Female Former Child Soldiers Perception of Power : Females captured by the LRA's attitudes towards the people in power in the bush and its effects on them as women

Abstract: The research aims to understand how female former child soldiers describe the ones who had power over them in the bush of Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to understand how patriarchal beliefs in a society affect vulnerable women. The researcher wishes to enhance the importance of working against patriarchal beliefs and stopping child abductions for the sake of young women’s empowerment. The impact of the deep-rooted problem of patriarchy should be researched concerning child soldiers since they are vulnerable and are also the future female population. How they get affected by power relations early in their lives should be examined since they are a part of the future which needs to be brought into empowerment and gender equality and not enhance the patriarchal beliefs. Therefore, the attitudes of former female child soldiers have been examined through a qualitative single case study to see how the gender gap and patriarchal beliefs mirror their experiences in the bush and could affect their empowerment. The patriarchal theory, feminist theory and empowerment theory will help analyze and discuss the findings of the data. The data was collected from stories of four female former child soldiers which were coded, memo written and interpreted. By doing this research the consequences of patriarchal beliefs are enhanced through how hidden parts of society are exposed to gender exploitation due to their vulnerability. The findings show that women’s attitudes towards the ones in power do affect to what extent they experience exploitation and gender-based violence. The result implies that women in developing patriarchal societies are having different attitudes towards empowerment. Ugandan society and other societies need help to transition out of patriarchal beliefs which could lead to potential peace and eventually develop a secure and equal society.