen from there were forgetting

their Women more thieves war/theme:

machambas received after the war psychological

as well as supports — this caused symptoms as

from their from NGOs them to an inhibitor

homes, their such as experience of women’s

seeds were CARE — these fear after the recovery

stolen or supports war — theme: after the war

burnt up in tended to be crime as an

their houses, agricultural — inhibitor of Women

and their women were women’s indicated

household provided with recovery after that, largely,

goods were seeds to plant the war they are able

stolen and often with to live

 

 

 

 

 

 

109

 

 

 

 

 

 

Experiences Factors Factors Post-war Post-war What
during war supporting inhibiting needs context (i. e., does
(own recovery after recovery after thoughts of well-
experiences war war the war and being
and that of life aﬂer war) mean?
others)
(including all agricultural Some women normal lives
of their instruction to experienced after the war:
clothing) — increase their thoughts and theme —
theme: yield — theme: fears return to
economic resources associated normalcy
loss as a supporting with the war
result of the economic — they didn’t Changes to
war recovery after always the

the war believe the government
Participants’ war was over after the end
houses were Some women or they had of the war
routinely received fear that the was credited
burnt down, treatment war would by some
often with from come back — women for
everything in curandeiros theme: their access
it — this for their psychological to increased
ensured that wartime symptoms as opportunities
they lost experiences - an inhibitor — women can
everything — this included of women’s do more and
theme: both physical recovery after have access
economic and the war to more
loss as a psychological social power
result of the ailments — Some women after the war
war women who did (women can

Many women
lost
everything as
a result of the
war — they
are poor as a
result of the
war - they
lack
sufficient
access to
economic
resources -
theme:
economic

 

were
kidnapped
were often
taken to
curandeiros to
be treated for
both the
physical
effects of
their
kidnapping as
well as the
trauma they
experienced -
theme:
resources

 

experience
some bodily
pain after the
war that they
attributed to
their
experiences
during the
war (hearing
too many
guns, walking
over
mountains,
etc.) - theme:
physical
symptoms as

 

 

speak to men,
can speak
publicly, can
attend school,
and can
work) —
theme:
changes to
the post-war
social system
contributing
to women’s
attainment of
post-war
well-being

 

 

 

 

110

 

i
I

 

 

Experiences Factors Factors Post-war Post-war What
during war supporting inhibiting needs context (i. e., does
(own recovery after recovery after thoughts of well-
experiences war war the war and being
and that of life after war) mean?
others) -
loss as a supporting an inhibitor
result of the social, of women’s
war psychological, recovery after
and physical the war
During the recovery after
war, the war As a general
participants’ rule, women
lives were Some women did not
deﬁned by indicated that receive much
fear — for curandeiros support from
many women were too churches or
the violence expensive for other sources
and fear of them to be after the end
the war able to go see of the war —
escalated one — theme: theme: lack of
over time — barrier to organizational
often they recovery after support as an
heard about the war inhibitor of
the war women’s
before it Changes to recovery after
came to their women’s the war
communities, post-war
and the social status Some women
violence was meant that indicated that
often ﬁrst they could go they did not
directed only to school and receive much
at key work - some support from
community women just their families
member, later wanted to be as the impact
spreading to able to learn of the war
everyone — to write while rendered
theme: fear others wanted everyone
during the to maybe be poor, making
war able to obtain it hard for
a job — theme: them to share
Some changes to resources —
participants social system theme:
discussed supporting economic
how women’s impact of the
anomalous recovery after war as an

 

 

 

 

 

 

lll

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Experiences Factors Factors Post-war Post-war What
during war supporting inhibiting needs context (i. e., does
(own recovery after recovery after thoughts of well-
experiences war war the war and being
and that of life after war) mean?
others)
life was the inhibitor of
during the war/theme: women’s
war — even resources recovery after
the animals supporting the war
knew that it women’s
was the time economic Some women
of war - the recovery after indicated that
snakes didn’t the war it was
even bite difﬁcult for
them — Women found them to attend
theme: that after war school;
anomalous they saw factors
wartime more women included a
experiences working or lack of money

they were often
Having to able to speak resulting from
live like an publicly in a lack of
animal made front of men — produce to
people more theme: sell, the
like animals - changes to the schools were
this eroded social system too far for
their sense of supporting them to walk,
humanity — women’s they were too
theme: recovery after old too learn,
dehumanizing the war or the hunger
nature of they
warfare People were experienced

determined to as a result of
In some cases recover from the drought
community the war — they made it so
members worked hard that they
appeared to to recover, couldn’t
have often together study -
cooperated - theme: theme:
with soldiers individual economic
to tell them determination impact of the
who good to recover war as an
targets were inhibitor of
(e.g., Belonging to women’s
individuals a farmers’ recovery after

 

 

112

 

 

 

 

 

 

Experiences Factors Factors Post-war Post-war What
during war supporting inhibiting needs context (i.e., does
(own recovery after recovery after ' thoughts of well-
experiences war war the war and being
and that of life after war) mean?
others)

who were association the

wealthier or helped with war/ factors

were women’s limiting

important), post-war women’s

however, this recovery - access to

did not these education as

appear to associations an inhibitor

have a long- provided them of their

term impact with seeds recovery after

on the and the war

communities agricultural

in question — assistance - Some women

participants theme: indicated that

indicated that resources they wished

either these supporting their children

individuals economic had better

had no choice recovery after access to

(their lives the war schooling,

were that there

threatened) or A return to were more

they have left post-war schools

the normality was available in

community noted by the area, and

since the war some women that they

- in three as a key received

cases component of economic

participants’ their post-war support for

indicated that recovery - their

there was theme: children’s

some loss of recovery schooling

trust of the supported by theme:

community a return to inadequate

for these normalcy schooling for

individuals — children

theme: Some women

betrayal of indicated that

one another there were

during the more diseases

war after the war —

 

theme: post-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

113

Experiences
during war
(own
experiences
and that of
others)

Factors
supporting
recovery after
war

Factors
inhibiting
recovery after
war

Post-war
needs

Post-war

context (i. e.,
thoughts of
the war and
life after war)

What
does
well-
being
mean?

 

Community
members
were often
routinely
kidnapped
during the
war — them:
kidnapping

Members of
larger
communities
were also
mutilated
during the
war: theme -
violence

Many
participants
reported that
members of
their
extended
families were
killed,
mutilated, or
kidnapped:
theme -
violence

Participants
in this
investigation
were
sometimes
kidnapped -
this often
took a
_signiﬁcant

 

 

war disease

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

114

Experiences
during war
(own
experiences
and that of
others)

Factors
supporting
recovery after
war

Factors
inhibiting
recovery aﬁer
war

Post-war
needs

Post-war

context (i. e.,
thoughts of
the war and
life after war)

What
does
well-
being
mean?

 

 

toll upon their
physical
health given
the hardships
that they had
to endure —
theme:
kidnapping

These women
worked for
the soldiers
during their
kidnapping
(e.g., farming
and
household
chores such
as laundry
and cooking)
- theme:
kidnapping

Women who
were
kidnapped
were often
forced to act
as ‘wives’ for
soldiers —
theme: rape

When kidnap
victims

returned, their
families

arranged for
them to see a
curandeiro or
to receive

 

 

 

 

 

 

115

 

 

 

Experiences
during war
(own
experiences
and that of
others)

Factors
supporting
recovery after
war

Factors
inhibiting
recovery after
war

Post-war
needs

Post-war

context (i. e.,
thoughts of
the war and
life after war)

What
does
well-
being
mean?

 

 

medical
treatment as
was
appropriate —
them:
treatment for
physical and
psychological
consequences
of war

Curandeiros
cleansed
women who
were
kidnapped of
their
experiences —
theme:
treatment for
physical and
psychological
consequences
of war

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

116

 

‘7.
. A

 

 

bl

 

(21il
iﬁ)Pn

d) Loss r
i) Ht
ii) Pr

e) Violcr
i) B
ii) Sti

I) Viole
1) Cl

(1

(2
(3
ii) 0
(l
(I
(I
8) Com

 

2) Supports
a) From:
b) FronI
C) Non

 

3) Support.

a) F am
5) Oth

4) COIlseq

Appendix D

An Examination of the Factors Inﬂuencing
Mozambican Women's Attainment of Post-War Well-Being
Coding Framework

1) Traumas experienced during warfare
a) Lived like an animal
b) Kidnapped - self
c) Kidnapped — family member(s)
i) Child/children
(1) Retmned
(2) Did not return
ii) Other family member(s)
(1) Returned
(2) Did not return
iii) Prayed for their return
d) Loss of property
i) House burnt down
ii) Property stolen
e) Violence - self
i) Beaten
ii) Stripped and left naked
f) Violence — family member
1) Child
(1) Beaten
(2) Injured
(3) Killed
ii) Other family member
(1) Beaten
(2) Injured
(3) Killed
g) Community members cooperated with soldiers

 

 

2) Supports received during war
a) From family
b) From other community members
c) None

 

3) Supports provided to others during war
a) Family members
b) Other community members

 

4) Consequences of wartime experiences

ll7

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

a) for family members
b) for self

How “recovery” after war was deﬁned
a) Whether recovery was attained

How “well-being” was deﬁned

Facilitators of well-being
a) at the individual level
b) at the micro level

c) at the meso level

d) at the macro-level

Inhibitors of well-being

General consequences of war
a) characteristics of post—war society
b) needs after war

118

 

APPENDIX E

Protection of Rigor During Data Collection and Analysis

 

Citation

Protection of
Rigor

What Was Done?

Action Implemented

 

Guba & Lincoln,
1 989

Credibility

Prolonged
engagement

The investigator spent
approximately two
months in the
proposed research
setting prior to the
start of data
collection. In
addition, while data
collection was
underway, the
investigator spent
time in the
community while not
interviewing
participants.

 

Persistent
observation

As discussed above,
the investigator spent
time in the
community in
question and observed
the community in
order to identify areas
of inquiry most
relevant to the
investigation.

 

Peer debrieﬁng

The investigator
discussed with her
dissertation chair
emergent ﬁndings as
well as general topics
related to the data
collection process.

 

 

 

 

Progressive

 

Before the start of

 

119

 

 

 

subjectivity

data collection, and at
regular intervals
during data collection
and analysis, the
investigator sent to
her dissertation chair
copies of both her a
priori constructions of
the data, as well as
her emerging
constructions.

 

Member checks

After the completion
of data collection, the
investigator shared
her emergent ﬁndings
with three groups of
former participants.
Their feedback
regarding her
construction of the
data and her
understanding of
relevant themes was
solicited. Participants
conﬁrmed the
investigator’s
interpretations of the
data.

 

Transferability

Thick description

The investigator
provided as much
information as is
possible about her
working hypotheses,
as well as the time,
place context, etc. of
the investigation.

 

 

 

Dependability

 

Conﬁrmability

 

The investigator
maintained a
complete audit trail of
all data collection and

 

120

 

 

analysis decisions and
processes, including
the reasons for these
decisions and the
ways in which
emergent ﬁndings
related to the raw
data.

 

 

 

Authenticity Ontological The investigator’s

authenticity audit trail represented
progressive
subjectivity.

Patton, 2002 Triangulation of data Interviews were

sources supplemented with
informal ethnographic
observations.

Expert audit review All data collection
and analysis

procedures, as well as
all results, were
reviewed by the
investigator’s
dissertation
committee.

 

 

 

 

 

As part of the audit
trail, the investigator
meticulously recorded
her reactions to the
data collection
process in her ﬁeld
notes. In addition, the
investigator recorded '
her potential biases
and factors that may ,
have inﬂuenced her
interpretations of the
data.

 

121

 

Appendix F
Glossary of Terms

Bandito: Combatant, usually member of Renamo.
Capulana: Sarong-like wrap worn by rural women as their primary form of clothing.
Community Animator: Female community leaders responsible for tasks such as
organizing women’s groups and conducting nutritional education, etc.
Corridor: Road between two major cities in Nampula Province.
Curandeiro: Traditional healer.
Machamba: Plots of land farmed by individuals and/or family groups.
Macua: Primary population group in Northern Mozambique as well as language spoken

by members of this group.

122

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123

 

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