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A Luta Continua (The Struggle Continues): Eritrean Women

From 1961 to 1991, when Eritrea was fighting for its independence from Ethiopia, women constituted one third of the fledgling nation's army. Barred only from logistical support positions, women held command posts, led tanks into battle, fought side by side with men, were wounded, died, and gave birth in the field. They proudly helped free their homeland from an oppressive Ethiopian regime.

During this time, Cheryl Hatch made multiple visits to war-torn Eritrea to document the perspective of women combatants on the cost of conflict. A Luta Continua represents women who gained equal rights on the battlefield while helping to liberate their country only to face on their return home the daunting challenge of liberating themselves from the traditions of a predominately patriarchal society. They quickly discovered that they did not enjoy the same equality in their communities that they had as soliders. Since many had joined the resistance as teenagers, most of these ex-fighters had little formal education. Now past the acceptable age of marriage, they had scant hope of finding a husband or making a living.

Some things have changed since the war ended. Women now have representation in government and have won the right to own property. More young Eritrean women today are choosing who they marry in contrast to pre-arranged marriages by family members. Many other things, however, remain the same. Eighty-five percent of Eritrea's women are illiterate, and 85 percent of girls, both Christian and Muslim, continue to be genitally mutilated. Once again though, as recently as 1998, Eritrean women were called to war to defend their borders in a two-year conflict that became one of the bloodiest on the planet.

A Luta Continua was on exhibit April, 2006 at Leica Gallery, Solms, Germany as part of Leica Cameraís 30th anniversary events. Photographs from A Luta Continua were also recently selected by Women In Photography International for their Turning Silver exhibition and catalogue.

Cheryl Hatch

Cheryl Hatch bought her first camera in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia when she was fresh out of high school and eager to travel. As she journeyed through India, Iran and Thailand she realized that her photographic passion was people. The social activism component in photographer Lewis Hine's work has been a major influence on her photojournalist career.

Hatch has covered conflict in the Middle East and Africa since the early 1990s, including the aftermath of the Gulf War in Iraq, the famine and subsequent U.S. intervention in Somalia, and the fragile return to peace in Mozambique and Eritrea. Her award-winning work has been published in Time, Newsweek,The New York Times,Paris Match and many other U.S. and international publications.

As the daughter of a decorated Army veteran who served 30 years in the U.S. Army and two tours of duty in Vietnam, and as a war photographer, Hatch has profound personal experience and empathy for military families, the sacrifices and hardships they endure, and the proud traditions by which they live. In its 2001 Memorial Day issue Newsweekpublished Hatch's "The Soldiers Serve, the Families Sacrifice" in their "My Turn" column.

Cheryl Hatch holds a MA in Visual Communications from Ohio University. She has a BA in Journalism and in French from Oregon State University and studied French Literature and Egyptology at the UniversitÈ de Poitiers, France.

Specifications

Contents:
35 silver gelatin 16 x 20" black and white photographs framed; introductory text; i.d. labels and captions.

Supplemental:
By request, artist lecture.

Participation Fee:
Please contact into@subjectmatters.info for details.

Running Feet:
Approximately 140 - 150 linear feet.

Category:

CULTURE & TRADITION

Cultural history; Eritrea; war; African warfare; women soliders; gender equality; women's rights; social history; documentary photography.

Security:
Full-time.

Shipping:
Host venue to pay for round-trip shipping with the exception of consecutive bookings, in which case consecutive venues share the cost of the venue-to-venue shipping leg.

Subject Matters Contact:
Deborah Gangwer

DESIGN BY PORTAL


	During her daily six-hour guard duty, Aynom Tesfamichael, 19, of Alfalba, keeps watch at the front line at Egri Mikhal--a scant mile from the closest Ethiopian positions. One fourth of the Eritrean military forces are women who serve side by side with men in battle. However, during lulls in action, they fulfill domestic duties like making tea, cooking and washing clothes.


	Egri Mikhal, November 1999. In the heat of day, a lone fighter stands guard in an acacia tree. Beyond the front-line trench, the Eritreans have heavily mined the stretch of land that separates them from Ethiopian soldiers.


	Military base near Keren, north of Asmara, November, 1999 Young female fighters attend a lecture about safe sex and AIDS prevention, sponsored by the government and funded in-part from the American government's USAID.


	Asmara, November 1999, An Eritrean girl jumps rope in the capital city while war wages on the border 60 miles away.


	Asmara, November, 1999, An elderly Eritrean woman clutches her prayer book at St. Mary's church. The book is written in Tigrinya, but services and prayers are conducted in geez an older language from which Amharic and Tingrinya are descended. Eighty-five percent of Eritrean women are illiterate.


	Ali Gidir, November, 1999, Merbet Mahari's husband fights at the front and she manages their cotton farm near the Sudanese border. After the war of liberation, the government awarded parcels of land in the former Italian cotton plantation to ex-fighters. Women earned the right to own property in 1994.


	St. Mary's church, Asmara, November, 1999 Beginning at 4 AM, Eritrean women gather to pray for peace in the courtyard. Like the woman at the entrance gate (right), women may not enter the church grounds when considered unclean, which means they are either menstruating, had sex within 24 hours or given birth within the past 40 days.


	Egri Mikhal near Tserona, November, 1999 An Ethiopian soldier's leg bones protrude from his boots along the Eritrean trenches. Using World War I tactics during a three-day battle in March, 1999, Ethiopian troops sent waves of soldiers across a minefield separating Eritrea from Ethiopia. Over 30 Ethiopian tanks along with an estimated 10,000 soldiers were destroyed.