Khmer Rouge Soldier

Women were active in the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. A female Cambodian Khmer Rouge soldier is shown in the photograph holding an AK-47. They got their support from China, North Vietnam, and the Pathet Lao. The Khmer Rouge fought to deposed the Norodom Sihanouck and Lon Nol governments. The Cambodian Civil War broke out in 1968 with the government forces of the Kingdom of Cambodia fighting to eliminate the Khmer Rouge. Prior to this it was only an insurgency. As the war took a turn for the worst, Lon Nol launched a military coup in 1970. The Khmer Rouge like their Viet Cong counterparts did have women engage in combat operations. When the Pol Pot regime came to power in 1975, women played a part in grassroots organizing at the regional level. The regime became oppressive and caused a brutal genocide. Vietnamese, Chinese, and Muslim Cambodians became targets. Intellectuals and dissidents were also persecuted by the Khmer Rouge. The reason that Cambodian women joined the Khmer Rouge was it gave them freedom from traditional roles and some power. The traditional role for women was to be wives and mothers. The Khmer Rouge insisted that women could have a better future, and independence. Instead the country became a one-party state and The Cambodian- Vietnamese War broke out. Cambodia lost the war in 1979 and remained under Vietnamese occupation until 1989.