Abstract

From 1970 to 1979, revolution brought civil war and the radical rule of the Khmer Rouge (KR) communists to Cambodia. This thesis uses interviews with Khmer Rouge female cadres, KR documents and relevant secondary sources to evaluate the KR's policy on women during this period. The author contends that this policy represented a literal interpretation of Frederick Engels's theories on women and the family, as the Khmer Rouge attempted to sever the bonds of the Cambodian family. This study also compares the Khmer Rouge's approaches to women's issues and the recruitment of women, with those of twentieth century revolutionary movements in China, Vietnam and North Korea. This comparison reveals that the Khmer Rouge's women's programme lacked the development, sophistication and organization of these other movements and failed to attract women to its revolutionary cause. Four interconnected factors are specified for this failure on the part of the Khmer Rouge: (1) poor recruitment strategies; (2) the forced break up of families; (3) ineffective indoctrination of female recruits; (4) and a total failure to formulate an effective role for women in the revolution.