Women in Mozambique: Gender Struggle and Gender Politics

The liberation of women is a fundamental necessity for the revolution, a guarantee of its continuity and a condition for its success (Machel, 1973). In his opening address to the first conference of the Mozambique Women's Organisation (OMM) in 1973, Samora Machel, President of Frelimo, affirmed that women's emancipation was an integral aspect of revolutionary struggle. In 1973 Frelimo was still a liberation front engaged in armed struggle against colonial rule. The northern part of Mozambique was a battle ground and the first OMM conference had to be held in the Frelimo camp at Tunduru in southern Tanzania. In the OMM's present national. secretariat in Maputo, a photograph of the participants of this first conference can be seen. Peasant women and women guerilla's are lined up outside the meeting hut, amongst them Samora Machel in battledress. The non-hierarchical atmosphere depicted in this photograph is in marked contrast to the more formal arrangements on similar later occasions. The participation of women in the war was massive. In 1967, at the request of women themselves, a women's detachment of the guerilla army - Destacamento Feminino - had been formed. Part of its task was to inform and mobilise the peasant population. To support this work, a broader non-military organisation of women was needed. This was the origin of the foundation of the OMM in 1973.