Women and girls were certainly not invisible to the RUF, who either recruited them as willing volunteers or abducted them. Although there is no official figure on the total number of women associated with the RUF, it is believed that there may be as many as 10,000. Of this figure, it is estimated that 9,500 of these women may have been abducted. Others were even 'donated' by relatives, one woman, for example, was given to the RUF by her uncle. From what is known of the RUF's structure in their camps, gender relations followed traditional lines.
Women are second class citizens.
With the exception of a few women leaders, leadership roles were preserved for men. The fighters were the men and women trained in combat and were actually engaged in fighting. The female fighters were mostly the spouses or partners of the male fighters. For example, after an area is captured, the female fighters would loot and occupy the area, freeing the men to move on and attack more areas. The 'civilians' were the men and women who were not trained in combat and provided the labour force for farming and domestic work.