[2][3] According to Camille Boutron of the Universidad de los Andes: "Women's motivations for joining the armed struggle were diverse, as were their social origins, ages, and occupations.
[16] María Elena Moyano, an Afro-Peruvian community organizer and feminist who was twice president of FEPOMUVES (the Popular Federation of Women of Villa El Salvador), was assassinated by the Shining Path in 1992 after criticising the group.
An estimated 300,000 people attended the funeral of María Elena Moyano, with the outrage over her murder causing a major drop in support for Shining Path.
[21] Lori Berenson, an American who had previously worked as a translator for the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front in El Salvador, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1996 for collaborating with the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.
Her arrest and trial has been described by The Guardian as a "cause celebre for human rights campaigners and a symbol for leftwing social activists around the world" and attracted criticism from the US State Department to Amnesty International.
It has been reported that in Peru, throughout the internal conflict, women were frequent victims of sustained war rape perpetrated by government security forces and the Shining Path.
[27] According to Human Rights Watch: women have been the targets of sustained, frequently brutal violence committed by both parties to the armed conflict often for the purpose of punishing or dominating those believed to be sympathetic to the opposing side.
"[29] In 2006, the Peruvian government passed a law excluding all victims of sexual violence during the conflict except for those raped, such as people who had been forced to have abortions or had had their genitals tortured, from receiving compensation.
[30] In 2019, a judge found that fourteen retired non-commissioned officers were guilty of crimes against humanity due to their systemic rape of peasant farmers during the conflict.
[32] Two of the twelve commissioners of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission were women: Sofía Macher Batanero, former Executive Secretary of the Human Rights National Coordinator, and Beatriz Alva Hart, former member of the Congress of Peru.
The commission held a public forum to establish the importance of the role of women in the internal conflict, as well as provided training workshops for TRC teams and volunteers.
[42] In 2016, Claudia Salazar Jiménez published her debut novel Blood of the Dawn, following the fictional stories of three women during the Conflict, a photographer chronicling atrocities, a peasant farmer, and a teacher who joins Shining Path.