Women's labor force participation in insurgency and ethno-religious conflict: the cases of Aceh and Ambon

This article explores changes in patterns of labor participation in two types ofconflict settings in Indonesia: the insurgency in Aceh and the ethno-religiousconflict in Ambon, Maluku. It brings into view interactions between genderon the one hand, and religion, age, social class, and ethnicity on the other,while also taking into consideration regional economies. I show howintersectional dynamics set in motion by different types of conflict createdifferent patterns of labor force participation. Women increased theireconomic activity in both conflicts but became breadwinners only in a fewspecific contexts. Moreover, their increased economic activity was sometimesexperienced as hardship and sometimes as empowerment. After the conflict,many women in Aceh returned to the domestic sphere in the name of Sharialaw, whereas many in Ambon remained economically active. I argue thatdifferent types of conflict in different economic contexts and the associateddifferences in the relationships between gender, religion, age, social class,and ethnicity help to explain this variation in outcomes.